Brewing a Successful Game
Usually, when you think of tabletop games, portability isn’t something that comes to mind. Tabletop games are a bulky hobby, and few exceptional games can actually fit in someone’s pocket.
One Free Elephant has the perfect game to solve this dilemma. Microbrew is now on Kickstarter, fully funded, and ready to go into the pockets of its backers in March 2019. Microbrew is a medium weight, worker placement/puzzle game designed for competitive play between two players. It has a wonderful brewing theme, with players battling to make the best beers and satisfy the most customers. The best part about it all? The game fits in an Altoids mint tin. Despite its size, there’s a lot of game in Microbrew, with over 60 tokens and 40 cards.
In Microbrew, players will need to solve puzzles to make the best brews. The game’s puzzle mechanic involves placing malt tokens in certain spots (and in a certain order) to create the purest beer. In addition to making the brews, the game also requires players to place workers in order to optimize their process and disrupt the turns of their opponent. Players will also need to consider the number of turns needed for fermentation while also satisfying their customers’ unique tastes in beer.
We got a chance to speak to game designer Nigel Kennington about the process of creating Microbrew, which is One Free Elephant’s third tabletop game. “Firstly, we’d been told our previous game boxes were too small for “the amount of game” that’s in them and being contrary buggers, that made us want to make one with an even higher game/space ratio,” says Kennington. “We then found the Board Game Geek Mint Tin competition and decided to enter that for fun.” After coming up with a list about the best parts of running a microbrewery, the team got to work on the game’s mechanics. It took about six months, with many revisions to the rules and tons of playtesting. The final product would go on to win 1st place overall as well as the prize for Most Innovative Mechanism during the Mint Tin competition
There are now 16 recipe cards for the beers, with 13 of them being unique. 12 of these beers are craft beers while one is a simple generic beer. Microbrew features stouts, ales, and lagers, each with their own unique composition of light and dark malts.
The folks at One Free Elephant love puzzle worker-placements games. “Some of the influences would definitely include Viticulture, Caverna, Segrada, Quadropolis and Potion Explosion,” says Kennington. “It would also include Puzzle Pirates, Bejewelled, Puzzle Quest and Startopia from video games.”
Fans of One Free Elephant know that every one of their games includes a free elephant inside. Somehow, Microbrew won’t disappoint fans. “Because space was so tight with Microbrew we were genuinely worried we weren’t going to be able to do it because the elephant wouldn’t fit. But we got it in there, don’t you worry,” jokes Kennington, ensuring that One Free Elephant stays true to its name.
Microbrew has a few days left in its campaign, and even though it has been successfully funded, there are still some stretch goals to reach. One Free Elephant is determined to focus on Microbrew instead of thinking about any other projects. “We had a plan for what we were going to do after ORE-SOME and Carcosa was not part of that plan. We had a plan for what we were going to do after Carcosa, and Microbrew was not part of that plan,” reflects Kennington. “So, we’ve decided to learn our lesson and not plan anything until Microbrew is on a boat. Seems like the most efficient way to do it for a change!”