Door 19

Let’s do something exotic for door #19 of MechanXmas! Let’s talk about Hidden Movement! Games with this mechanic involve asymmetric roles, in which the position and/or movement of some player(s) is hidden. Players have to use the actions at their disposal to try to deduce where their opponent is at, making for fun cat-and-mouse chases. It's fun trying to surround the one hiding, or slipping away as the hider. 😁

From the classic board games I've played as a child I think Scotland Yard was one of the most creative, but board games have evolved a lot in this department too. There are a lot of cool hidden movement games to choose from. Today we talk about 🧠 Mind MGMT - "The Psychic Espionage game"!

In Mind MGMT, four Rogue Agents are trying to hunt down the Recruiter on a 6x7 grid map. Each grid space has 2 features on them. Agents can ask the recruiter during their turn if he visited a certain feature. The recruiter has to answer truthfully and mark one such space with a step token. Another tool of the agents is asking when exactly a step was made - these are all marked by tokens you can write on with a pen.

Of course to ask things you have to be in the right spot, so you keep having to move around. The recruiter tracks his own movements on a hidden dry-erase board, so he can exactly answer the questions (and no cheating is possible). A fun and essential rule is that the recruiter can only visit each space once. This is invaluable information for the pursuers too, and makes it possible for the recruiter to close themselves in.

Even the basic tutorial game showed a lot of promise, but then adding in additional core mechanics really elevated the game further. Every agent has unique abilities, and the recruiter can control immortals to block certain features or actions. There is a lot of additional content hidden away in tuck boxes. 😁

The recruiter wins by getting a certain amount of recruits, or if time runs out; and loses if the agents find him or he has no legal moves to make. We really like Mind MGMT so far, so stay tuned for more: we can't wait to explore it further! 🤩