From the publisher: Android is a board game of murder and conspiracy set in a dystopian future. Detectives travel between the city of New Angeles and moon colony Heinlein chasing down leads, calling in favors, and uncovering the sinister conspiracy beneath it all. The detectives must balance their pursuit of the murderer against their personal lives and their inner demons. Android’s innovative mechanics ensure that no two detectives play alike. Will you play as Louis Blaine, the crooked cop tormented by guilt and loss? Or will you take the role of Caprice Nisei, the psychic clone who struggles to retain her sanity while proving that she’s as human as anyone else? Whoever you choose to play, you’ve got just two weeks to solve the murder, uncover the conspiracy, and face your personal demons.
During a round, the players get action points to spend on various actions, like moving their detectives, following leads that appear on locations, solving their personal demons, or doing a location-specific action. In this way, the detectives try to advance on three different sectors: solving the murder, uncovering the conspiracy behind the murder, and finding their inner peace. To solve the murder, the detectives follow leads that appear on New Angeles and Heinlein, and find evidence that they plant on the suspect of their choice. The conspiracy puzzle is also solved by following leads, and may alter the way victory points are distributed at the end of the game. Finally, each detective has his/her own personal plots that are resolved gradually throughout the game. If the detective invests enough time in the plot, he/she will be awarded victory points; otherwise, he will suffer penalties.
The game ends when two in-game weeks (12 rounds) have passed. At that point, victory points are awarded based on the aforementioned sectors. The player with the most victory points is the winner.
Product Preview - Android: Netrunner
- Compelling question and unique twists on Cluedo
- Rich cyberpunk noir setting
- Multiple paths to victory
- Can make the actual murder an afterthought
- May feel overstretched with multiple objectives
- Investigate the crime, find the evidence, identify the killer
- Cyberpunk Noir (inspired by Blade Runner)
- Conspiracy
- Cluedo
- Blade Runner
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deduction — Investigate the crime, find the evidence, identify the killer structure.
- Hidden Traitor (implied) — You're not all trying to find one killer you're each trying to incriminate and exonerate a completely different pair of suspects.
- Multiple victory paths — Having multiple paths to victory that don't make you feel overstretched.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I love everything about this game [Block by Block]
- the concept is simple guess who but it's all brilliant women and you narrow down your opponent's identity using questions of accomplishment not appearance
- obsession is a brilliantly designed worker placement game with a mechanics and theme of vintage English social climbing and flirtation tie together beautifully
- in my experience obsession is best enjoyed with a few glasses of wine lots of smutty wordplay and accusing your table mates of being secret American cads in terribly over-the-top accents
- thanks for sticking through to the end chums it has been a blast creating this paradigm shifting content for you and for the glory of the algorithm
References (from this video)
- Does a lot well
- Clear passion project
- Engaging personal stories and conspiracy
- Almost too much going on
- Flaws are visible
- Investigation and conspiracy
- Dystopian cyberpunk future
- Android: Netrunner
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Investigation — Core it's an investigation game about solving a murder.
- Storytelling — Really about the personal stories of the characters and solving the conspiracy behind the murder.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's the game I compare every single semi coop to
- I'm biased here because I like the show a lot
- what a video guys what a video we're gonna do it again next year
References (from this video)
- Unpleasant theme.
- Difficult to get rid of, even for free.
- Playing a sleazy landlord who bombs apartment buildings
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- For me to get rid of a game out of my collection I've got to dislike it pretty hard
- I don't want to be punching down on people
- this is the game that I think helped me understand that I don't really like real-time games all that much
- I don't like games where people can't be policed
- the immensely inexplicably popular and almost universally reviled flux
- life is random ah they have a little bit of random your game is fine flux is way beyond beyond anything that I can handle
- It's a drinking game is really what hex hex is and I don't drink that
- I would much rather have you know one designer two designers work on one game with components that are made specific before that game that they want me to play than just sort of this grab bag of game components and ideas and concepts
- Cyril helped me figure out that I don't really like tile placement games
- they managed to take sherlocky subject matter and build the really schlocky game out of it that feels like a zombie movie but it feels sort of slapdash
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's the game I compare every single semi coop to
- I'm biased here because I like the show a lot
- what a video guys what a video we're gonna do it again next year
References (from this video)
- Created the Android universe
- Amazing scope and ambition
- Excellent world-building
- Not the tightest or best-designed game
- Conspiracy and investigation in a rich universe
- Sci-fi/Cyberpunk
- Epic story
- Android: Netrunner
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Storytelling — sweeping epic story about a conspiracy and an investigation
- Worker Placement
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- well we are playing and you are watching so I guess it is kind of watch it played
- I picked this up at Gen Con I was a little bit intimidated by the rule book to be honest so I've just sort of put on the shelf for a while
- I realized we haven't taught the game so none of this will make a lot of sense
- in an informal watch it played episode I've already made a mistake
- again everyone gets to see me lose
- we stole this idea from Joel Eddie of e3k mouse drive-through reviews who stole it from Scott Nicholson so we're just copying people left and right here
References (from this video)
- most ambitious board game ever sold retail
- fascinating characters
- character study as board game
- experimental design
- arty and navel-gazing
- character-driven mystery
- android universe crime investigation
- narrative_character_study
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- character study — character-focused narrative
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is my list the video says the top 100 board games of all time but it really is just my top 100 board games of all time
- three minute board games is an independent channel we dont take money from publishers and we do not do any form of paid content
- Mosaic has the ambitious goal of being a civilization game that can be played in two to three hours and it very much succeeds at this goal
- a game that does not need to be played with a traitor because the inherent selfish goals in this game created enough internal conflict
- I love space racing games and space corp is the game that is most racy as far as space racers go
- the term I use instead of gateway game is foundation game
- Sentinels could easily be a forever game the kind of game you just play over and over and over and over again endlessly
- Modern Art is a simple and brilliant and beautiful game and easily the best pure auction game Ive ever played
- Black Orchestra models some very clever things about how conspiracy is run
- when I asked the question hey what game should I play with my non-gamer friend who's interested in gaming but hasn't done much gaming I almost always answer Sentient Golem Edition
- Arkham Horror is the game that really made board gaming my number one hobby
- there are a few things more fun and rewarding in board gaming than organizing a fight in the arena
- Twilight Struggle is one of the best head-to-head games out there
- Santorini is the definition of an elegant design
- Arkham Horror the card game absolutely should be for you it's a hundred percent for me and it is my number one game of 2023
References (from this video)
- Proper cyberpunk murder mystery
- Grand conspiracy
- Personal drama
- Beautiful classic
- Hasn't made it off the shelf this year
- Murder mystery with conspiracy
- Cyberpunk future
- Noir cyberpunk drama
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deduction — Murder mystery investigation
- Storytelling — Personal drama overlaid on conspiracy
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Do not adjust your set
- This list is quite different to last year's and I think that mostly reflects what an absolute 2020 has been
- My subjective opinion is biased skewed irrational and probably wrong
- It is very political all war games are political
- So say we all
- What am I doing with my life
- Squishy squishy squish squish squish
References (from this video)
- romanticized cyberpunk setting
- rich mechanistic interplay
- older design can feel chunky by modern standards
- personal stakes and societal pressures
- Cyberpunk/near-future corporate intrigue
- story-forward with dense rules
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building / hand management — players manage a deck to perform actions and advance their arc.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the shortest review available on BoardGameGeek was 28 minutes long
- I'm tired of long reviews I'm going to make them ten minutes or less scripted
- no games for everyone
- the secret is that I have boxes for each section
- I'm an outsider and I'm actually okay with that
- we always give some negatives on every game
- bear cave