MUTANT MEEPLES

Lots of games involve figuring out how to maneuver to a certain spot -- but none have the absolutely cute superheroes of Mutant Meeples.  This board game has players figuring out how to get the super-powered meeples in Meeptropolis to the crime scenes first, building their team and winning the game.

The game is played in Meeptropolis, a grid board with horizontal and vertical spaces labeled from A to Q, plus lines representing buildings.  (The harder board has fewer buildings.)  Eight super-meeples are on the board: They all have super-speed (a blessing and a curse) and a unique power (shown below; there are also two "sidekicks" with different powers).  Each turn, two letters are drawn and the intersection of those is the location of the crime scene.

Players can use up to three available meeples to reach the crime scene first.  Players select which meeples they're using and how many moves each meeple will take (including their power, which can be used once per turn).  The total of the meeples and moves is added up; after the first person makes their choice, the timer is flipped and everyone else has one minute to figure out their meeples and moves.  When everyone has decided or passed, the person with the lowest number tries to get their meeples to the crime scene.  If the player succeeds, they win the round and one of their meeples used goes on their team; whoever gets six meeples on their team first wins!  But if a player can't get a meeples to the crime scene with their combo, they lose a meeple from their team, the meeples go back to where they started the turn, and the player want the next-highest number tries to reach the crime scene.

But it's not as easy as that.  There are two big obstacles: super-speed and super teams.  Because of their super-speed, meeples have to move in a straight line -- and can only stop if they run into the edge of the board, a building, or another meeple.  And when a meeple joins a player's team, that player can't use the meeple again, making it harder to reach the crime scenes the closer a player gets to victory.

I like Mutant Meeples.  This game has a nice mix of silliness (who wouldn't smile at heroes heroes with names like Forrest Jump, Nacho Fast, and Skewt), and a blend of spatial planning and quick thinking.  While the game doesn't have a lot of strategic depth -- beyond deciidng which meeples to add to your team -- but it's a fun way to match with with other players.  So get your Mutant Meeples race to the crime scenes and build up your team!

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch