Dustrunner, the super-cool Mad Max-like solo card game that fits in a mint tin
Recently, I've come to the realization that I really need to pay more attention to solo games. For me, gaming is as much a social activity as anything else. But the reality is that finding players and actually getting game nights together is not as frequent as my jonesing to play is.
If I'm going to be playing solos, I want something that's easy to set up and play, quick, but with enough player choice and strategy to feel like my noodle has been sufficiently challenged. All of this has drawn me to the mint tin games of Jason Glover. I have followed Jason on Instagram for a while and have been meaning to buy one of his titles.
My first Glover mint tin game is Dustrunner. It is a Mad Max-style card game where you "design" a car and race it to the finish line while being attacked by raiders along the way and chased by a boss raider vehicle. If the raider vehicle catches up with you, game over, man.
I can't tell you how cool this little game is — everything about it. Jason does all of the art for his games and it is wonderful. The style of his design reminds me a little of Alex Crispin artwork in the Escape the Dark games. The next impressive thing is how much gaming goodness Jason packs into a mint tin. In Dustrunner, you get three decks of cards, the rules, vehicle cards, the road cards, a victory tracker, 2 dice, 5 tracking cubes, and even 2 3D-printed minis — and it all fits into a beautiful, printed mint tin.
And the game itself is as good as its look, feel, and value. As with all of Jason's games, there are cool, innovative mechanics, enough variety for good replayability, and lots of choices the player can make. The dice are only used for tracking enemy hit points so most of the game is driven by player choices. A two-card draw system is used where you draw two cards, one face up, one face down. You can either play the face up card or discard it and flip the second card, which you must play. This, and spending health, fuel, ammo, and even your victory points, to try and outrace and out maneuver the enemy, makes for a very fun and often tension-filled game.
Count me in now as a Jason Glover fanboy. I look forward to picking up all of the other games in his tin series.
DMT.NEWS
via https://www.DMT.NEWS
Gareth Branwyn, Khareem Sudlow
