Of the Christmas gifts that I got this year, I only got the chance to play one of them during my post-Christmas Game Day – Resistor. I got this one from my wife, and it’s a small game that I very nearly backed this fall when I saw it come across kickstarter. My main hesitation was that it was a two-player head-to-head game, and sometimes these are a little difficult for me to get my wife to play (which is my most common second for playing a game). Conversely, during the game day, there were a number of 2-on-2 games going, so Resistor actually got a fair amount of table time.

I was quite impressed with Resistor as a product. First, the quality of components was solid. I may not be a fan of the size of the cards, but they did get the job done. The theme is also suitably 80s and the artworks really brings it home (I doubly love the mock tractor-feed rules printout).

Mechanics wise, Resistor has some neat ideas, but a couple mechanics kind of felt strained in my playthroughs. First, the two-sided cards and the memory aspect felt clumsy. The cards didn’t really make it easy to remember what was on either side – there wasn’t enough to distinguish them from eachother. This made it difficult for either player to make “good” flip-moves; in almost every case in my games, this turned out to be as good as random. This, I think, is the main reason why Resistor will end up being a casual game for my group – there is definitely some strategy there, but the barrier (remembering the circuit layout of the various cards) seems high for the payout.

Overall, I do like it as a casual game. It’s quick, easy to teach and learn, and is a total blast to play.