We’ve played a lot of small, light games. Let face it, there is a ton out there. Even some bigger old school games, like Candyland & Chutes and Ladders, don’t take very long. With light games, before you know it, the game is over. To really grab people these days, you have to have a concept that’s light and fun, but also pulls people in right away. Some companies have a knack for light games, and that’s where subQuark Games comes in with Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse.
What’s inside?
11 Mini Meeples (5 Blue Mini Meeples and 5 Yellow Mini Meeples, and One Big Green Monster Meeple)
Five Dice (2 Blue, 2 Yellow, and 1 Green)
2 White Crate Tokens
1 Manhole Token (You get 2 Manhole Tokens in the Deluxe Version)
1 Custom Playmat (Available in the Deluxe Version)
1 Mini Game Poster (Available in Both the Base and Deluxe Versions)
Mini Apocalypse Soundtrack Download (Available in Both the Base and Deluxe Versions)
1 Mini Apocalypse Journal (Available in the Deluxe Version)
What is Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse? It’s a quick two player game with a dice roll mechanic of getting your meeples to stand up after transformers blow and your meeples go unconscious, get one supply box, and get at least 4 meeples into the fallout shelter and shut the fallout shelter closed before the mutant monster destroys Meepletown. Now, that seems simple enough, but Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse is more than just a dice rolling game.
You’ve heard that the number 7 is lucky right? Well, in this game, 7 is your best friend. If you can’t roll a seven to save your life, then this game may be your meeple undoing! It’s a fast paced game where you and the other player race to roll a 7 to perform these moves:
Get 1 Meeple to it’s Feet
Get 1 Standing Meeple into the Fallout Shelter
Kick Down 1 Standing Opponent
Toss Out 1 Opponent Out of the Fallout Shelter (You Must Have One Meeple in the Fall Out Shelter)
Send Out a Recon Pair of Meeples to Grab a Supply Box
Knock Down 1 Recon Meeple
Stand Up 1 Recon Meeple
Put in 1 Supply Box into the Fallout Shelter with a Recon Pair of Meeples
Seal the Fallout Shelter- You need at least 4 Meeples and 1 Supply Box in the Fallout Shelter to Pull the Shelter Closed for the Win!
But how does the Monster Meeple come into play?
The 1 green die is the monster die. Every time a player rolls doubles of the number that’s on the monster die, starting with six and spinning down each time doubles are rolled, the countdown begins toward the destruction of Meepletown. Once the monster die gets to one, the game is over and the monster destroys all. Or is it?
Whomever rolled the double ones gets to make a decision. They can sacrifice one of their meeples to save the city or pass to the other player. Then the other player can sacrifice their meeple to save the city also. If no one does, the game is over and the city lays in ruins. Each player can sacrifice 1 meeple to save the city to reach the win goal, but may sacrifice more to keep the game going. But you MUST have at least 4 meeples to win the game.
To get a supply box into the Fallout Shelter, you must send out 2 meeples from the Fallout Shelter as a RECON PAIR to grab the supply box and put it into the Fallout Shelter. Once you send out the recon pair to grab the supply box, they can move as one. BE CAREFUL! If your opponent knocks down one of you recon meeples, you have to roll a 7 to get it back up, then you can proceed as normal.
With the base game and deluxe game, you also get the manhole to use. You need 7’s again to be able to use the manhole. Here’s how the manhole works: You can first claim the manhole, you can push an opponent off the manhole (the other meeple stay standing), throw the manhole cover at the Fallout Shelter to open it, and to knock down the monster.
In the standard game of Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse, the monster activates when the manhole cover is claimed or when one recon pair has grabbed a supply box. If you manage to throw the manhole cover at the monster, it is knocked down until doubles of the number of the monster die are rolled and then it stands up and continues to wreck havoc.
As you can see, there’s SO MUCH in just a tiny little package. Hence the saying, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”, or a least a mini tin. There is a lot to this game. Just getting Kurt’s five year old son Logan to try to roll as many 7’s as possible without even playing the game is fun enough. But add in trying to get your meeples to survive the other players trying to knock you down to save in their own skin, avoiding the monster, and rolling for you life, makes this game a fun little party game that doesn’t stop delivering. You will have fun with this tiny game, unless you yourself are not a lot of fun. There’s also other scenarios you can play to keep it fresh. You can also make up your own fun rules to spice it up!
Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse is coming to Kickstarter August 11th, and is going to be a lot of bang for your buck! The base game is only $12 with free shipping in the US and low shipping abroad, and the Deluxe Version is only going to cost you $19! How can you go wrong? Two words: You can’t!
On our patented/unpatented D8 Rating System we give Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse a 6 out of 8.
*We played a review copy and is not the final product. But the review copy is still amazing and is worth more than the possible cost. Also, penny in one of the pictures is the manhole cover. The manhole was not available during review.
Get your copy of Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse when it comes out on Kickstarter and let the fun begin! Thanks for reading!
Update: Go to Kickstarter now to help fund this great game! http://kck.st/1MhgPiu