What’s better than a Big Trouble in Little China board game? Why, two Big Trouble in Little China board games of course!

The box art pictured above has just been released for “Big Trouble in Little China: The Game” and it definitely appears to be the option for component lovers. The board is two-sided with Chinatown and Lo Pan’s lair, which isn’t preparation for a frustrated player flipping the table but rather because the game is played in two acts.

Also unveiled are some of the minatures for some of the playable characters (Thunder, Wang, Jack Burton, Gracie, Wing Kong Six Shooter, Egg Shen and more), which are beautifully detailed.

The game itself is a co-op for up to four players, with an adventure style mix of actions, tasks and combat. The characters play differently and each has custom dice to reflect their strengths and weaknesses. The idea is to play on the Chinatown side to upgrade characters before turning the board over for a climatic showdown with Lo Pan.

There’s a definite risk for confusion however as “Legendary: Big Trouble in Little China” is also on the way. This is the latest installment of a series of movie-based games that use a common mechanic, namely a co-operative deckbuilder where the aim is to make your way through a deck of encounter cards before the last player is eliminated. The encounter deck heavily features characters and incidents from the movies (pictured below), arranged in broad chronological groups so that while every game is unique, it captures the flavor and plot of the movie. The Alien version is a particular favorite at my board gaming group, albeit posing a tough challenge we’ve never overcome.