Your final adventure has taken you where you should never have gone — to the underworld! You must escape and find a barque that can float you safely back. But Cerberus, the infernal watchdog, is on your heels with the intent to guard you forever.
In the semi-cooperative game Cerberus, you must help each other traverse the game board without being caught by Cerberus so that you can board the barque. Each card in your hand offers you the choice between a small effect for you or a powerful effect for the group! However, there aren't enough seats on the barque for everyone, so sooner or later, some must be sacrificed. Will you help your group reach the exit, or will you play powerful bonus cards to lay traps for your opponents? Those caught by Cerberus get to seek revenge and victory by preventing all the adventurers from escaping...
Each game is different thanks to ten different board layouts and your ability to adjust Cerberus' strength as you please.
- Lean, snappy negotiation with clear back-and-forth decisions
- Satisfying shift when players switch sides (Cerberus vs humans)
- Strong escalation to a climactic finish
- Potentially mean-spirited for groups averse to backstabbing
- Not ideal for players who dislike hidden agendas
- mythological pursuit and survival with semi-cooperation
- Escape attempt from Cerberus with a mix of mortal and revenant roles
- fast, tense escalation with shifting power dynamics
- The Grizzled
- Cerberus-related negotiation games
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card-driven movement and actions — Actions move you and other players along a track toward escape; teamwork and betrayal possible.
- semi-cooperative / bad-team mechanics — Humans vs Cerberus dynamic where players can flip roles and loyalties face-to-face.
- variable player powers and end-game tension — Each player has unique abilities; the endgame is shaped by who escapes or is left behind.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "Fuji is a cooperative game that gets you cooperating and that can't be said for all cooperative games."
- "there's a lot of clever play and coordination and that really is the best thing about Fuji."
- "it's lean and it just comes down to that interaction"
- "this is a nice, small-box escape room experience with no app required"
- "it's a party game where you create freestyle rap based on three rhyming words"