Cage Match! Rules Clarifications

  1. Score pads
    Weight class merely determines game length. Any fighter can fight at any weight class, as long as the fighters are the same weight class.  You will mark hit points off with the pencil. In the rules it says that light weights start at 32 points body and 24 points head, but that is a typo.  Those numbers are actually middle weight on the score cards.  Light weight starts at 24 points body and 18 points head.  It doesn’t really matter, though, just start where you want to.  There are sections where it says “-1” to dice rolls.  This is on all rolls regardless of head or body or even when on the ground.  Yes, you can be -2 to all rolls, if you’re in that section for both the head and body.
  2. Focus gain/spend
    Whenever focus is gained or spent, it is always gained or spent. So you gain it with a Jab or Low Kick even if blocked.  You gain it with a Low Kick even if you lose a dice roll to a Shoot and end up on the ground.  You gain 1 focus, never more and never less.  The Fight Card – the grid – will often have “(Jab gains focus)”.  That does NOT mean you gain 2 focus or anything, it’s just a reminder, and it’s equally true for the Low Kick, even if it isn’t explicitly stated.
  3. Specials
    Specials will act like their move for purposes of the Fight Card, but they completely have their own dice modifiers, damage, sometimes some special rules, and a focus cost, plus some of them gain focus as well, like Ovechkin’s Shin Kick.  Their modifiers, damage, focus cost, and any focus gain all completely replace any other move, as long as there’s an outcome where they do damage, roll dice, etc.

    Some tricky ones:

    – Barbosa’s Flying Knee acts like a Jab in that it beats any Shoot or Throw outright, but it does not gain focus.  It costs focus, and it does not gain focus after or anything.
    – Submission moves that don’t list any dice modifiers, like Jonson’s Triangle Choke or Lloyd’s Arm Bar, just have no dice modifiers, effectively a 0, though Lloyd still gets her +1 character bonus for submissions.
  4. Combos
    Unlike special moves, combos DO use the dice modifier, damage and focus gain from the base move, such as a Block & Counter.  A Jab’s +2 to dice would apply here.  Also note that any Crosses are punches, and O’Connor’s character bonus of +1 damage to all punches applies to those.  In terms of the Fight Card, it’s the Combo’s Stage 1 move that matters, and it’s the only one that matters.  The combo is stopped after Stage 1 in a “trade blows” outcome.  If you continue to Stage 2 and Stage 3, then follow the Combo rules where the opponent gets a free block, and a block in Stage 2 prevents an opportunity for a Stage 3 attack.  A full 3-stage combo is hard to pull off, but it’s a low initial investment of 1 focus, and if you do execute all 3 stages, it tends to be pretty devastating.

Have other questions? 

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2 comments

  1. Len Maio says:

    I’ve been looking around but haven’t found any solo variant rules, official or otherwise. Do any exist you’re aware of? If not, I might play around with designing my own solo rules.

    • roman says:

      Cool! I would say go for it, and post it on boardgamegeek. I played around with using dice as the AI but didn’t find anything satisfying enough.

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