One of the ways I bond with my brother is by playing board games. I’m often exposed to new and intriguing games when my brother brings them to the table. One of these games is Bullet. I first played this game on my brother’s birthday and honestly, I wasn’t a fan of this game. Bullet seemed extremely confusing and I felt it was a bit too fast-paced for me. However, after playing Bullet for the second time, I found my opinion regarding this game completely flipped. Bullet isn’t my all-time favorite board game, although it’s one I would play again.

Bullet stars various female protagonists as they attempt to save Earth from evil. They do this by erasing bullets. Bullets are each categorized by different colors and numbers which tell the player where bullets go on their character card. Bullet‘s turn style is a bit unique as each player takes their turn at the same time. Each player pulls bullets out of a bag and places them in their card. To clear bullets, players use pattern cards to erase bullets. If bullets pile up on the character card without being cleared, the player loses. The final player standing wins.

One of the reasons I found myself enjoying my second playthrough was the character I picked. My character, Ling-Ling Xiao required a bit more mathematical calculation, however, I thought she was really powerful. I could plan out my patterns and clear multiple bullets off my board. She also has four bullet spots on her character card which allows her to survive for a bit longer. I can’t remember the other character I played in my first game, however, I think Ling-Ling will be my go-to character from now on.

The biggest challenge of Bullet is the Tetris style of how bullets fall on a character sheet. It was difficult to wrap my brain around how the bullets fell and how I wanted to move them around to create patterns. In my first game, I was feeling frustrated and in my second game, I felt more empowered to try and win.

Bullet is the perfect game for any retro video game or Tetris fan. It feels similar to an arcade game. I’m glad I gave Bullet a second chance.