Here's information submitted to publishers regarding Mole Majority.
NAME
Stephen B. Thomas
EMAIL
editor@let-off.com
LOCATION
Baltimore, MD, USA
GAME NAME
Mole Majority
NUMBER OF PLAYERS
2 to 4
SUGGESTED PLAYER AGES
10+
AVERAGE PLAY TIME
30 to 60 min (15 min per player)
OVERVIEW
Mole Majority is a card-driven, area-control game featuring intense hand-management and territory dynamics. Players guide a tribe of moles in their efforts to overrun a golf course, represented by a modular hex-based tile layout. The game starts off pleasantly enough, but as the game continues spaces become crowded with moles and only players with a majority of moles in a given hex will win that territory. Finally, a well-timed "Convert!" or "Groundskeeper!" attack card can turn the tide of the course in favor of a player if timed just right. Hand management, timing, attention to other players' turns, and a willingness to be ruthless on more than one occasion will help a player claim the golf course, and take the victory.
Seasoned players will be able to maximize their effectiveness on a turn by exploiting the nuance of two specific mechanics: increasing their underground "network," and claiming Majority within a hex. Additionally, cards can work together by combining "stackable" cards that provide additional actions. To gain an edge, players can renovate hexes by Making a Home or causing a Cave-In: maneuvers that help them gain additional points that are kept secret until final scoring. The end result is a multiplayer game that provides continued strategic depth and a tense end-game where players don't know exactly who will win when the final hex is claimed.
COMPONENTS
18 cards per player (72 cards total)
24 Hex tiles (up to 19 used per game)
120 mole tokens (30 per player)
40 claim tokens (10 per player)
24 home tokens (double-sided)
RULES SUMMARY
Each player has a hand of up to five cards. From there, they choose their move by playing and discarding a chosen card:
MOVE: move moles from a home hex to another hex in their network.
BREED: place a mole token from their supply on an open space of a home hex.
GROUNDSKEEPER: remove tokens from any hex on the board.
CONVERT: remove an opponent's mole and replace it with theirs.
Additionally, players can "renovate" hexes they control by MAKING A HOME or CAUSING A CAVE-IN. Both actions result in a secret point token being claimed, while a CAVE-IN blocks movement on a particular border from one hex to another.
Some cards are "stackable" and can add actions to a single turn. Most often this results in additional BREED actions on a turn, but there are also cards that may increase the MOVE, GROUNDSKEEPER, and CONVERT actions, allowing for "quick strikes" and various "gotcha!" moments throughout the game.
At the conclusion of a player's turn, they draw one card for their hand. If they end a turn with no remaining cards they draw a full hand of 5 cards. Finally, instead of taking an action a player may discard their entire hand, and they draw a full hand of 5 cards to begin the next round. A player's discard pile becomes their new draw pile once the original draw pile is exhausted.
Player efforts revolve around claiming hexes of the board via Majority: having more moles in a hex than their opponent. For some hexes, it's easy to determine: whomever has the most moles in a hex wins (and places a claim token). However, in the case of "ties" it comes down to timing: if a hex has an equal number of moles from two or more players, the player who most recently placed a mole in that hex wins majority. The CONVERT action can instantly flip control of a hex from one player to another, and the GROUNDSKEEPER can quickly reduce population or even completely wipe out a hex full of moles.
Play continues until one of the following end conditions is met:
- all hexes have claim tokens on them
- one player has used all 10 of their claim tokens
- one player has used all 30 of their mole tokens
- one player has no claim tokens on the board (player elimination is very rare, but can potentially happen)
At that point, players count up the point values of all hexes they control, as well as the points on each of the Home Tokens they have collected during the game. The player with the highest point total wins. Ties are resolved by the highest value of numbers in the player's final hand.
The rulebook is available [or attached] to further clarify rules, cards, and actions. All artwork is placeholder artwork and not considered final for the game by any means:
http://www.let-off.com/bgames/molemaj/molemaj_instructions.pdf
There is extensive online documentation of the game's development process available at the Board Game Designer's Forum:
http://www.bgdf.com/game-journal/mole-majority
Thank you for your time, and enjoy!
