Party

One of the best, and most popular games, in the entire collection, Party House is one of two games that in my opinion kind of breaks that retro vibe. Because this is NOT a retro game. It is a modern game with modern sensibilities in a modern genre, with a slap of retro paint on it. This game is a deck builder, something that maybe existed at the time, but EXTREMELY not in video game form. It is a very unique experience for this kind of era, and in my opinion, absolutely whips, and is popular for a reason.

This is ALSO the start of a major part of UFO Soft lore: The Partyverse, as I call it. This universe, its characters, and the settings, all return over and over again, as cameos, or main characters. This is the first example of it, but I will harken back to the Partyverse a LOT.

Party

In Party House, you play the part of a party thrower trying to throw the PERFECT party. Every night, you throw a party, and as you open the door, a different guest from your rolodex will show up. Once the party concludes, you get two resources based on who showed up to the party: Popularity, used for adding new party goers to your rolodex, and money, used to upgrades how many party goers can fit in your house at once.

At the start you start with three different goers, or cards as I may call them, because yeah this is totally just a deckbuilder with a video game coat of paint. These three are old friends, who just give 1 popularity, rich friends, who give 1 dollar, and Wild Buddies, who give 2 popularity, but introduce the Trouble mechanic. If you have three or more trouble in your party, the cops will show up. You’re warned about how much trouble you have as it grows, and also Roof Cat is there to freak the hell out if there’s too many drunkards screaming in your house. If the cops show up, the party is busted, and you don’t get ANYTHING for that night. You can also get busted if a party goer has like, an effect that brings in another card, and your party is already full. That’ll drag in the fire guard.

Party

The goal of every game is to throw the ultimate party, which requires getting 4 Stars in one party. Stars are the final resource, and are only given by expensive units that usually don’t do much other than just sit there. So yeah, fill up your deck with useless cards to win. It’s an interesting mechanic, but it works out! Once you get four stars, boom, you win! Now try to beat that scenario in a lower amount of days. There’s also randomize mode, which can give you some MEAN combos, or really easy ones. Some party goers are just straight up better than others. The climber is really just the best.

Party

This game is VERY RNG heavy, and with no ways to remove any cards, it can feel like the game just fucking hates you after you open the second party in a row with three wild buddies, when you ONLY HAVE FOUR, AND YOU HAVE TWENTY PEOPLE IN YOUR ROLODEX THAT DON’T GIVE TROUBLE. Sorry. That happened a few too many times for me. Anyway, this game is extremely fun and creative and very much a “one more go” kinda game, but I cannot deny something I feel about it… it feels like it could be more. Something is missing, maybe there’s not enough here. Maybe I just want an expansion pack or something, I dunno. But I feel it could be EVEN more to become a PERFECT version of itself. But what is here is already extremely fun, and well loved for a reason.

Huh, interesting thing about this. Tao Nemuru is not credited in the special thanks for this game! :) That’s interesting! Well, Gerry Smolski did an amazing job with this game. It’s also cute cause it’s said that a lot of the party goer designs are IRL people that they knew. There’s a bit more I wanna say bout this and how it fits into the party verse, but I’ll leave that for next time….

9.5/10