The best thing about playing The Rocketeer: Fate of the Future, Funko Games’ newest two-player board game, is the joy I felt from realizing such a thing even exists. You don’t get much more niche than The Rocketeer - a ‘30s-era gangster/superhero movie from 1991 that even Disney itself has likely forgotten about - so I can’t imagine that many families are perusing the board game shelves at Target searching for Rocketeer-related goodies. But Funko Games, and in particular its boutique label Prospero Hall, has built so much good will with players by delivering a steady stream of nothing but high-quality board games like The Goonies: Never Say Die, Back To The Future: Back In Time, and Pan Am The Game, that at this point it could publish a game about unripened cheese and I know it would be a modern classic.
Luckily, The Rocketeer is a bit more interesting than unripened cheese. I watched the movie as a kid and haven’t thought about it much since then, but the board game brought all of those memories flooding back. Like all of the Prospero Hall games, the presentation and attention to detail is world-class. From the original art and gold leaf lettering on the box to the retro Los Angeles map and Art Deco-style playing pieces and game board, The Rocketeer absolutely nails the theming.
The game itself mirrors the plot of the film as well. Fate of the Future is a 1v1, semi-asymmetric game of heroes vs. villains. Each player gets three characters to control, a unique deck of cards, and three figurines to move around the board with. The board itself is reminiscent of the Disney Villainous game board, with lots of icons to learn and six different zones each character can move between. The object of the game is to move around the board “tussling” with the other player - Rocketeer’s version of a combat phase - to steal the Rocketeer’s plans from the opponent and earn Finale cards. At the end of the game, aka when the Luxembourg Zeppelin reaches Los Angeles, the player with the most Finale cards wins.
If you’re familiar with the movie, all of the characters, actions, and locations should sound familiar. If you’ve never seen it, however, there’s quite a lot to digest. Not only should you familiarize yourself with the characters and various icons, but all of the common board game terminology is also Rocketeer-ized. Health is called Grit, money is called Clout, and combat is, as previously mentioned, a Tussle. There aren’t an overwhelming amount of mechanics and components to learn, but I could tell my uninitiated playing partner had a steeper learning curve than I did.
The Rocketeer is definitely a game that needs to hit the table more than once before you get the hang of it. At the start of each round, players draw a hand of seven cards to play. Each card has two options: you can take the actions it offers from a column of icons, or you can use its special ability by playing the Clout cost and following the instructions. The symbol on the card has to match the symbol of the character you’re currently playing, so there’s a lot of decisions that need to be made each turn. Until you’ve seen all the cards in your deck and learn some basic synergies and strategies, rounds can feel pretty overwhelming. Added to this, each Finale card you collect has a special condition in order to net you points at the end of the game, so you’ll need to keep those secret tasks in mind while you plan each round.
Each game lasts three-five rounds, and my partner and I really started to get the hang of it in the fourth round. By our second game we felt like experts, even though we switched heroes and villains and had to learn slightly different mechanics and strategies. I suspect The Rocketeer will make it into our regular 2-player rotation without getting stale, in part due to the asymmetric quality of the heroes and villains unique decks, but mostly thanks to the delightful bluffing mechanic that surrounds the Rocketeer’s plans.
Whenever you steal the plans from the other player, you take three cards that represent the actual plan and two decoys. You then give those cards to your three characters face down so that your opponent doesn’t know who’s holding the real schematics. To steal them back, players have to Tussle and knock out the character holding the real plans. If they knock out a character holding a decoy, they’ll have wasted a turn and will need to keep looking. Several cards in each deck can allow each player to either re-hide the real plans if they’ve been discovered or even preemptively cause your opponent to reveal their plans without tussling first. This little mind game within the bigger card game was hilarious to us, and I delighted in faking out my partner. It’s basically Carrot in a Box, wrapped in a board game.
The Rocketeer: Fate of the Future is an exceptional throwback to a forgotten ‘90s superhero movie, functioning as both an ode to the film and an ode to the era of pulpy matinee serials that inspired it. It’s easier to appreciate after a second playthrough, and doubly so if you’re a fan of the movie, but it stands on its own as a great strategy game even without the fan service. Two-player games can be hard to find, especially ones with as much depth and personality as The Rocketeer. I’d recommend this to any board game couple looking to try something with minimal setup and good replayability. Even if you only get a few sessions out of it, the $24.99 MSRP is extraordinarily attractive.
If you need a little more convincing, The Rocketeer is streaming on Disney+. You can make a whole date night out of it! I better stop now before I start suggesting Rocketeer-themed cocktails too.