Thumbs Down!

Wobbly physics gladiators in a Roman arena, for the whole room. Two fighters get two big buttons each: LEAP (tap to dodge, hold to leap in) and STRIKE (tap to jab, hold for a huge smash, strike in the air to slam down). Swords clang, bodies bounce off the walls, and a wet fish is a legitimate weapon. Brutus, Valeria, a senator who wandered in, a goose in a centurion helmet, an ancient veteran and a barbarian queen.

Everyone else is the crowd, and the crowd runs the arena: back a fighter, cheer them a weapon from the stands, pelt the other one with tomatoes and vote what happens next: release the lion, spike traps, a rolling boulder, a rain of spears, olive oil on the sand. When a fighter falls, the crowd gives the verdict: thumbs up and they rise again, thumbs down and the trapdoor opens. Glory goes to fighters and crowd alike, the herald Lucius Magnus calls every blow, and the night ends with a Grand Melee and a champion.

Features

• Two buttons: leap and strike, with jabs, smashes, slams and clangs
• The crowd backs, cheers, throws and votes the lion in
• Thumbs up or thumbs down: the crowd decides who lives
• Glory for fighters and crowd, a Grand Melee finale, a fully voiced herald