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S.P.A.N.C. —
Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Catgirls
Game Review
Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Catgirls is a fast-paced card game from the infamous world of Steve Jackson Games (perhaps now best known for their part in an FBI "blunder" raid that labeled their GURPS CyberPunk game "a computer crime manual") that combines elements of anime, geekdom, furry-crossover -and- manages to parody just about everything holy in sci-fi fandom all at once.
Illustrated by Phil Foglio (Of Girl Genius fame, and if you can remember way back, Dragon Magazine) the cards themselves are suggestive, "top-heavy", PG-13 rated, sexy catgirls doing... uh, stuff... with a great sense of humor and a visually appealing style. Information on the cards isn't cluttered, and yet there's a lot to them which aids considerably while playing.
 With enough cards and tokens to support two to four players, the object of the game is complete enough "capers" to garner ten "loot tokens". Each player has a "crew" of SPANCs, each with different skill sets and abilities which will aid (or hamper) your ability to pull off a caper.
The most fun of the game is the "optional" catfights - where the entire point of being a Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Catgirl comes into play. A Space Pirate Attack is to steal the crew's loot. An Amazon attack is to kill a catgirl. A Ninja attack is to steal a toy from one catgirl. And a Catgirl attack is an attempt to steal a Poolboy. (Don't worry, this will all make sense as you play).
Overall, this game gets high marks from the Anime.Com playtesters who found it appealing, fun, funny, slightly erotic and with a good sense of gameplay design that results in high replay value without being too engrossing. Definitely a good way to kill an evening along with some soda and chips. True gamers love this kind of stuff and this game is top-notch. SPANC them all!
Review by Brian Cirulnick, July 2006
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Below: Late Hisashi Yamamoto Japinese playing card.
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