Fight City (Beat People Up)

Release Date: December 2017
Set Size: 48 cards, 13-17 rares
Publisher: Cheapass Games
Designers: James Ernest
Artist: Cheyenne Wright, Nate Taylor
New Rules: Rush Dice

Set Rares: Mutton Ben [p(8) #(12) s(20) (X) (X)] and the Funvelope Twelve.

Known Drawn-in Kickstarter Super-rares: During the Fight City Kickstarter, a level that allowed the pledger to get a custom image with a custom Button Man recipe was offered. Super-rares known to exist include Ligaya and Dr. Tilton. Assumed to exist are Ray [?], Lance [?], "El Diablo Potato" and six others, assuming all the Kickstarter pledges followed through with their pledge. See "Fun Facts" below for more information.

The Setting

Selaria map. (click to enlarge)

Selaria, better known as Fight City, is a lawless town on America’s Gulf Coast. The year is 1952, and Fight City is in the middle of a never-ending crime war. Fight City was founded in 1788 by shipwright Selaris Kronauer, and it has always been a strange world unto itself.

The city sits at the mouth of the Lawaree River, between Alabama and Mississippi. Fight City is a haven for crime, double-dealing, and shady characters from all walks of life. Needless to say, everyone in this city has a good reason to pick a fight with just about everyone else.

Welcome to Fight City, a city full of intrigue, organized crime, and criminals who like to beat people up. Choose a fighter, roll the dice listed on the card, and capture your opponent’s dice. Your score is determined by the size of the dice you capture and keep. The player with the most points wins the fight!

With endless variations of character recipes, unusual die types, and some simple new ‘campaign’ rules, Button Men is a game you can enjoy again and again.

Originally released in 1999, Button Men garnered awards, accolades, and a fervent fan base. Now it’s back in a brand new format featuring all-new characters from four warring criminal factions. With simple rules and complex strategy, Button Men is a game you’ll enjoy again and again – a staple for any game collection.

The Fight City set functions as a new base set for Button Men. The second set to come with dice (after the Unexploded Cow set) and the first to come packaged in a box, Fight City is also known as "Beat People Up" or as the "New base set." The 48 cards inside the retail edition are divided into four different factions, each with characteristic Dice Skills. The Kickstarter edition featured a "Funvelope" that included three additional character cards for each faction and a pin version of Mutton Ben.

The Factions

The Core

The Core characters hail from Fight City's Central District, and include fighters from all three major families: Pierce, Reed, and Stone. There are also a few free agents in here, of course. But all that really matters is that they like to beat people up! Characters from The Core only use Standard Dice and have no special Dice Skills-- but there is still plenty of variety here, from the sleek and dangerous Donna Chase to the heavy-handed "Thick Tony" DeLuca.

• 

  Delia
  (4) (4) (12) (20) (X)
• 

  Donna
  (4) (8) (12) (12) (X)
• 

  Ferrer
  (4) (8) (20) (20) (X)
• 

  Hollis
  (6) (6) (20) (X) (X)
• 

  Janet
  (4) (12) (20) (20) (X)
• 

  Polly
  (4) (4) (8) (20) (X)
• 

  Porter
  (8) (12) (12) (20) (X)
• 

  Smith
  (6) (8) (8) (12) (X)
• 

  Stefano
  (6) (8) (12) (20) (X)
• 

  Steve
  (6) (6) (12) (12) (X)
• 

  Tanya
  (4) (6) (12) (X) (X)
• 

  Tony
  (8) (8) (20) (20) (X)

The Core Funvelope Rares

• 

  Hamilton
  (4) (6) (6) (12) (X)
• 

  Lady B
  (4) (12) (12) (20) (X)
• 

  Wallace
  (6) (6) (20) (20) (X)

The Delta

The Delta region is home to most of Fight City’s casinos, waterways, and tourist attractions. The Pierce Family controls the Pyramid Casino Group, as well as many of the Delta’s hotels, entertainment districts, and transportation services. Characters from the Delta use Shadow Dice. These are represented as blue on the character card, and marked with an “s” for Shadow.

• 

  Benvenito
  (4) (8) (8) s(20) s(X)
• 

  Brand
  s(4) (6) s(12) s(20) (X)
• 

  Cerise
  s(8) (12) (12) (20) s(X)
• 

  Fiorina
  (6) s(6) (12) (12) s(X)
• 

  Gilroy
  (4) (6) s(8) (20) (X)
• 

  Jerry
  (6) (8) (8) s(12) (X)
• 

  Jocasta
  (6) (12) s(12) (20) s(X)
• 

  Keegan
  (8) s(8) s(12) (20) (X)
• 

  Lady K
  (4) s(6) (8) s(8) (X)
• 

  Min Szu
  (4) (6) s(8) (20) s(X)
• 

  Pilot Joe
  (4) s(4) s(6) s(20) (X)
• 

  Szechuan
  s(4) s(6) s(8) s(12) (X)

The Delta Funvelope Rares

• 

  Doctor Fret
  (4) (4) (12) s(X) s(X)
• 

  Felicia
  (6) (8) s(8) s(20) (X)
• 

  Windsor
  (6) s(6) (12) s(20) (X)

The West Side

Long dominated by the shipwrights and longshoremen of the Reed family, Fight City’s Mississippi half is home to railyards, paper mills, breweries, and farmland. Today, the West Side has its share of night clubs and restaurants, with a colorful mix of seedy characters. Characters from the West Side use Poison Dice. These are represented as green on the character card, and marked with a “p” for Poison.

• 

  Beatrice
  (4) (4) p(4) (12) (X)
• 

  Bijay
  (4) (8) (12) (20) p(X)
• 

  Carson
  (8) (12) (20) p(20) (X)
• 

  Dietrich
  p(6) p(8) (20) (20) (X)
• 

  Hazel
  (4) (6) p(6) (20) (X)
• 

  Jackie
  p(4) (6) (8) (12) (X)
• 

  Marin
  (4) p(4) (8) (12) (X)
• 

  Marta
  (6) (12) (12) p(12) (X)
• 

  Prentice
  p(4) p(8) (12) (20) (X)
• 

  Sal
  (8) (8) p(8) (20) (X)
• 

  Sally
  (6) (6) p(12) (20) (X)
• 

  Stacie
  (6) (8) (12) (X) p(X)

The West Side Funvelope Rares

• 

  Mickael
  p(4) p(6) (8) (20) (X)
• 

  Mondo
  (4) (12) (20) p(20) (X)
• 

  Rider
  (8) p(8) (12) (20) (X)

Uptown

Fight City’s elite are rushing to Uptown, the high-rise and high-rent top of the city. This thriving metropolis-within-a-city is ruled by the Stone Family, who control the city’s largest construction, shipping, and warehousing firms. Characters from Uptown use Rush Dice. These are represented as orange on the character card, with an “r” for Rush. In the online game, Rush Dice are notated with a hashtag (#) before the die.

• 

  Amelia
  (4) (6) (6) (8) #(X)
• 

  Basil
  (6) #(8) (12) #(12) (X)
• 

  Clyde
  (12) #(12) (20) (20) #(X)
• 

  Giuseppe
  (8) (8) (12) #(12) (X)
• 

  Heather
  (6) (6) #(8) (20) #(X)
• 

  Henry
  (4) (8) #(12) #(20) #(X)
• 

  Jesse
  #(4) (4) (20) #(20) (X)
• 

  Ken
  (4) #(8) #(12) (20) (X)
• 

  Mississippi
  #(6) #(8) #(12) #(20) #(X)
• 

  Montserrat
  (4) #(6) #(8) #(12) #(X)
• 

  Petey
  (4) (6) (12) #(20) (X)
• 

  Ricky
  #(6) (8) #(8) (20) #(X)

Uptown Funvelope Rares

• 

  Bobby
  (6) (8) (20) #(20) (X)
• 

  Stubbs
  (12) #(12) (20) (X) #(X)
• 

  Tasha
  (4) (6) #(6) #(8) (X)

Interesting Facts!

James Ernest used Button Men Online's test server and coders to test this set!

Rush Dice, named "Rage" during playtest before the community pointed out that was already a Die Type, originally were a variant of Focus Dice that could attack if they were used to go first, but were worth no points if kept at the end of the game. This was later deemed "boring" due to it having a different die color, but essentially no effect during the actual meat of the gameplay. After briefly toying with the idea of Rush Dice having a Speed Attack but being unable to Skill Attack, it was changed to the current version of Rush Dice.

The Kickstarter had some levels that allowed backers to become their own Button Man. Eleven people backed these levels, but very little is known about most of the personalized Button Men. All ten of this level sold out the first week, and an additional level with John Kovalic and Ryan Kinnard were added. At the end of the Kickstarter, the original level only had nine backers, and Kovalic and Kinnard's levels only had one backer each.

The intent was to have each of the characters available through Zazzle as a button, but only Soldiers and Vampyres ended up being available on that platform. Similarly, there were initially plans to have the full set of Fight City cards available from DriveThruCards, but that also never materialized.