Player Count: 1-4
You’ll like this if you like: Memory Games.
Published by: Teleporthole Games Ltd
Designed by: Andrew Klinkenberg
This is a preview of a prototype copy so some things may change in the final game. Hence no score above.
Voids: Memory Meets matter is hitting kickstarter in November 2022, you can find more information here. If you want to see how this plays there is a simple video here.
The game will available as a PnP or fully published game at an affordable price. Voids works as a solo or multi-player game, with a co-op and competitive mode. It is very easy to learn, and offers some lovely strategic choices.
Backers will be able to get involved in the campaign, voting on the type of cards that will be made, and even access STL files for a 3D custom box for the game. But how does it play?
Set Up
Place the tiles face down on the table in a seven by seven grid like above. Place the worm hole card in the very centre, and the stacked coloured Matter Pool cards in the four corners. Then each player will choose one of the four coloured tiles to play as, and will place this into the centre of the table over the worm hole card. You are now ready to play.
How to Play
On your turn, you will be moving your playing tile one space orthogonally out towards the four corners. You are looking to collect three of the Matter Pool cards, returning them to the central worm hole card in order to win. This is a race!
However, as you move, you will un-cover different cards as you go. These will either help or hinder your progress. Each space you move to you must pick up that card and bring it into your hand. You can only ever have two cards in your hand, so if you ever must take a third card, you need to play one of the three you now have into the space you are moving from. When you play a card, you must play it face down. Ideally, remembering what you placed in case you come back this sway again. When you play a card in this way you can use it's power.
If you don't lay a card, this will mean that as you move, you will leave spaces behind you where you have been. Void spaces. These cannot be moved through as easily without certain powers, otherwise you must use two turns to cross them instead of the usual one. You can use the reverse of your player card to show progress here. As shown with the double blue triangle above.
The Warp is the first power above on the far left. This card when played allows a player to move in a straight line as far as they choose until they are blocked by the edge of the game board, a void space, or one of the light/dark tokens.
The central card above is the Void card. When you pick these up they must be removed from the game instantly. This increases the amount of void spaces on the board.
The far right card above is the Matter Bridge card. This allows players to fill previously created void areas and move through them in one turn.
Other cards that will block players are the light and dark cards shown above. You can play these cards face up on any face down game card to slow down other players. In order to get through these spaces, you must either take two turns, or play the opposite card onto it to remove both from the game.
The middle card above is the boost card, this allows you to move two spaces on your turn instead of the usual one. When played, they would only allow you to move one space if encountering a light/dark space though.
Co-Op Play
You can also play this game cooperatively by making a few slight changes to the rules. First, cards held in players hands are available to all players on all turns as a collective resource. Essentially, players can share cards. The light and dark cards that are found are left flipped face up in the space they were and will not block any players movement. However, as soon as the opposite card is found, both are then removed from the game, creating voids in the board. Finally, voids can only can crossed using a matter bridge in this mode. You cannot move through using two turns like in the competitive mode.
The game is won by returning the required amount of matter pool cards to the centre. This is determined by player count and the level of difficulty you want, from two in an easy two-player game up to seven in a hard two-player game.
Solo Mode
Solo mode works much the same way, with the same rule change for light and dark cards, and the matter bridge. There is also a score to try and beat, ranging from five in easy mode to 12 in hard mode.
Is it Fun?
I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys small box strategy games that require good memory, forward planning, and depending on the game mode, either good team work or the ability to scupper another players plan!
I enjoyed the competitive mode over the solo and co-op myself, as I found the cards and ruleset better suited to race style take-that game. Trying to out manoeuvre your opponents, and collect the matter pool cards first was a fun challenge and process for me. Whereas the other modes felt to much like solitaire. If the cards were in my favour, I will do well. If not, I would not.
Whereas the competitive game mode created a lot of tension and I enjoyed the race element this created. In the solo and co-op mode it's more a matter of trying to do something before the board became too full of void cards. Which is quite simple once you get the hang of the game mechanics. As such, it felt more like a campaign style progression as I moved through the levels of difficulty as I developed with the game. Just ticking off each level of difficulty as I improved my understanding of the game. However, I can see how others would love this development. I myself love it in other games such as The Mind.
I will watch this campaign with interest, and am keen to see what other game's this designer brings to the table over the coming years. There certainly seems to be an interesting ramping up in their ambition from project to project. I am glad I am here and able to enjoy their games at this stage in their development.