Time to Invent in Scrapyard Empire
Scrapyard Empire Previewed
By Julie Morley
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Scrapyard Empire is a tabletop game challenging players to collect parts and piece together some interesting inventions.
I previously wrote an article announcing the launch of Scrapyard Empire’s Kickstarter campaign but with the introduction of pleasant news, I also would love to explain Scrapyard Empire a little bit more in depth. First of all, since the announcement’s post, Galliant Games’s Scrapyard Empire has reached full funding and then some. Don’t stress though, there is plenty of time remaining the campaign if you want to check it out. If you’re a little doubtful, have no fear, I’m here to spread the word.
Scrapyard Empire is a tabletop game created by Hoboken’s own Galliant Games designed to be two playable games in one: the main game which can involve up to four players that lasts roughly 30-60 minutes, and a quick round of Solitaire that lasts about 10-15 minutes long. Maybe you’re planning to play Scrapyard Empire with some friends and there’s something desperately required to take up your waiting time. Why not spend it playing a quick round of Solitaire?
The cards are divided up into three types: parts, small machines, and inventions. Players must collect parts to create small machines and small machines are required for create inventions.
Now, Scrapyard Empire is anything but your typical collection game. Sure, you can trade, and there are a few out there that require some artistic doodling awesomeness, but how many games require their players to jump right into a pile of scrap? That’s right. None.
Scrapyard Empire demands players bring their ingenuity to the table and let their imaginations run wild. The first player to build two inventions wins the game.
What’s all this talk of inventions?
Players are each given interesting characters equipped with their own special abilities that are advantageous in gameplay.
Sir Winston Derbyshire IV has passed away with billions of dollars in assets left behind without an heir to cuddle them tightly. Derbyshire adored science and inventions to say the least. In his will, he states that a part of his estate will be put towards an abnormal competition. In a mass scrapyard lies miscellaneous machinery, parts, and out of the ordinary bits open to whatever inventive individual is willing to test their luck and be the first to create the world’s more absurd and mind-boggling inventions ever known.
Each person is given blueprints seen by no one other than Derbyshire himself. The challenge is to only incorporate items found in the scrapyard to construct dazzling creations. Whoever creates two inventions first will inherit one million dollars and the freedom to do whatever they desire with the scrapyard.
It all begins when a multimillionaire does something unconventional with his estate.
Naturally, with such an alluring prize, some questionable and deceitful characters arrive out of the woodwork.
Each regular box set includes 100 part cards, 53 small machine cards, 8 invention cards, and 8 character cards. The deluxe edition offers premium dice and beautiful crafted miniatures for each of the 8 inventions. Additionally, players will have their own card mats inspired by Jules Verne’s Voyages Extraordinaires.
Each player is given an eccentric character with their own special abilities and skills. There are up to eight different invention cards to spread among the four players, giving them two inventions to create. In order to create the invention, players need to create small machines. Honestly, the game would be all too easy if you could simply find a Clockwork Brain just hanging around the scrapyard, so players need to collect parts to create the small machine, which are located in the scrapyard. It normally takes three parts to create a small machine and three small machines to create the actual invention.
Players will construct wacky and odd (and admittedly kind of awesome) inventions with their miscellaneous parts.
Players are given eight different part cards to work with when starting out the game and are required to draw cards if they’re lacking any parts. When parts are gathered, some have to be let go. It wouldn’t be fair, after all, if one player just had a mass pile of parts. There needs to be a little compromise. In a combination of stealing from opponents, adding and removing parts, and pulling additional inventions, players work their way to creating two inventions for that glorious inheritance.
Scrapyard Empire is intended to be a fun, engaging, strategic tabletop game that has risen greatly in popularity on Kickstarter. We can look forward to seeing Scrapyard Empire shipped out to backers in March of 2015. Given the popularity so far, maybe we can expect to see it on store shelves as well sometime next year.
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[author image=”http://cliqist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/julie.jpg” ]Julie Morley is a freelance writer and comic artist from Spring, Texas. She attended the Academy of Art University for two years, studying Animation and Illustration. Whilst here, she learned about writing comic scripts, storyboards, and general storytelling. Since leaving college, she has been working on personal comic projects, stories, and illustrations. She aspires to release a self published comic within two years. For the majority of her life, she has been playing console games, typically being third-person shooters and sandboxes. Her favorite game of existence is Dark Cloud II (Dark Chronicle) and her favorite Indie game is Gone Home.[/author]
