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Description
In Bloc by Bloc: Uprising, each player controls a faction of revolutionaries—Workers, Students, Neighbors, or Prisoners—fighting against the police in the streets of a city that changes with each game. Build barricades, clash with police, occupy districts, loot shopping centers, build mutual aid networks, and liberate the city before time runs out and the military arrives!
Object of the Game: When playing fully cooperatively, all factions win or lose together and must cooperate to defeat the police and liberate the city. To liberate the city, each faction must complete the objectives on 1 Conditions card. Each Conditions card specifies certain districts of the city that must be liberated and where occupations must be built. When playing semi-cooperatively, each faction has a secret Agenda card that determines how it wins the game. Factions with Social Agendas can still win together cooperatively. But a faction with a Vanguardist or Sectarian Agenda can only win alone and must work covertly to undermine the other factions.
Bloc by Bloc is played in rounds and each round is 1 night. The countdown marker starts with 10 nights remaining. Each night has 2 phases, Nighttime and Sunrise.
Nighttime: The Nighttime phase is when each faction takes its turn. At the start of a turn, cards are drawn from the Police Ops deck that move and deploy police squads across the city. Higher Police Morale means more cards. Next, the faction rolls action dice and spends those dice to take various actions around the city using their blocs. Each bloc represents an organized group of 5-15 people.
Sunrise: After each faction has taken its turn, the Reaction card orders police to attack and police vans to move around the city. Next, factions may liberate districts and draw Liberation cards if enough blocs are gathered in those districts. There might also be a meeting to draw more Conditions cards. And don’t forget to check if the game has been won! If not, move the countdown forward at the speed of Police Morale, start the next night, and continue playing. If time runs out or any 1 faction has no blocs in the city, all factions lose.
Year Published
2022
Featured Videos
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 4
This page: 4
Sentiment:
pos 4 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–4 of 4
Video BKRv9Jdqd2c
Totally Tabled top_10_list at 6:41 sentiment: positive
video_pk 42882 · mention_pk 130334
Click to watch at 6:41 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Unique, non-generic coop feel with fresh map setups
- Dice/action system offers meaningful choices
- Atmosphere and theme deliver a strong sense of tension
Cons
- Theme may feel spicy for some players
- Not highly visible in top lists
Thematic elements
- activism and community organizing with barricades and looting
- urban protest to reclaim streets from police power
- gritty, activist-themed cooperative scenario
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cooperative Game — Players work together to reclaim streets via strategic barricades.
- cooperative play — Players work together to reclaim streets via strategic barricades.
- Dice Action System — Roll dice and spend numbers to perform actions; dice are manipulated by cards.
- Randomized maps — Each game starts with different choke points and traffic patterns.
- variable map — Each game starts with different choke points and traffic patterns.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- it's crazy it sounds downright ridiculous but it's incredibly fun
- Time Track in order to determine turn order
- zombies are represented by wooden cubes
- the solo mode is very well done
- it's wild and crazy and swingy and really leans into the pirate theme
- you can screw yourself over you can have just an absolutely horrendous game
- it's one of my favorite rolling rights
- cooperative pick up and deliver puzzle that is deceptively crunchy
- this auction system is brutal but incredibly satisfying
- the zombies feel scary the system is just incredible
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video VM_xglr7DfU
Board Stupid top_5_list at 5:35 sentiment: positive
video_pk 31539 · mention_pk 92919
Click to watch at 5:35 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Harder, more challenging cooperative experience
- Interesting deck/dice interaction that rewards teamwork
- Strong thematic polish and political subtext
Cons
- Punishing difficulty may deter casual players
- Rules could be dense for new players
Thematic elements
- collective empowerment, civil resistance
- urban protest against an oppressive regime
- political/sociopolitical struggle with cooperative goals
Comparison games
- Paleo
- Forbidden Desert
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cooperative Game — players must work together to meet shared goals rather than compete
- Cooperative objective-driven play — players must work together to meet shared goals rather than compete
- dice-based actions — dice results trigger different abilities that steer the group toward objectives
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Cooperative games are normally like very thematic.
- you’re not playing against each other you’re trying everybody together to solve the mechanic to solve the problem.
- it's a really friendly game that will everybody try to win or lose together.
- the desert moves around and blows around the desert… the desert is actually trying to kill you.
- it’s brutally punishing.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video MR85Umxxb6I
Three Minute Board Games game_review at 0:06 sentiment: positive
video_pk 4218 · mention_pk 82864
Click to watch at 0:06 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Tense, well-balanced cooperative play with a strong tactical core
- Edgy, politically charged theme that feels integral to the setting
- Improvements in the edition compared to earlier releases (meetings, objectives, looting, graffiti systems)
- Vibrant escalation and satisfying moment-to-moment decisions through dice-drafting and resource management
- Thematic art and potential to flip the board to a liberated side for dynamic storytelling
Cons
- Political content may alienate some players or clash with certain real-world viewpoints
- Performance and vibe are best with four players; three players can diminish some gameplay experiences
- The heavy theme requires buy-in from the group and may not be suitable for all playgroups
- Non-obvious rules interactions and dice randomness can lead to variability in outcomes
Thematic elements
- Urban resistance, civil disobedience, street-level organizing against state oppression.
- A tense, occupied city environment where residents unite to resist an occupying power and reclaim territory.
- Scenario-driven progression with escalating stakes and dynamic regional control.
Comparison games
- Pandemic: Fall of Rome
- Black Orchestra
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area movement — Players move blocs through connected regions, placing barricades to slow police movement and protect territories.
- Area movement and barricades — Players move blocs through connected regions, placing barricades to slow police movement and protect territories.
- Cooperative Game — Teams win by achieving set objectives across meetings, with progress tracked on meeting cards and tiles.
- dice-based actions — Most actions require spending a die; higher numbers enable more powerful actions, creating tension between dice results and strategic needs.
- Loot, graffiti, and occupation cards — Loot cards provide resources; graffiti helps claim areas; occupations unlock special actions but interact with dice allocation and morale.
- Morale management and police response — Police morale drives card draws and enemy strength; occupations and other actions can lower morale and shift momentum.
- Objective-based cooperative play — Teams win by achieving set objectives across meetings, with progress tracked on meeting cards and tiles.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- this is the third time i have covered bloc by bloc on the channel and for good reason i absolutely love this game
- it's a firefighting co-op game done extremely well, jammed to the brim with tough choices and an implacable enemy that just wants to wreck your day
- it feels like a crossover between a pandemic style co-op and a war game and is far more tactical than most firefighting co-ops
- the best thing about this game is how well it captures the feel of a rolling street occupation against the police
- if you have a blue lives matter bumper sticker this one ain't for you
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 8RUQyvR45Kk
Three Minute Board Games general_discussion at 7:48 sentiment: positive
video_pk 2992 · mention_pk 116205
Click to watch at 7:48 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Direct political commentary handled with authenticity
- Solid cooperative design and replayability
Cons
- Content can be confronting or polarizing for some players
Thematic elements
- Activism, social change, and collective policy decisions
- Cooperative/political action with blunt social commentary
- honest, blunt political statement expressed through gameplay
Comparison games
- The Crew
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cooperative Game — Players collaborate toward shared political or social goals
- cooperative play — Players collaborate toward shared political or social goals
- negotiation — Policy decisions and actions reflect real-world concerns
- thematic negotiation — Policy decisions and actions reflect real-world concerns
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- it's not one for people who don't like dice rolls because it'd be very easy to blame the dice for you for bad play but there's plenty of mitigation in Final Girl
- Regicide is a very simple Cooperative or solo game that you can play and you can play it using just a standard deck of cards
- the crew 2 takes the original crew and just gets rid of all of the awkward parts of it and makes it a better game with more replayability
- Block by Block Uprising is a great game ... it makes a political statement a very blunt political statement and I kind of respect as honesty there
- Pan Am is a network building aircraft game but you initially expect to be a bit like Ticket to Ride where you just try to put down planes and and you know get long chains of them but it has a Twist where you're actively trying to get in the way of Pan Am as it expands so that they buy your networks off you
- unsettled is an excellent game it has some of the best writing of any game I've played
- Roll Camera it's a hoot track it down if you can go into it knowing that what you get out of it is what you put in
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–4 of 4