Pocket Ops

Soon to come to kickstarter from Grand Gamers Guild, Pocket Ops is a game where you and your opponent play as spy-masters sending field agents out to steal a doomsday device and its power crystal from the base its being built in.

Sounds great right and you can imagine the big board where you will place your spies etc….. No this is called pocket ops for a reason, it can fit in your pocket.

How it plays

In Pocket Ops you have to take turns in predicting where your opponent will place a field agent. If you manage to guess correctly the player cannot place his spy there. The Specialists mentioned above are a way of making more elaborate moves that do not conform to the normal rules. The idea is the same as noughts and crosses (tick-tac-toe) get three agents in a row to become the winner.

On my first scan of the rules I was disappointed that this game was basically a ‘game’ I got bored of playing years ago, but i soon changed my mind as this game is an excellent little filler game or one to play on your lunch break from work. This is all down to the ‘Specialist’ cards (see below) which change the dynamic of the game and creates tactical thinking.

The game starts when you shuffle your specialists face down, look at two and select one to be active in that round. You then make a guess of where the opponent will place their by selecting a prediction card and keeping it face down. The other player then puts his spy in a room and the prediction card is revealed. If the spy guessed correctly the opponents spy does not get placed in the room and returns to the players spy supply, if its guessed incorrectly the spy gets placed and if it’s a specialist the special ability can be used.

Assassin- When placed in the same room as an enemy it removes it from the board and takes command of that position.

Sniper- When this is placed into an empty room you can remove one enemy spy from an adjacent room.

Pusher- When placed into an empty room you can move into an adjacent room that holds an enemy spy and move the enemy out and into an adjacent room.

Grappler- When placed into an empty room the Grappler can swap position with an adjacent enemy spy

Hacker-When the Hacker is placed into an empty room you can play two prediction cards instead of one.

You carry on playing this way taking it in turns to be the predicting player until one player manages to get 3 field-agents in a row. When you manage to get the victory conditions you take a power crystal and discard any used or unused specialist from the game, a new round begins and you play until a player manages to get two crystals.

Thoughts on the game

I will be honest and say I was very disappointed when I saw what looked like a very basic game with no substance to it, I am so glad I played a few games of this to see the real potential of Pocket Ops.

A new take on Noughts and Crosses with added theme and depth that makes it a great game to play when you are short on time or after something to play with non-gamers.

Pocket Ops is great fun for all ages and has enough depth to not get boring but also not overwhelm younger players or those who don’t game often.

I would highly recommend this game as its fun, easy to pick up but hard to master the addition of the specialist cards adds some great moments of ‘ I thought I had you’ and it makes for a game that has a lot of replay-ability and hidden depth.

Look out for this game on Kickstarter come the 6th of June