Maestro Media has announced a board game adaptation of Supercell's mobile hit, Clash Royale, with a Kickstarter campaign set to launch on October 20. This follows the company's successful crowdfunding of Clash of Clans: The Epic Raid.
Clash Royale: The Grand Arena adapts the core deck-building and strategic elements of the video game for two to four players. Each player will build an eight-card deck centered around a chosen Champion, utilizing cards drawn from the extensive Clash Royale and Clash of Clans roster. Gameplay involves players taking turns to deploy cards using the game's Elixir resource to attack opponents' Towers while defending their own. The player who accumulates the most Crowns by destroying Towers wins.
Lead designer David Gordon explained that the development team experimented with various mechanics to best translate the mobile experience to a tabletop format. "We tried mechanisms such as actual real time play against a clock, putting out a bunch of cubes, and simultaneous reveals, as well as various strategies to minimize the admin for players," Gordon stated. "Ultimately, we found that focusing on elixir spending in a turn-based card play system yielded a fun experience that most resembled that of the video game."
Maestro Media aimed to create a game that would appeal to both dedicated Clash Royale fans and newcomers to the franchise. "It was important that a strategy game fan who had never played the video game would find the tabletop version fun - and hopefully even inspire them to try the video game!" Gordon said. The game was play-tested with individuals who had varying degrees of familiarity with Supercell's games.
Clash Royale: The Grand Arena will join Maestro Media's existing catalog, which includes the previously crowdfunded and now retail-available Clash of Clans: The Epic Raid. Interested players can sign up for alerts on the upcoming Kickstarter page.