Designer: Tom Vandeweyer

Artist: Xavier Gueniffey Durin (The Big Book of Madness, Conan, Lords of Xidit, Seasons, Taluva, Tokaido)

Publisher:  Game Brewer (Chimera Station, Gentes, Gùgōng)

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, area majority/influence, card drafting, hand management, pirates, science fiction, turn order: claim action, variable setup

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Rulebenders is already fully-funded. Pledges currently total more than the initial funding goal with less than 1 day to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About: “Embark on a fascinating adventure through multiple themes like pirates, sci-fi, fantasy, prehistoric, zombies and more in Rulebenders, a time-traveling game that twists the rules of the game (literally and figuratively) and will create a unique game experience every time you play.”

How It Works: “Rulebenders is played over 4 game rounds. In each round, first prepare, then take turns performing one of these actions: A) Place an energy cube on a rule panel container or a tiebreaker spot, or B) Play a card. If players can’t or don’t want to perform any more actions, they pass. Once all players have passed, each of the 7 rule panels will score. In each panel the player with the majority will take control and choose how to bend that rule.”

“At the end of the 4th round, players gain a number of bonus chips: 1) Chips for set collection cards (players gain 1/3/6/10 chips for each set of 1/2/3/4 different set collection cards they possess), and 2) Chips for Evolution Markers. For each zone (2 spots on the left or right) that contains at least one evolution marker and still has an electron or nuclear token at the end of the game, the player whose evolution marker is closest to the nuclear or electron token gains chips equal to the value of the nuclear or electron token, multiplied where applicable. In case of a tie, all tied players gain the depicted value in chips. All other players whose evolution marker is in the same zone, but not closest to a token, gain chips equal to the depicted value minus 2. If the result is negative, they lose chips.”

Then “players will count all their chips, and the player with the most chips is declared the best Rulebender, and wins the game.”

Comparisons: There are plenty of games that allow players to tweak various types of income, but not on this level, and also not with varying theme decks that can also go in and out of play. Smash Up may be the closest because of the area majority/influence, hand management, and the use of multiple different decks.

Here are a slate of games that also pair area majority/influence with hand management: 13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1960: The Making of the President, 1989: Dawn of Freedom, Adrenaline, Air Land & Sea, The Battle of the Five Armies, Battle for Rokugan, BattleLore, Belfort, Black Rose Wars, Blackout: Hong Kong, Blood Bowl: Team Manager – The Card Game, Blood Rage, Blue Moon City, Cacao, Cerebria: The Inside World, Chaos in the Old World, China, Civilization, Clash of Cultures, Condottiere, Cry Havoc, Deus, Discworld: Ankh-Morpork, Dogs of War, Dune (1979), Empire of the Void II, Endeavor, Ethnos, A Few Acres of Snow, Feudum, Forbidden Stars, A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition), The Godfather: Corleone’s Empire, El Grande, La Granja, Hanamikoji, History of the World, Inis, Kemet, Labyrinth: The War on Terror 2001 – ?, Liberté, Lisboa, Lords of Hellas, Louis XIV, Die Macher, Medieval Academy, Memoir ’44, Mission: Red Planet, Mombasa, Nexus Ops, Ninjato, On Mars, Pax Pamir (Second Edition), Plague Inc.: The Board Game, Quartermaster General, Reef Encounter, Rex: Final Days of an Empire, Risk: Star Wars Edition, Rococo, Root, Samurai, Spirit Island, Star Wars: Rebellion, A Study in Emerald, Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends, Three Kingdoms Redux, Tigris & Euphrates, Torres, Triumph & Tragedy: European Balance of Power 1936-1945, Twilight Struggle, War Chest, War of the Ring, Warhammer 40,000: Conquest, Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire, Web of Power, Yellow & Yangtze, and Zhanguo.

What Should I Pledge?:
$65 Rulebenders: Electron Edition: a copy of Rulebenders: Electron Edition with all unlocked stretch goals.
$95 Rulebenders: Electron Edition: a copy of Rulebenders: Nuclear Edition with 6 miniatures, 70 metal chips, and all unlocked stretch goals.

Add-Ons:
$20 Custom Theme Miniatures (6 in total; already included in the Nuclear Edition)
$20 Custom Metal Chips (70 in total; already included in the Nuclear Edition)
$6 Extra Game Theme with 7th Miniature
$10 Card Sleeves (300+, enough to sleeve all cards in the game)

KS Exclusives
Both the 6 Custom Theme Miniatures and the 70 Custom Metal Chips in the Nuclear Edition are Exclusives. But wait, there’s a whole lot more… the following items, included in both Editions of the game available through this campaign, are also Kickstarter Exclusives and will not be included in any eventual retail editions: the XL Game Box, the large double-layered game board, the custom inserts by Meeplemaker, and the 7 custom tuckboxes for the various theme decks.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $95 for the Rulebenders: Nuclear Edition, $6 for the Extra Game Theme with 7th Miniature, and $15 in shipping for a total of $116.

Rulebenders completes its Kickstarter on Friday, December 11th and tentatively ships in October 2021.