All images and gameplay are taken from footage of the game Gremlins Inc. Available on steam here.

Gameplay: Immortal Capitalism, As you would expect

This game plays like a rat wheel, a glorious rat wheel with each rung built on the bones of your opponent's dreams of wealth and political prestige, and it is quite satisfying. The game plays in series of "combos" where the player will play a series of cards for movement and effects (see rules and ranked play section below) create a rise to the pinnacle of victory, only to be pulled by their ankles by other players grasping for the same victory. This game is full of tricks, strategy, decision making, and of course a bit of luck. Overall it's gameplay is well refined with new cards being added periodically to spice up gameplay and various alternate maps. Now without further or do we will cover the gameplay a bit more in depth and outline why this immortal gremlins, their sponsors, and their endless conniving to reach their own avaricious goals perfectly represents the gameplay from a lore perspective aswell. Truly this game combines numerous elements to create an incredibly entertaining board game experience, included an active and engaged ranked play scene.

Ranked, Rules, Resources, and Relishing RNG

• Movement The board and Squares

In this game you move using the cards drawn or play them on the squares you land on, there are a variety of squares available each with their own effects and pros and cons. Your objective is to play your cards well and obtain 30 points (gears) before your other 3 opponent's vying for the same victory condition. The players must navigate the map avoiding misfortune, each other, and detention by the police. While also simultaneously obtaining votes/ political prestige, increased income, the office of governor, currency, malicious reputations, or turns in the pokey. (Below is an example of a card.

• Cards and how they are played

Movement value when played to move in the top right, location where it can be played for it's bonus in the bottom left, the bonus is located when hovering over the gear on the card or posted as resource values above the card title: gold/votes etc.)

Here is a quick rundown of resources the squares and what they do.

• Resources: Votes effect the elections (2), coins (1) are used to pay for playing cards, income value ( 5 ) is the amount of coins you gain passing over an income space, and bribe value ( 5 lower half) is how much you pay passing over bribe spots. Gears (4) are the points that need to be acquired for the game's win condition and malice (3) adds 1 to your bribe value per malice.

The Bank: Various cards here have high coin cost and gear gain OR increase the income of the character. The player can also spend 10 more gold than their current income to increase their income by 10.

Income spots: grant you your current income when you pass over them, DOUBLE when you land on them.

Bribe spots: litter the landscape and populate the path to the Astral plane. Passing over each Bribe spot you must pay your bribe value and lose some coins you spent you time getting your grubby little mitts on. This value is increased by 1 for every malice you have. If you land on one of these spots you must pay double or gain 2 malice.

Risk spots: pepper the board. When you land on one of these you must roll a die, if you roll a 1 you draw the next misfortune from the misfortune deck.

Police Spots: are wedged next to risk spots all over the place. If you land on a police spot you roll a die, if you roll a 1 you are arrested and sent to Jail.

Misfortune spots: A terrible event is drawn from the misfortune deck. If you land there you must choice an opponent to pick one of two cards drawn for you to encounter. These cards are usually TERRIBLE to encounter, but some are mildly beneficial or non-detrimental.

Gambling Spots: Gambling spots sport a plethora of benefits and detriments you can roll for (1-6) when you land on the square. Cards played here are usually tricks of some sort (swapping spaces with another player, movement surprises etc.).

The Astral Plane:is where the most powerful immortals dwell, and large cards can be played for HEAVY point and vote increases. The only downside being you must bypass a string of bribe squares to reach it and a misfortune space to leave it. There are some cards that are ALWAYS available to play at the astral plane (but are available to ALL players who enter who pay the price). Don't you worry dear governor you don't have to pay the bribes

Jail: Where one goes when arrested. Sometimes a stay behind bars car lead to profitable, albeit unsavory, outcomes. You must bypass a misfortune space to exit this square.

The Office: The office is where the player can go to sell their votes or play an array of cards with varying strategies (like with any space). The cards here are usually medium to low gear value cards or powerful and affordable vote gathering (or taking away) cards.

The Casino: is where the Gremlins can go to risk it all and gamble for up to 100 coins, or lose them. If a gremlin loses coins on this space they gain malice. Most of the cards here relate to random chance or offer petty low cost gear boosts.

The Court: The court has a variety of cards that cost votes to operate for powerful effects or mischievous obstacles to hinder your opponents. Gear cards you can play here are of heavy cost but heavy gear value. You can pay 40 coins to steal a vote from another player on this space.

The Marketplace: Players can sell 1 gear here for 200 coins. Cards played here are for low to medium gear value or have a variety of card drawing and movement effects. For the most part.

The Junkyard: The junkyard gives the poorest player in the game 30 coins upon entry and the player can spin a die (1-6) for a 50 percent chance at up to 30 gold or a chance at losing 1 vote (1). The junkyard offers a lot of medium or low value gear cards with tricky effects to benefit the underdog, or cards used for movement, card draw, or extra turns.

The Plant: The plant offers a variety of valuable gear cost to coin ratio cards to play, but not much else. The player can also miss a turn to gain 50 coins and lose 1 malice on this space.

Hell: Going to hell you must bypass a misfortune space. Upon landing on this space you have the opportunity to play a variety of cards that grant a great deal of malice at great personal benefit or opponent detriment. Including some "always available" in game cards similar to the astral plane. After playing any cards available the player discards all cards for new cards at random and gains 100 coins and 1 malice.

Each space has it's own strategies, cards to play, and disadvantages. They all mesh perfectly together to create a deceptively addictive, cutthroat dog eat dog experience.

Other Mechanics: Politics: You can win an election that happens every 20 turns by having the most votes (the player with the least malice gains 3 votes come election time). The governor can pick up all paid bribes at the cost of 1 malice a piece (during his turn). The governor does not roll on police spots or pay bribes.

Aesthetic, Lore, and Feel: Immortal Machinations

All being in this plane are immortal and the gremlins attempting to gain more status, wealth, and prestige than their peers. Quite simply out of the boredom from being immortal, there are various entities that live on the astral plane or in hell that are up to their own machinations in worlds all their own. However, sometimes they contract the help of these "determined" gremlins as they scurry about trying to obtain physical wealth. The boardgame steampunk aesthetic coupled with the interesting and varied lore match the gameplay innately. The artwork also adds an additional layer of uniqueness to the game itself with it's various hatching and crosshatching of hand drawn cards.

Tournaments? Sometimes, but not regularly.

This game does host tournaments, they aren't for huge prizes and they aren't often but they do host them. In addition to that you can earn a loot box for every 3 wins you muster (a lot harder than it seems!). That can be traded on the steam market or opened and bound to your account as an item. Just web2 prizes here, but still prizes with $ value.

Thoughts on strategies and my playthrough

In this particular paythrough I won with the merchant, as it was the best choice out of the 3 characters they let you pick at the begin of a ranked game (chosen at random). This character can avoid misfortune and bribes, and additionally sells points for more coins than average. Overall all of these abilities seemed strong and able to be used in any situation or with any playstyle.

Getting points the fastest is the highest priority, so any card that gives you points is ideal to play as quickly as possible. However being in position 1 makes you the prime target for the enemy's potential negative cards, so there is a balance of what to play and when that needs to be achieved to not give up victory to the runner up who is also within arms reach.

During this playthrough I attempted to NOT be the leading player and attract attention and gradually build up small or medium point cards. Once victory was in reach I was in my enemy's sights, and only by taking one last bribe was I able to eek by victory with my enemies at my heels. This game was close, there were various pitfalls and well played hands from my opponents aswell. This was not an easy victory, no victory is easy in Gremlins inc. If I were another character I would have used a different strategy on the board to achieve victory.

TLDR is this game worth it? How many stars?

My personal rating for this game is 4 stars. It is a fun board game and worth your time, especially during a sale. The community is active and matches are a rush of sly schemes and collapsed dreams. The game is easy to learn, but experience knowledge of the cards and character strategy are needed to progress.

However I realize not everyone is into board games so below I have a little split review aswell.

Are you into board games?

• Yes

Well then this game is right up your alley. It's strategy, tactics and dice rolls will all feel snug as you take the wheel and direction your immortal minion around the board with your opponents at your heels. For fans of tabletops or boardgames this game could easily be a 5/5

• No

If you aren't typically into board games or games with slow tempo (until things get closer to endgame with combos etc.) this game will seem like it's "drawn out". However, the gameplay itself will be fun for playing with friends since it's very "mario party"-esque in it's mechanics of winning by throwing obstacles in the way of other players. I would give this game a 3-3.5 for those who aren't fans of board games, which considering everything is still pretty good. It's a fun party game with active community and is at the very least worth it's price on a sale.