The 2026 Winter Olympics have put fresh attention on winter sports. From the flashy ones like ski jumping and snowboarding to the elegant ones like figure skating. There are also some that get recognized with a sort of, ‘oh yeah, that’s an Olympic sport isn’t it?’

I feel like biathlon falls into this latter category. Which is a shame, because it’s a special skill set to ski your way across challenging terrain and then come to a full stop to shoot at a target 50 meters away. That’s a lot of work. I am tired just thinking about it. This is why I play board games. You know, another reason I play board games? It lets me ski a biathlon from the comfort of my home with a warm beverage in hand. No snow, or physical exertion required. So you wanna see how you stack up? Well, load your dice and shuffle your cards, we’ve got a biathlon to run!

Gameplay Overview:

There are two steps to a biathlon: skiing and shooting. The skiing in Biathlon Blast is managed with cards. There are eight different athletes to choose from, each with their own deck of nine cards. Additional cards are added from an open-to-all-players stack whenever you cross the start line (this will happen three times in the game). There is some variability in the player decks, but overall, they are pretty similar.

Some movement card examples. Anything with a darker blue background can only be used once before discarding.

The cards provide a movement allowance across the different types of terrain and determine any increase or decrease in your heart rate (tracked with a heart-shaped token on your player board). The movement cards also allow you to change wind direction. Tailwinds reduce your heart rate, headwinds increase it. Cards have two action choices, one is stronger than the other, but using the stronger action usually means you are losing that card for the rest of the game.

At the end of laps one and two, you stop to shoot. To shoot, you roll dice, earning points depending on how many dice are at or above the value indicated by your heart rate. These points are then converted into movement to start your next lap. After lap three, you head to the finish line—first player across the finish line with a heart rate under 10 wins.

The skiers are lined up and ready to shoot! This is the ‘easier’ side of the board, it’s still no cake walk.

Game Experience:

The card and dice combo is actually quite elegant. The dice are used not just to score shooting but also to set values for the different colors. Some cards set your heart rate increase based on the value of the blue die, for example. So having the dice change a couple of times throughout the game keeps things from getting too stale. Losing cards from play after the more powerful action adds tension to the decision-making, but also makes it really easy to deplete your deck without realizing that you suddenly don’t have movement over more than the easiest terrain. I might be speaking from experience there.

The production value is really good, there’s even back up cardboard standee images in case one gets worn out.

There are nine possible athletes, each with their own stats and some minor variance in their card actions. The real variability in actions and powers is in the colors. There are six colors, and each has its own bonus. For example, the blue player can use ski wax to lower their heart rate, while the green player can use ski wax to gain extra movement. There are a few spots on the board that grant ski wax bonuses of a specific color to all players, but if you don’t end your turn on one, you don’t ever get to use another color bonus. Colors are randomly chosen at the beginning of the game.

The multiple athletes, varied color powers make for a large number of variations in the play, which also makes it hard to settle on a particular winning combination since you don’t get to choose your color. That evens out the play over multiple games. The board is double-sided, adding another layer of variety.

Coming into the home stretch! First across the finish line (behind the shooting range) claims victory.

Despite all the possible variations, it’s not an overly complicated game, and the built-in differences mean you are managing the rules a little differently each game, not learning entirely new ones. There are one or two places I think the rule book could have been clearer, but overall, it was not a complicated learning experience.

All in all, it’s an enjoyable game, relatively quick to learn and difficult for any one player to really run away with it (unless someone spends all their cards). Biathlon is not a sport with a ton of games based around it either, so it has a built-in feeling of novelty.

Final Thoughts:

Biathlon Blast has a fun theme, the artwork is cute, and the little skiing standees are adorable. The game plays well, and doesn’t over stay it’s welcome. It’s not going to be a first-choice-every-time game, but it’s going to be staying in my collection for those dreary winter afternoons when it’s too cold to want to be outside for real.

Final Score: 3.5 Stars – Solid game with a lot of variability built into straightforward rules.

Hits
• Cute and thematic art
• Relatively novel theme

Misses
• Gotta watch card count
• It is possible to get stuck