USD ($)
EUR (€)
In the first three years since its release, Wingspan sold nearly one and a half million copies. I must not have been the first to think ‘Huh, who knew so many board gamers like birds?’. The Venn diagram of bird watchers and board gamers was clearly close to circular, but could we now have a theme that closes that circle completely?
So, what theme correlates more with board gamers than birds? Well, board games themselves of course! 100% of board gamers are (by definition) interested in board games and so it’s actually a little surprising that we haven’t had a game like Meeple Inc before!
What is Meeple Inc I hear you say? Well, let me tell you! Meeple Inc is the latest tabletop release from publishers Cogito Ergo Meeple and it delivers on this exact tautological promise, Meeple Inc is a board game about board games!
In Meeple Inc players take on the role of board game publishers collecting the perfect mix of artwork, components and mechanisms to build the greatest board games in the world. You’ll enter an alternate 1970’s where meeples and humans have co-existed for millennia. The mix of human ingenuity and meeple industriousness has created a new golden age of tabletop games and you are in the right place at the right time! As CEO of a board game production company, you will be assigning your meeples to jobs across a fabulous board game factory. You will be hiring specialists, crafting components and manufacturing mechanisms, all in a bid to publish the most popular games, win tabletop awards and, of course, gain victory points.
Meeple Inc has some of the coolest, cutest and most creative components we’ve seen in this hobby. The base game has tiny board game boxes, screen printed wooden tokens and triple layer indented miniature board game tables (which even come with their own felt linings!). For those who back the Gamefound campaign, a separate deluxe box takes things even further with cute metal meeple trophies, hundreds of custom wooden upgraded tokens, chunky acrylic standees and even a full wooden board game shelving unit! Yes, you read that right, a tiny Kallax-style shelf for your tiny board game boxes filled with tiny board game components!!!
The tiny board game boxes themselves are perhaps my favourite part of this game. They each feature unique artwork from the alternate reality universe of the game. There's ‘Beak Size’, a game about birds, and ‘The Flu’, a game about preventing diseases raveging the world… Sound familiar? Meeple Inc is chock full of these fun little board game related easter eggs!
Meeple Inc’s Gamefound campaign will also see the release of the Golden Pear Expansion, which adds even more complexity and nuance into games of Meeple Inc. Adding further replayability and more deluxe components including metal miniature golden pear awards! Although given the low price, I doubt these are real gold…
Gameplay-wise, Meeple Inc is a fast paced, mid-weight worker placement style game which is quick to learn but offers a rich depth in gameplay. A huge design emphasis has been placed on replayability. With multiple paths to victory, a wide player count and nearly 70,000 unique starting conditions, no two games will ever be the same! Unlike many Euro-style games, Meeple Inc has a good deal of player interaction; not only are you interacting with players on the board competing for spaces, cards and resources but an innovative prediction mechanism means players are actually rewarded for paying attention to the actions of their opponents.
Meeple Inc accommodates a wide range of player counts with up to 6 players being catered for. There is a comprehensive solo-mode and games last about 20-30 minutes per player. It really is a unique game that will compliment any board gamer’s collection beautifully. Meeple Inc comes to Gamefound on the 5th March and we are very excited!