Have you ever had a great idea for something and then not long after it materializes in some form or another? That great book idea, a catchy song, that t-shirt idea that’s been rattling around your head. It’s part of the collective consciousness, and it’s impossible to escape or genuinely be upset about. It happens. Same goes with game ideas, however instead of someone else taking the idea and bringing it to fruition, the world goes and gets itself a worldwide pandemic.

This is the case with Save Patient Zero. A unique team-based game where two teams race to find an antidote for a new pathogen identified in the titular Patient Zero. Coming to Kickstarter today, the designers of this game were kind enough to provide a prototype copy of the game with a note pointing out that design began for this well before the world was afflicted with COVID-19. It’s a thoughtful gesture, and ultimately the theme does not come across as gratuitous nor insensitive in this day and age.

Science!!

Save Patient Zero is a deceptively simple game which splits players into two teams, along with 1 other player designated as “Savvy”, the Lab Computer (acting as sort of the game…

The post Save Patient Zero Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Tabletop games have seemingly covered every theme possible: spacecraft vying for dominance of the galaxy, farmers working to have the most plentiful harvests possible, colonizing Mars, rebuilding destroyed cities, running auto plants, you name it! Surprisingly, until I played Big Easy Busking, I hadn’t come across a game where the theme was street musicians vying for control of the crowd, the love of the city.

Area control games are a particular love of mine, but I do grow weary of the various iterations of soldiers/creatures/ships that can seize power of designated locations after a while. Having played the alto sax most of my life, and having a deep love of jazz and street music in general, it is with great pleasure to play a game that marries the area-control mechanic with the concept of musicians competing against each other for various blocks of the city.

The Game

As I’ve noted, Big Easy Busking is an area-control game, and will involve 3 rounds where you must judiciously apply the resources available to you in order to achieve the maximum love from the crowd. Each player takes a band with an associated meeple color; your band is represented by your band card with 3 musicians: the sax player, the drummer, and the trumpeter. Every musician starts with 4 energy cubes…

The post Big Easy Busking Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Overview

Trade in your swords and shields for rocket boots and laser blasters. The same enjoyable mechanics that made the original Clank! so much fun to play carry over into space. The basic premise is the same, players take the mantle of an interloper looking to burgle goods from a perilous destination.  Building your deck throughout the course of the adventure, increasing your likelihood of getting greater treasures but also of incurring the wrath of Eradikus, the intrepid adventurers make their way through a spaceship fraught with danger at every step.

Setup and Building Your Deck

Unlike the double-sided gameboard in Clank!, In! Space! utilizes dual-sided modular pieces that allow a more customizable experience. Mixing and matching the sides allows for varied difficulty and unpredictability; something that was lacking from the original game (although the two-sided board did add some variance) but is gladly a part of this experience. Much like in Clank!, we put on all the artifacts, secrets (of the minor and major variety) and set up the market and bank. Falling in the category of ‘if it ain’t broke’, this provides a nice continuity in set up.

Instead of an angry dragon ready to breath mighty flame at the…

The post Clank! In! Space! Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

From Lucky Duck games, and designer Sen-Foong Lim (of Junk Art fame, a personal favorite), comes a unique deck building game for 2-4 players. where you dip into your personal gene pool to breed advanced monsters to do battle in the Arena and ultimately gain supremacy! “Another deckbuilder?” you say? “Scott, come on! My Legendary collection is spilling over, and I cannot abide another one. Give me a break!” Well, slow your roll, you card-loving gamer. Let’s break it down

[rps-include post=6815]

In Your Genes - An Overview

So what makes Mutants different, you may ask? At first blush it bears the hallmarks of your typical deck building game. Starting with a hand of basic cards, you build your deck to become stronger with each turn. You battle against other players in order to gain more Prestige points over the course of a set number of rounds until one player stands victorious. The difference is in is the structure of the game. Mutants plays over 5 rounds and each player begins with the same 6 cards in their hand (representing each of the Genetic pools). Each person plays their turn in order until everyone has either exhausted their hand or another player is…

The post Mutants Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

If you’re like me, you grew up watching kung fu movies ‘til all hours, have a weird love for all things MMA and boxing, and wished on some level you could take to the mats, stare someone down, and deliver a flying dragon kick of fury to your legendary opponent. Or you’re not like me, but you still want to deliver a solid beatdown without the legal consequences or the broken bones that would likely ensue. In either case, UNCAGED is dealing out exactly what you’re hoping for.

Just hitting the mats on Kickstarter (there’s going to be a LOT of fighting related puns, I apologize in advance) UNCAGED: World Fighters is a 2-player card game that puts you in the ring, mano y mano, with another player. If you’ve ever played any dueling card games (Magic, Netrunner, et al.) the general mechanics will be pleasantly familiar. Each fighter (player) builds their hand and goes to war. It’s quick, it’s really easy to pick up, and it is a LOT of fun. Let’s get in the ring!

Round One

Play is actually broken up into three rounds in which players will both attack and defend against the other. Players select their…

The post UNCAGED: World Fighters Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Join Meeple Mountain as we welcome Vital Lacerda, designer of award winnings games like Vinhos, Kanban: Driver's Edition, C02, and Lisboa, to the interview table! Welcome!

You started working in the advertising industry and even had your own agency, but then switched to designing board games.  What made you want to become a board game designer?

I played and changed rules from games since I was a kid and I was totally bored and tired about seeing my ad being changed because the client’s wife liked more the yellow than the blue.

Do you feel that your background as an art director helps or hinders you when working with artists?

I think and hope so. I’m used to work with artists. I did it for many years almost daily.

You have quite a range of themes in your games, from Car manufacturing in Kanban, to weather and atmospheric conditions in CO2, to wine making and distribution in Vinhos. How do you select a theme for your games?

I just look what is the most interesting to me at the time I’m looking for the game theme. Basically all my game themes are about my life interests.

How do you research a theme in order to accurately portray…

The post Interview with Vital Lacerda, Designer Extraordinaire appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

The Rules of the Road

Remember when you were a kid, and you played Milles Bornes at your grandparents’ with your brother til 2am when you visited? Ok, maybe that was just me. But this game plays like MIlles Bornes. A lot, actually. This feels like a loving homage to that game with a backpacking theme and some variations on Action cards. This is by no means a bad thing, as why reinvent the wheel if you want to have a good time.

The Deal

Each player is dealt 8 cards, and 3 common cards are put on the table face up. In your hand, you look for a Country card which will become your Starting Travel Point (the odds are you will be dealt at least…

The post Travelin’ Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Now, Sherman, bring us to about a year ago. The Sadler Brothers, Brady and Adam (designers of many well known games such as Descent, Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game, and Star Wars: X-Wing), run a Kickstarter for Street Masters: Rise of the Kingdom. I didn’t know about it at the time; somehow it completely passed me by. But a lot of people saw something special in it, a lot of folks voted with their wallets and saw the stretch goals grow, and in the past couple of months, it finally arrived in the hands of many excited gamers.

First Hit

I can’t claim I was waiting with the anticipation that…

The post Street Masters: Rise of the Kingdom Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

(Note: The version this review is based upon is a prototype, and this does not reflect the final components and rules for the game)

Darwin’s Choice is a card game for 2-6 players that is currently available on a fully funded Kickstarter, with 20 days remaining. Extinction isn’t in the cards for Darwin’s Choice, but it does play a critical element in the game as you face off with your friends and/or family in your quest to win the most Darwin Points.

Let’s back up a few hundred millennia.

In a Protozoic Nutshell

Players have four rounds to create, mutate, and migrate different animal species in different vegetation zones that appear in the game. Your creatures might die off during the course of a round from not adapting to the changes in the environment, or they might be eaten by a more dominant species. It’s survival of the fittest, and you’re at the mercy of the luck of the draw. By the end of the fourth round, whichever player has the most Darwin Points (awarded at the end of each round) has attained mastery of all things species related!

Setup

Each…

The post Darwin’s Choice Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

It’s the fall of 2014 and a man in his late 30s is glued to his controller at 3am, traversing a beautiful landscape rendered before his eyes as he hunts, shoots, skins, rappels, drives, and hanglides his way to freeing the land from a tyrannical group of rebels. The game: Far Cry 4. The man: isn’t it obvious? Me. Back then, this was the pinnacle of my solo video gaming experience. A meticulously-crafted world where anything and everything could be done. There was no one direct path to victory, no 'right' way to do anything.

But to quote Ferris Bueller, “It's like a museum. It's very beautiful, and very cold, and you're not allowed to touch anything.”

Like most of us, I love to play games. It wasn't always just video games, they’re simply the shiniest and most accessible option available. As with every modern pop culture passion, the genesis of my love of gaming begins in the 80s (doesn't everything begin in the 80s?). Starting with the classic board games we all played as kids (Monopoly, Life, Candyland), to the more seemingly esoteric (Miles Bornes, Dark Tower, Crossbows and Catapults); board games became a particular obsession for me. Any chance my brother and I had, we'd break out…

The post All the Feelies: One Man’s Journey from the Tabletop, to the Digital Landscape, and Back appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

I am by no means a party person, but I’ve come here to play a party game and tell the tale. Usually, my preferred idea of a game night involves multiple boards, tableaus, spreadsheets, and a good 4 hours which may or may not end long-standing friendships. But every so often, a casual game will rise above your typical Cards Against Humanity and Codenames (yes, I’m looking at you with a side-eye, Codenames) fare. Decrypto, cracking its way into your local FLGS April 19th from the good folks at Le Scorpion Masque (and Iello Games), has solved the puzzle of how to get me to enjoy a short, focused party game.

So ends the extent of my cryptography related puns. Let’s talk about the game!

Decrypto Overview

Decrypto is a simple code-cracking team game in which each group tries  to discern a 3 digit code by interpreting messages posed by teammates while at the same time trying to figure out the opposing team’s codes.

Each team is given a code screen (pictured below) and 4 cards numbered 1 through 4 with a single word printed…

The post Decrypto Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.