I didn't know how I'd feel about Suicide Bomber when I joined Bucephalus Games as VP of sales and marketing. With 18 years in the Guard and Reserves as a medic, I've seen the results of war, and specifically of bombings. Once I played the game, however, I found that it both speaks to the ridiculousness of suicide bombing and that it has good game-play.

If you look at the layout image in the image files, you'll see a couple of rows of people and places. Any of these things could be given a bomb. Players are not bombers--the cards are. I think that this speaks to the idea that anyone can be a terrorist. All too often we pigeonhole people and miss the seed of hate that creeps into "safe" areas of life. Suicide Bomber reminds me of this--while being fun. Educational games are hard to create. You want something that teens will want to play, and that will educate them. Something irreverent and edgy that teaches some lessons is perfect. I think that Suicide Bomber is an example of such a product.

The game play is light but strategic. The designer has worked on a few ccgs, so the card-combo mechanic in the game is excellent. I've seen people miss the deeper parts of Suicide Bomber because they are not thinking ahead enough about setting up combos. That said, Suicide Bomber is a stand-alone game and does not have too many rules to remember and deal with like many ccgs have.

I've had to demo the game many times at this point and the game grows and grows on me. I think that it's socially conscience, it's funny, and that it has good game-play without being too complicated.