You may well ask yourself why something like a game mat needs a review. I know that I would, especially having come from many years of playing CCG’s like Magic the Gathering. I wouldn’t go to a tournament without a play mat, preferably a spare too just in case of disasters!
If you have spent any time playing games where cards are an integral part of the game, you will already know how much easier they make games. Cards are easier to pick up, easier to move around and generally keeps them in a better condition. Sleeving is also recommended. Make sure to check out the sleeves available here at Zatu to keep your game in top condition. Van Ryder have their own, but I use Gamegenic Mini European and Standard sleeves for my copy. Similarly, I doubt you are a casual fan of Final Girl to be looking at extra accessories for the game. I won’t lie, I am a real fan of the game and the team at Van Ryder have done an amazing job of making a game that is quite cheap for a core set and one feature film, become something that is endlessly expandable and has the options for more bling than you can imagine, what with miniatures, storage boxes and promo’s galore. But what makes the series 2 game mat a must have? Quite a few things really.
Final Girl is a game with a LOT of components. Each feature film and killer add tokens and cards at a minimum. Many of them have special extra cards for killer features or location special rules.
The series 2 mat makes space for these non standard features. Something I doubt the team were thinking about when making the whole of series 1.
It standardises the layout for your tableau and events, as well as having spaces for victim meeples, tokens and dice which let you learn where everything is. Something like this is invaluable for gameplay reasons. Nothing makes a game less enjoyable than hunting around for a rogue token or item card.
It also incorporates the Horror Track directly into the mat, which reduces the need for a 3rd floating board, in addition to the killer and location boards.
The print quality is excellent and the art and backgrounds they have used are thematic but not intrusive. Everything is clearly labelled, so there can be no doubt where components need to go.
Truth be told I can’t bring myself not to use the game mat any more. I know I could just grab a feature and the core box, but it feels wrong. It’s improved the game experience so much. As for the mat itself, the quality is second to none, with stitched edges, a good grippy rubber back and smooth play surface, which works particularly well with sleeved cards.
A final little feature that may not mean much to everyone, but is a great nod to both theming and how components fit into the series boxes (also available here at Zatu), the box for the mats is made to resemble an old front loading VCR. You are probably showing your age if you recognised it immediately!
The box is perfect for storing the mats between games, as you would expect. Unrolling the mats for play is also fantastic. There is no curve or bulge as you sometimes get with other mats that have been stored rolled up.
As someone who owns every feature film of the Final Girl franchise and many of the not so important extras (I don’t have all the minis!) I can’t help but recommend this as the first accessory any fan of the game should buy. Before even the Box of Props or any other extras.
