Fans of idol anime such as Love Live! and The iDOLM@STER might want to check out Japanime Games’ upcoming card game Starlight Stage. Available with pre-order bonuses until 15 March, Starlight Stage puts players in charge of a talent agency trying to turn newbie idols into top celebrities.
Designed by Hironatsu Yamada, Starlight Stage is a 3-4 player set collection game that features suitably cute artwork and fairly straightforward mechanics. Players collect three different kinds of talent resources – acting, music and charm – which are then spent to draft new cards to train idols, organise their performances and turn them into superstars.
A publisher specialising in bringing Japanese card games to the West, Japanime Games is best known for deckbuilders Heart of Crown and Tanto Cuore. Starlight Stage looks to be a simpler proposition than either of those titles, but the theme seems sure to appeal to the anime market. As always, we recommend taking a dekko at the downloadable rules before you pony up, but if you fancy running an idol agency from your tabletop, this may be the game for you.
