Fight your way through school in Hoot Owl Games’ fast-paced tabletop brawling game, Knockout High, now on Kickstarter

Fight your way through school in Hoot Owl Games’ first release, Knockout High, a fast-paced brawling game where 2 through 5 players throwdown through a variety of school-based arenas while utilizing everything at their disposal, including cafeteria lunch trays, the school nurse’s syringe, and obscenely large textbooks, as their weapons. Knockout High is on Kickstarter now through April 3rd and Hoot Owl Games offers a variety of ways to support this unique brawler, including a $35 base game, a $45 base game and expansion package, and an awesome $125 package which includes the base game + expansion all nestled in a retro tin lunchbox. GamingTrend met with Hoot Owl Games during last weekend’s Lexington Comic & Toy Convention and was given a quick breakdown of the game, which you can view above. Check out Knockout High on Kickstarter here and read below for more information along with a full playthrough video:

LIVE ON KICKSTARTER!

Knockout High is a fast-paced brawling game where your goal is to be the last player standing. Use a variety of hilarious items (such as the big textbook, the cafeteria lunch tray, or the school nurse’s syringe to deal damage to your opponents), block your enemies’ attacks with tough tokens, or just take a nap during math to heal up before you jump back into the fight.
But be careful of specialty attacks that might leave you spiraling to win.

And remember, if you get “knocked” out, you can always come back as the School Spirit to haunt your opponents through the hallways of Knockout High!

Check out a Full Playthrough of Knockout High here:

Full playthrough of Knockout High!

Knockout High can be found at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/546098905/knockout-high

How Knockout High is Played:

Choose A Student

Start by choosing one of the six students from the class roster. Each student has abilities and specialty focus attacks. Once you have your favorite student, place a cube on that student’s starting HP and starting AP. Starting HP is noted by the number above the student’s head. Starting AP is noted in the rule book and changes based on the amount of people playing. Finally, collect any starting items and tokens as indicated on the student card.

Choose An Arena

Now that you know who will be fighting, choose your battleground by picking one of the three arenas. Each arena will have its own play style and abilities that will change the game, making each play through unique. Every arena also requires three decks to play: one event deck, one item deck, and one arena specific deck. Each arena also has an arena tracker. Put a cube on the starting block of the tracker and you’re ready for battle.

Arena Breakdown

The game is played in rounds. Players roll a six-sided die to decide who will go first. The player with the highest roll can choose to go first or last. Turn order changes every round. One round ends after every player has taken a turn. After each round, move the arena tracker over one block.

The arena tracker always starts on the first blank space with the “First Day” card in play. After the first round, move the tracker one space to the right. If the marker is on an item block, indicated by the letter “I”, every player draws an item. This is done in turn order. If a player is at max item limit, they gain one focus token instead.

If the marker is on an event block, indicated by the letter “E”, draw a new event card, and its effects will stay in play until a new one is drawn.

If the marker is on an arena block indicated by the letter “A”, every player draws an arena specific card. Players draw arena cards in turn order.

Student Breakdown

On your turn, you may choose to attack, heal, rest, use items, focus abilities, or save AP to defend against your opponent.

If you choose to attack, lower your AP by the amount specified for each attack, then roll a die. If the player rolls the number indicated by the attack, they will gain one focus. (Even if the number is NOT rolled, the attack will still go through unless the opponent can successfully defend.) If the attack goes through and the opponent did not defend, the opponent is dealt damage. If the attacking player rolls a number that is blue, they will do one more point of damage, along with gaining the one focus.

When attacked, you can choose to defend against your opponent. Lower your AP by the amount specified on the student card, then roll a die. If you roll the number indicated on the student card, you will successfully block the damage by the amount indicated. If you defend against all damage from an attack, you will gain one focus token.

If you choose to rest, lower your AP by the amount specified and collect the amount of focus tokens indicated.

To heal, lower your AP by the amount specified. Gain HP and other benefits listed. Roll a die every time you heal. If you roll a number that is green on your student card, you will receive one additional HP. (Even if you do not roll the number indicated, you will still heal by the initial amount indicated on the card.)

Why are we collecting focus tokens?

On the right side of the student card, players will see a list of focus abilities. Each ability will cost a different amount of focus, depending on what it does. When you pay the focus cost indicated, you do as the student card instructs. Focus abilities can be powerful game changers and they do not require a player to use AP.

End Game

You are considered “knockout out” when your HP drops below 1. Before this happens, however, you will have the option of using the “fatal blow” which will leave you in the game at 1 HP. If there are more than two players, and your fatal blow is unsuccessful, you can still remain in the game as the School Spirit. Attacks are limited, but can still have an effect on the game.

Token Breakdown

FOCUS TOKENS: These tokens are used for the character’s focus abilities and to purchase items.

TOUGH TOKENS: Tough tokens are tokens that players can collect throughout the game. These tokens are easy to lose but hard to gain. They can be used to prevent damage without having to use AP.

DOG TOKENS: Dog tokens are specific to the Faye Wolfguard student. These tokens can be used to increase damage to other players or decrease damage from other players.

BANDAGE TOKENS: When you heal, you can choose to collect one of these tokens instead. These tokens are used to cure injuries in the nurse’s office arena.

MONEY TOKENS: These tokens are specific to the Markus Shark student. These tokens can be placed on other student’s items. Once the token is on the player’s items, that player must pay Markus a focus token every time the item is used.

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