Game Preview/Review: Robo-Tory

By W. Eric Martin
October 7, 2008

Publisher: Kawasaki Factory
Distributor: Japon Brand
Designer: Susumu Kawasaki
Players: 2
Playing Time: 15-20 minutes
Release Date: Released
Links:

Version played: Demo copy
Times played: Seven

Designer Susumu Kawasaki has already created one small masterpiece in R-Eco, a card game about recycling trash into finished goods that captures the feel of recycling in just a few rules. Robo-tory, released in 2006 by Kawasaki Factory and due to be distributed by Japon Brand at Spiel 08, may not reach the heights of R-Eco‘s combination of simplicity and game play, but the game has already surprised me by delivering far more than I expected on first glance.

Robo-Tory is a two-player game played on a small, two-colored hex-based gameboard. At the start of the game, robots in three colors – red, blue and yellow – stand on their indicated starting positions, and each player places two red and two blue cubes in her supply. On a turn, you can:

• Place a cube from your supply on any empty space on the board.
• Move a robot, eating the appropriately colored cubes along the way, with the yellow robot eating cubes of either color and the red and blue robots eating cubes of their own color.
• Refill your supply to four cubes.

Game review, by W. Eric Martin

Version played: Review copy
Times played: Seven

My first thought when opening Robo-Tory‘s slim box was that someone had forgotten to put the game inside. Then I noticed the tiny gameboard and bag of bits underneath the paper rules, rules that spanned two pages thanks only to multiple illustrations. Was this game nothing more than a puff of air?

Those worries dissipated during the first play. On its small hex tableau, Robo-Tory creates a pleasing puzzle for both players as they engage in a tug-of-war over the trio of robots and learn how to deal with unintended consequences, primarily that robots can run in both directions over the cube streets that they create, giving an opponent the chance to slip a robot north when you wanted to move a different one south.

Although the game begins with the same minimal set-up each time, the players’ moves create highly varied situations after only a few turns, with potential robot moves clouding the board and pulling you in different directions. I can place a red cube by the red robot, perhaps planning to move it during some future turn, but if the yellow robot is adjacent to that cube, the opponent might sweep it out of the way first. Perhaps I can stall for a turn by reloading with cubes, but what resources does the opponent have and where might he play over the next couple of turns? How can I recover from whatever he does? What balance of cubes should I take and which moves will they allow me to take?

The refill action creates the same dilemma as in games like El Grande and Fifth Avenue as you weigh the options of current action versus future opportunities, but the game-ending condition adds an additional element to the picture. Players must refill to four cubes when they take that action, so you have some idea of the pace of the game based on your collective refill rates. If you time your plays right, you can skirt a robot across the border with just enough empty space in your supply to end the game on the next turn before the opponent can draw the bot back to safety.

In the end, Robo-Tory feels like another small classic from Kawasaki, and I can’t wait to see what Japon Brand offers from the Kawasaki Factory in 2009!

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