2000 BGG rank #17038

The Powerpuff Girls: Saving the World Before Bedtime

2–4 players 30 min Ages 8+ 1.2/5 complexity 5.5/10 rating

About this game

Players all control the Powerpuff Girls on their turns via a neat card mechanism: Cards are selected and revealed at the same time, but enacted according to times printed on them. It basically comes down to wandering about the board, revealing villain tiles and battling them with the Powerpuff Girls with the goal of being the first player to capture 4 villains. The villains are captured by way of die rolls. Each girl has an identical die, so the more of the girls you have present to combat a villain, the better your odds of capture. ...of course, the better your odds of getting some of them knocked out for the rest of the turn. Since everyone shares the girls, having the earliest time card, and getting the girls knocked out will impact everyone.

What it feels like

Simultaneous Action Selection Dice Rolling Children's Game Card Game Movies / TV / Radio theme

Explore these mechanics in Cardboard

Start an original prototype from reusable design patterns—not this game's content.

Open mechanics workbench

Game intelligence

Learn the game

100% knowledge coverage

Setup

1. Print 6 copies of the card sheets, cut the cards out, and sleeve them in standard deck protectors.\n2. Each player secretly chooses one version of each Powerpuff Girl (Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup) and one Ally card.\n3. All players simultaneously reveal their chosen cards.\n4. Shuffle all Nemesis cards together and place them face-down on the grey spaces as shown on the player-count diagram.\n5. Distribute the Townsville Tiles as normal per the base game rules.\n6. Refer to the player-count chart for the villain capture target:\n - 2 Players: Capture 5 Villains\n - 3 Players: Capture 5 Villains\n - 4 Players: Capture 5 Villains\n - 5 Players: Capture 4 Villains\n - 6 Players: Capture 4 Villains\nLocations on the board include: Museum, Powerpuff Girls Home, Pokey Oaks, Toy Store, Mayor's Office, Mojo Jojo's, Park, Bank, Main Street, and Dump.

Turn flow

On your turn, you may move and/or battle with one or more Powerpuff Girls. Whenever you move or battle with one or more Girls, you may choose to activate the abilities of all Powerpuff Girls present — each Girl may only use her own abilities. Movement powers cannot be activated when playing a location card. You may use your Ally card's ability at any time during your turn (or even outside your turn if timing allows); once used, the Ally card is discarded. If a Girl lands on a space with a Nemesis card, reveal the card and tile, resolve the Nemesis card effect first, then use the Townsville Tile as normal. When the tile is removed, the Nemesis card is removed as well.

Scoring and victory

Cooperative win/loss — all players win together by capturing the required number of villains before the game-end condition is met. Target score: Capture 5 villains (2–4 players) or 4 villains (5–6 players) Scoring sources: Capturing villains by defeating them in combat at their location

Source: Rulebook

Rules to know

The most useful rules for getting a first game right.

Setup

Print, cut, and sleeve 6 copies of the card sheets before play.

Before playing the Chemical X Edition, print 6 copies of the card sheets, cut the cards out, and sleeve them in standard deck protectors. This prepares all Powerpuff Girl versions, Ally cards, and Nemesis cards for play.

Setup

Each player secretly selects one version of each Powerpuff Girl and one Ally, then all reveal simultaneously.

At the start of the game, each player secretly chooses one version of each Powerpuff Girl (Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup) and one Ally card. Once all players have chosen, everyone simultaneously reveals their selections. This creates asymmetric team compositions each game.

Setup

Shuffle all Nemesis cards and place them face-down on grey spaces as shown in the diagram.

Shuffle all Nemesis cards together, then place them face-down on the grey spaces on the board as indicated by the setup diagram. Townsville Tiles are distributed as normal per the base game. Grey spaces correspond to villain locations across the city.

Setup

The number of villains required to win scales with player count.

The win condition (number of villains to capture) is determined by player count: 2 players must capture 5 villains; 3 players must capture 5 villains; 4 players must capture 5 villains; 5 players must capture 4 villains; 6 players must capture 4 villains.

Special

During your turn, when moving or battling with Girls, you may activate all present Girls' abilities.

During your turn, whenever you move or battle with one or more Powerpuff Girls, you may choose to activate the abilities of all Powerpuff Girls present in that action. Each Powerpuff Girl may only use her own abilities — she cannot use another Girl's ability. Movement powers cannot be activated when playing a location card.

Restriction

Movement powers cannot be used when playing a location card.

Powerpuff Girl movement powers are restricted from activation when the action being taken is playing a location card. Only movement taken as a standard move action or battle movement qualifies for movement power activation.

Card play

Ally card abilities may be used at any time; the card is discarded after use.

You may use the ability on your Ally card at any time (subject to each card's specific timing text). Once the Ally ability is used, the Ally card is discarded. Each player has one Ally card per game, so use it wisely.

Special

Landing on a Nemesis space reveals both the Nemesis card and tile; resolve the Nemesis effect first, then the tile.

When one or more Powerpuff Girls land on a space with a Nemesis card, reveal both the Nemesis card and the Townsville Tile beneath it. Resolve the Nemesis card effect first, then use the Townsville Tile as normal. When the tile is removed from the space, the Nemesis card is also removed.

Strategy briefing

Choosing Buttercup's Version

The revive version of Buttercup is high-risk, high-reward. Reviving her permanently shrinks your hand size, so only choose this version if your team has strong hand-refill options (e.g., Blossom's card retrieval ability). The team-boost version is generally safer for cooperative play since it benefits all team fights.

Using Bubbles for Scouting

Bubbles's pass-through scouting ability is most valuable early in the game when most tiles are still face-down. Route her through spaces you want to investigate without committing to landing there. Always declare her ending space BEFORE moving to avoid disputes.

Leveraging Blossom's Card Retrieval

Blossom's card retrieval action can recover discarded Ally cards, making one-shot Ally abilities reusable across the game. Prioritize recovering Talking Dog if rerolls are proving decisive, or Sara Bellum if your team relies on Mayor card chains. Watch your hand size — retrieval triggers a mandatory discard at 4+ cards.

Countering Nemesis Modifiers

The 'knock out all Girls' Nemesis is the most punishing — avoid sending your only active Girls into an unknown grey space without Talking Dog ready to potentially mitigate bad outcomes. The 'require multiple Girls' Nemesis means you should never explore grey spaces alone if this card is unaccounted for.

Optimizing the Villain Target

At 5–6 players you only need 4 villains, giving slightly more flexibility. At 2–4 players, the 5-villain target demands efficient routing across the board — use Bubbles's extra movement and scouting to avoid wasted turns on non-villain tiles.

Protecting Rerolls with Blossom

Blossom's reroll-lock is most powerful in high-stakes fights against villains with the 'extra hit required' Nemesis modifier. By pairing Blossom with another Girl, you ensure opponents cannot manipulate the dice against you, and you still retain your own single reroll.

Common questions and edge cases

Does Buttercup's solo fist-doubling ability still apply when she fights alongside other Girls?

No. Buttercup's solo ability (single fist counts as double fist) only applies when she is fighting ALONE. When she fights alongside Blossom or Bubbles, the team ability activates instead (each fist roll counts as fist+1). The two abilities are mutually exclusive based on whether she is solo or in a team.

Blossom is fighting with Bubbles. An opponent tries to use a reroll. Can the Talking Dog cancel that reroll attempt even though Blossom's ability already prevents it?

Blossom's ability already prevents opponents from making rerolls in that fight, so there would be no reroll to cancel. Talking Dog cancels a reroll 'before it is made' — if the reroll is already forbidden by Blossom's presence, Talking Dog would have no reroll to cancel in that context.

The 'knock out all Girls present' Nemesis card triggers and knocks out Buttercup. Can she be immediately revived?

Yes. The Nemesis effect knocks Buttercup out, but the revive rule allows you to discard 2 cards (or 1 if that's all you have) to revive her. The knock-out from the Nemesis card does not prevent the use of the Buttercup revive ability — however, the Girls knocked out by this Nemesis do not get to fight the villain that turn regardless.

Bubbles moves through a space with a face-down Nemesis card. Can she peek at it?

Bubbles's scouting ability lets her look at a face-down tile when moving through a space. A Nemesis card is placed on top of a Townsville Tile, and the tile is face-down. Bubbles may look at the tile beneath. However, the Nemesis card is only fully revealed (and its effect triggered) when a Girl lands on the space — merely passing through to scout does not trigger the Nemesis card.

The 'only one Girl at a time' Nemesis is active and Blossom is present. Does Blossom's reroll-lock ability apply to each individual fight?

Yes. Each Girl fights individually when the 'one at a time' Nemesis is active. If Blossom is one of the Girls fighting, her reroll-lock ability applies during her individual fight turn, preventing opponents from rerolling on her dice. It does not apply during the other Girls' individual fights unless they have their own ability granting it.

The 'must have more than one Girl' Nemesis is active. Can Blossom's solo-win Professor Utonium tile ability trigger here?

No. The Nemesis card requires more than one Girl to be present to fight at all, which means Blossom cannot fight this villain alone. Since she cannot fight solo, she cannot win solo, and her Professor Utonium tile reward for winning alone cannot trigger at this location.

The 'relocate if not a trap' Nemesis is active and Bubbles flips the tile — it IS a Trap. What happens?

If the tile is a Trap, the 'relocate if not a trap' Nemesis effect does NOT trigger (its condition is not met). The Trap tile resolves normally. Since Bubbles has a special rule about Trap tiles, if the Trap knocks her out, she collects the Trap tile and may use it as a Professor Utonium tile.

Blossom retrieves a discarded Ally. She now has exactly 4 cards in hand. Must she discard?

Yes. Blossom's card retrieval ability states that if you have 4 or more cards in your hand after using the ability, you must discard one card. Having exactly 4 meets the threshold, so a discard is required.

A player plays a location card that moves a Powerpuff Girl. Can Bubbles use her +1 movement power?

No. Movement powers cannot be activated when playing a location card. Bubbles's extra movement and any other movement-based Powerpuff powers are explicitly restricted from use during location card plays.