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Minecraft has been around for just under eight years now. Since its launch, on November 18, 2011, it has become a staple of video gaming around the world. On PC and consoles alike, it has been used as a gateway title for younger gamers. However, it has also become an old favourite for the generation who first faced the Ender dragon. In fact, it's reported that than astonishing 91 people have played Minecraft.
Though there was a card game version of Minecraft released, there hasn’t been a board game released that captures the mine, refine, build and survive dynamic that made the original game so compelling. Until now!
Minecraft: Builders and Biomes
Ravensburger have revealed Minecraft: Builders and Biomes. Yes, we should be excited given Ravensburger's latest efforts. Both Jaws and two new Villainous expansions are arriving from the publisher in the next week or so.
Builders and Biomes is a 2–4-player game created by Ulrich Blum (Antigua, Grand Cru). The game will see players mining from a board of biomes and drawing resources from a block, allowing players to construct buildings (achieved by flipping tiles on their board), change biomes, score points and win the game.
As well as the familiar resources, biomes and blocks, players will also encounter familiar ‘mobs’. These include the melancholic zombie, unsettling Enderman and pyrotechnic Creeper. If you can defeat them, you'll gain more points.
It may seem redundant to have such a widespread multiplayer online game make the nerd-pile leap to analogue. However, Daniel Greiner, executive editor of the game, has a good reason for this adaptation:
“Players experience their opponents live at the table. That makes their reactions, and especially their emotions, truly authentic. It’s just as intense and exciting as playing in the digital Minecraft world, but with even more direct interaction.”
Coming Soon
The European release of Minecraft: Builders and Biomes is set for October. Those living in the US will have to wait until mid-November. Sadly, there is no fixed release date for the UK yet. We'll just keep digging...