Anime icon Dragon Ball Z will power up with a new series of board games next year

Dragon Ball Z is headed back to the tabletop in a big way, with the announcement of an upcoming series of board games based on the iconic Japanese anime.

The incoming run of titles – described as “a new collection of themed non-collectible board, tile-laying and dice games” – will kick off next March with a co-op dice game designed by Chris Bryan, showrunner of the tabletop-themed web series Board With Life.

Dragon Ball Z: Perfect Cell sees up to four players taking control of various characters from the DBZ-verse and battling together against long-running villain Perfect Cell by rolling pools of custom dice to generate energy, dish out damage, aid their teammates and upgrade their fighters.

Cell will respond by attacking the group, healing his damage and restricting the upgrades available to the players. Each showdown is said to play in about half an hour to 45 minutes.

It’s not the first time publisher IDW has ventured into adapting fan-favourite TV animations for the tabletop, as it recently Kickstarted a board game based on The Legend of Korra’s pro-bending sport, raising over $250,000.