We’re Going Back In Time

Are you telling me you built a board game out of Back to the Future? Well, then, that’s a great reason to drag me out of bed and get me to the Twin Pines Mall. I mean, over to the kitchen table.

There are actually a few Back to the Future games circulating right now. The game I’ll be reviewing today is designed by Prospero Hall and published by Funko and is called Back to the Future: Back in Time.

Players are transported back to the week preceding Hill Valley’s historic thunderstorm on November 12th, 1955. George and Lorraine need to be in love, the Delorean needs to be tricked out with a lightning rod and be ready to go before the clock strikes 10:04 PM on November 12th.

As the game goes on, you will be dealt obstacles impeding your progress until they are resolved. Oh, and Biff’s mulling around town to throw wrenches into your plans.

Thankfully, you and your small gaggle of gamers will be working collaboratively to get the jobs done. Characters up to choose from are Marty, Doc, Jennifer, and Einstein. Each one has their own strong suit to assist in completing tasks.

Lorraine and George move around the board one of two ways. Either by you or via cards drawn at the beginning of each player’s turn. Biff will also move around by these cards. While only Einstein can affect where Biff lands, other characters can take a chance at laying him out.

Players have five powers to start with that will allow them to move around the board. These can be used to interact with George, Lorraine, and/or Biff, defeat Trouble cards, pick up gear or move the Delorean.

The game doesn’t cover in the rule book, and I feel it does need to be mentioned is ambiance when playing the game. I highly recommend someone at the table dedicate their phone to playing the Back to the Future soundtrack. I feel it adds a little “je ne sais quoi” to the gameboard adventure.

As we got the hang of the gameplay, we couldn’t help but notice the similarities to a few other games, such as Toy Story Obstacles and Adventures and Dresden Files. Back in Time is similar to Toy Story in the game mechanics. The generation of obstacles/trouble and a threat track combined with each character having a forte to draw upon make You Story and Back in Time cousins.

Back in Time resembles Dresden in the level of frustration generated. It is the kind of frustration that turns a night intended for boardgame sampling into a night dedicated to one game. We came so close several times to beating the game only to lose by mere inches. So we just had to keep on going. I had to switch over to the sequels’ soundtracks just to keep things interesting.

If the fun gameplay wasn’t enough to sell someone on this game, the level of detail put into its design sure will. I mean, come on, they didn’t have to make the rule book look like a copy of Tales from Space. But they did. I really got a kick out of using the Clock Tower to roll dice out of too. The designers even added Marty’s photo with his siblings in the game.

I highly recommend this game for anyone, not just fans of the movie. Especially if you enjoy cooperative games. As is the case with all of the games I’ve been reviewing lately, it’s designed to be played with just two people. As you can guess by the rest of the view, the maximum number of players is four. This will be an exciting game to revisit when game nights become a regular part of our weekends again. This could be converted to Zoom play without much difficulty, given there are no secret cards to gum up the works.

The age rating on this is 10+. I almost think if you have a younger kid who has played Toy Story or Harry Potter, you might be able to add this game to the repertoire with them.

This game retails between $25 – $30. If you’re waffling on hitting the purchase button, check your local library to see if they a)have a game section and b) if they have this one to try before you buy. You never know.