It’s been just over a month since PAX Aus 2023, and while much of the focus was on the big video game presence, especially among the indies, I think it’s time for the bigger-than-ever tabletop section to receive its share of the love. Board games are an important part of what makes PAX, well, PAX. Last year, the show included an indie board game section, and it returned this year with thirteen games. As it’s getting closer to Christmas, what better time to check out the showcase as a way to give you some gift ideas.
Boba Master
In Boba Master, up to ten players compete to create a bubble tea drink before everyone else. Of course, this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Tools are required to complete certain stages of the drink-making process, and they can be rather scarce. For example, there is only one ladle, required to scoop boba into the cup. Adding to the challenge, players can’t play cards from their own hands! Completing an action requires taking a card from another person’s hand or being incredibly lucky and picking it up from the deck. To further spice things up, there are action cards that allow players to mess with each other’s drinks. Players can swap their drink for one that is nearly completed, undo a player’s last action, or kindly bring another person’s drink up to the next stage.
Boba Master requires a minimum of two players but can accommodate up to ten. Playtime is about 15-30 minutes but can be longer or shorter depending on how the game pans out.
Check em out: Quokka Games
Alien Frenzy
Alien Frenzy is a competitive card game about an alien invasion where the last person to die wins. Luckily, and since the aliens were kind enough to let us know they were on their way, Earth is ready for their arrival. Not knowing how the aliens will react, many humans start preparing for what they assume is the end of days. This bunker mentality creates the preparation phase of the game.
During this phase, players use the supply deck. They take turns playing a card and completing its stated action before placing it in the discard pile. They then draw from the supply deck, knowing that a UFO card could appear at any time. The UFO is important because once it appears, the invasion phase begins.
The player who pulled the UFO card must show it to everyone and lay it face up on the table. They get the privilege (or misfortune) of going first during the Invasion phase — not once, but three times. During the invasion phase, the supply deck is no longer in use, and instead, players will draw from the invasion deck. Alien cards are concealed in the invasion deck. The player that draws an alien card must match it with one of their character cards. In so doing, that character’s ability is triggered, otherwise the player gets nothing. The game is over when all the character cards have been eliminated.
Alien Frenzy can be played with two to four players, and the total playtime is about 20-30 minutes. Alien Frenzy is available just yet, but a Kickstarter is on the way. The developers do have a website you can keep eye on for news on when the Kickstarter officially drops.
Check em out: Alien Frenzy | A Card Game With Aliens
Kingless
Kingless is a competitive card game where players fight to gain the most influence. The person that amasses the most influence at game’s end will be crowned King of the Dwarves. The person with the least influence will end up with the Fool’s Hat. (Editor’s note: Brutal. I love it. — David)
The last person who was crowned King gets to go first in Kingless. There are three card types in the game: Dwarf cards, Item cards and Event cards. Multiple Event cards can be played during a single turn (unless the Event card specifies that it will end the turn). Item and Dwarf cards can only be played once per turn, and they will have an action on them. Players must perform the action written, such as drawing a card, taking an opponent’s card or ending a turn. Dwarf cards will have a number on them, denoting their total influence.
Playing a card adds that card to your play area. Having six or more Dwarf or Item cards in your play area is one of the two ways to trigger the end game. The other is to run out of cards in the draw deck. Everyone gets one last turn before the game ends. After that, the player with the highest influence will receive the King’s Crown card, while the loser gets the Fool’s Hat card. If there is a tie, the winner will be decided in a rock-paper-scissors duel.
Kingless is a game for two to six players with twenty-minute rounds. The game is available to buy from the Two19 website and they will be launching the first expansion on Kickstarter soon.
Check em out: Kingless (two19.co)
Little Boxes
Little Boxes aren’t one game, but four different tabletop RPGs, each in their own self-contained box. Each box has its own scenario and is a great way to ease people from board game backgrounds into TTRPGS. The four current boxes each have differing stories and genres. The currently available Little Boxes include Salt and Almanacs, Villiagesong, Decaying Orbit and Our Mundane Supernatural Life.
Salt and Almanics is about becoming a travelling trader for a year, trying to break into the merchant world. It’s designed for one to four players and will take about three to six hours to complete. Not bad for about $50!
Villiagesong sees the players building a community through leadership. How will your decisions affect the future? Hopefully for the better. Villagesong is for one to four players and will take two to four hours to complete.
The odd one out, Decaying Orbit is set on an abandoned space station slowly descending toward a nearby planet. It’s up to the players to find out what happened to the space station before it burns up in the planet’s atmosphere and is destroyed. Two to five players are required to play Decaying Orbit, and the game will take one to two hours to complete.
The last game is Our Mundane Supernatural Life. It is a two-player slice-of-life game where one or both players are supernatural beings. It follows a single day in their less-than-normal life. It will take 60-90 minutes to complete.
Check em out: Storybrewers Roleplaying – Adventure With Us!
One Last Score
One Last Score is a competitive card game where the player who pulls off the most lucrative heists wins.
The lights have gone out in Las Vegas and it’s the perfect opportunity to Do Some Crimes. Six masterminds, each with their own unique ability, will need to assemble a crew and commit heists before the lights go back on. Players will take turns drawing from the crew deck and either perform a crew action or complete a heist. The heist cards feature symbols that will match the symbols on the crew cards. For example, a heist card worth only seven points will have one moustache and two diamonds, meaning it requires a crew of three. A 30-point heist requires a crew of six, each with a different symbol. Use the crew cards’ special abilities, complete heists and become the mastermind with the most points under your belt to win.
One Last Score is for two to six players, with an average playtime of 20 minutes. It has successfully completed its Kickstarter, smashing its goals, so hopefully, it’ll be available to purchase soon.
One Last Score by Good Gravy Media — Kickstarter
Cloudbreaker Alliance
An easily accessible tabletop role-playing game, Cloudbreaker Alliance features a strong narrative and encourages teamwork to solve problems through its friendship token system. The best part is that all you need to play it is two perfectly normal six-sided dice.
The story of Cloudbreaker Alliance is that two thousand years ago, thick cloud descended on the world. As they covered the land, monsters appeared from within the shroud and attacked the populace. The clouds began to solidify and formed walls, leaving the survivors of the world trapped in their own pockets of land to recoup. In the present day, a piece of the cloud wall was broken and humans discovered other settlements still exist. With the knowledge there may be more survivors, a group is forming to destroy the monsters and the clouds that brought them. They are the Cloudbreaker Alliance.
Cloudbreaker Alliance is for three to eight players and will take one and a half hours to three hours depending on the mission. It was successful on kickstarter and is now available to buy on Backerkit.
Check em out: Cloudbreaker Alliance – Counter Apocalyptic TRPG on BackerKit
Wrong Answers Only
A trivia game with a unique twist, Wrong Answers Only asks players to debate why their wrong answer is the correct wrong answer. The winner is the player who has the most wrong answers at the end of the game. Wrong Answers Only has three decks. A people deck, a places deck and a history deck. These are further split into questions and answers. People questions can only be answered with people answer cards, history questions with history answers, etc. This is mainly so the answers make sense to the question being asked. Players then have thirty seconds to explain why their answer is the correct one (while being factually wrong). The Player asking the question then picks the two answers they liked the most and these players can either get one point each, or debate for a further 30 seconds to get both points.
Wrong Answers Only is for three or more players and the playing time could be as little as fifteen minutes to hours long. It’s available to buy from the Wrong Answers Only website.
Store — WRONG ANSWERS ONLY. (wronganswersgame.com)
Frayed Ally
Another competitive card game, Frayed Ally is a battle royale where all that matters is being the last one standing. Players start by choosing a character card, each of which has a unique ability. Players then take turns drawing cards from the draw deck. There are two types of cards: action and traps. Action cards go into the player’s hand and when used, can bolster a player’s offense or defense. Trap cards are activated immediately and can destroy any perfectly laid out plans. Using a character’s individual actions may help them escape the trap, or it may be the beginning of the end. Deduction, planning and luck are all required to become the final player.
Frayed Ally is for three to six players, although there can be more. A Kickstarter is due in the near future.
Check em out: Frayed Ally by Button Fox Crafts — Kickstarter
Aethermon Collect
In Aethermon Collect, players take turns collecting Aethermon. In the versus mode, players aim to collect the most points for their menagerie. In the cooperative version, players must work together to collect the most points possible. Movement differs in the two modes of the game. In versus, all players can move the standee in a line either horizontally or vertically. In co-op, only one player can move the standee horizontally and the other player vertically, forcing them to work together. When there are no more valid moves for any player, the game ends and points are counted. How this works is each Aethermon has points associated to them depending on rarity. Some Aethermon are part of a family, and collecting each Aethermon of the family gives the player double points for them. This means in the versus mode that preventing other players from getting a family of Aethermon is a necessary strategy. There are relic cards in the versus mode just to help spice it up a little bit.
Aethermon Collect is designed for one to four players, and each round takes about 30 minutes to play but may take longer if your players like a good ponder. It met its Kickstarter goals but can still be backed on GameFound.
Check em out: Aethermon: Collect by Aethermon Studios – Gamefound
Fatcats Inc
The premise of Fatcats Inc. is simple: make as much money as possible without being the one to destroy the world in the process. The person who has the most money at the end of the game is the winner. Making money may destroy the planet, but who cares if you’re rich? (Editor’s note: Upsetting — David) Players take turns placing their production cards onto the playing field, but each production card will damage the planet. The more profitable the card, the more damage it will do. Does the risk outweigh the reward? When the doomsday clock hits twelve (or sixty points of damage have been done to the earth), players get one last turn to squeeze the last little bit of money out of the game. The person who caused the destruction must pay a carbon tax, unless they have a Tax Haven card. There are several interesting wildcards mixed in with the production cards, including leeching profits off another player, overtaking another player’s company by forcing them to literally swap seats, as well as other various effects.
Fatcats Inc. is for three to six players and will take between 30 and 60 minutes to play. Fatcats Inc. will be coming to Kickstarter, so follow their website to learn more when it drops. You could also check out their previous game, Treacherous Tides.
Check em out: Fat Cats Inc – Board and Sorcery
Sudden Conflict
Sudden Conflict is a strategy game that uses miniatures without the complexity of a war game like Warhammer. Sudden Conflict is about defeating your opponent in, get this, sudden conflict. Two players will face off against each other in one of three main settings. Valrona is inspired by Europe and is a world full of monsters and monster hunters. Ukyo uses Asian mythology to create interesting anthropomorphic characters. Galactic Throne is the ultimate sci-fi space opera. While each game has its own characters for their settings, it’s not just possible but encouraged to mix and match them. The gameplay is simple; each player will take turns deploying their three characters and then spending two action points. This continues until one team emerges victorious.
Sudden Conflict is designed for two players, but if you happen to have all three games, you could have three running at the same time. It hasn’t launched on Kickstarter yet, but if you’re interested, you can sign up to be notified when it does.
Check em out: Sudden Conflict – A multiversal tabletop board game by Sudden Conflict Games — Kickstarter
Nabstones
Another competitive card game, Nabstones sees players collecting gems to earn the most points. Players do this by matching their gems to the ones on the playing field. There are two ways to match gems, and that is to have the same type of gem or the same number. So, if the playing field has three cards that have emeralds, and the player also has a card with emeralds, the player can collect all three cards. The available spaces on the playing field are then replaced with new cards from the main deck. Players must be able to make a match with at least three cards on the playing field for it to be considered a legal move. Extremely lucky players may even be able to collect all five cards! Especially if opals are involved. Opals are wildcards and are considered a match to any gem and any number. If a player cannot pick up any of the cards, they must take a card from the deck and place it in their hand. This continues until all the cards in the deck are gone.
Nabstones is designed to be played with two to four people. It is available to purchase on their website Murmuring Mystic.
Check em out: Nabstones Card Game | The Murmuring Mystic (square.site)
And that’s all the PAX Rising indie tabletop games at PAX Aus 2023! Some are available now, others are launching Kickstarter campaigns by the end of the year. I find myself drawn to Cloudbreaker Alliance, and I have already backed Aethermon Collect. I will probably give in and end up getting more of the Little Boxes beyond the one I already bought. Wrong Answers Only is living rent free in my head to this day and Nabstones just seems like such a neat game that I can buy stupid coloured stones for no other purpose than Just Because.
Did any of them catch your attention? Do you own any of the released ones? Let me know in the comments below.
Image: The Murmuring Mystic, Aethermon Studios, Don’t Stop Thinking, Kotaku Australia
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