Brand Name Bloodshed is a gambling board game where players take on the role of faceless corporations, whose job is to make bets and reap advertisement revenue from various teams who are participating in a violent blood sport for the entertainment of billions.
Potential: I would be lying if I said that this particular genre of game actually appealed to me personally, but for those who enjoy the thrill of gambling and weighing your options before each and every decision you make to gain more money for less risk, this is the game for you!
Mechanics: While an initial read-through might leave you scratching your head the first time you read it, the actual rules for the game are relatively straight-forward once you've sat down and looked at how the cards interact with the actual state of the board. The long and short of how the game works is as such; you will randomly distribute 16 teams between 8 round one matches, reveal an arena card for each match, and then move on the gambling phase for each individual match as each time fights one another in a bid for glory and survival. The goal of the game is to bet advertising points on winning teams, gain additional market share, and ultimately profit from the violence taking place in the death matches below by betting on as many winning teams as possible.
Presentation: The presentation for this game is fairly top notch. Each team within the game is given a unique card, icons used for highlight/arena cards are crisp, clear, and easy to follow, and the presentation used for the actual text is of similar quality. If there really was a sore spot that I could bring up, it's that the tracking sheet and tournament brackets are comparably flat, but it isn't enough to hamper the overall quality that was put into the presentation as a whole.
Theme: The concept of playing businessmen as they try to profit from the bloody demise of others is a concept that I honestly don't see done too often. Usually, the focus is on the individuals actually participating in the ring or a 3rd party operating outside of it with the goal being to either save a competitor or shut down the games for good. In this game, your only pursuit is in the name of cold, hard cash, which is actually a fairly unique setup for a gambling game overall.
Overall: Brand Name Bloodshed is a game that takes the usual setup for gladiatorial blood sports and turns it on its head. If you enjoy games where you get to weigh the odds and experience that gambler's high from winning big from a risky bet then this game is for you!