Your role as criminal mastermind is to recruit a crew of thieves, send them to locations across Europe, and provide them with gear. It's your job to utilize your resources efficiently to steal goods, but being a great mastermind is about more than the things you walk away with. It's the thrill of a well thought-out plan coming together: the set-up, the sting. Properly deploy your thieves and gear to dominate locations, outmaneuver your opponent's plans, and win the night. You've got six rounds to plan and play your cards. Nothing like a tight timeline to up the stakes!
Caper: Europe is a two-player drafting game. You take turns sending thieves to famous locations across Europe, vying for control through special card powers. These thieves have tricks up their sleeves, which you can enhance by adding gear to them. And controlling the locations isn't everything because priceless stolen goods await the thief who's clever enough to snatch them first.
Your goal is to score the most points by winning locations, collecting stolen goods, and equipping thieves with their preferred gear. The mastermind with the most points, tallied at the end of six rounds, wins.
- newest game on list
- nearly in contention for number one
- wonderful 60s keeper theme
- familiar Carmen San Diego theme
- plays incredibly fast
- unparalleled visual aesthetic
- real world cities integrate into decks
- wonderful reimagining of two-player drafting
- 60s heist theme
- Carmen San Diego inspired
- thievery
- European cities
- Where in the World is Carmen San Diego
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- there are a lot of great games and there are a lot of great games that play excellently at two players
- so simple and so elegant and so refined and yet so puzzly and ingenious
- one of the best tactical miniatures games out there without any miniatures whatsoever
- the thing is is that if you sell in bulk you get extra bonuses but if you sell early then you get the most valuable versions
- it gives you so much to consider and be cognizant of as you are drafting every single card but it is incredibly indelibly accessible
References (from this video)
- Two-player exclusive design
- Moderate length (~30 minutes) per game
- Engaging mix of area control, set collection, and card-driven decisions
- Clear end-game scoring with multiple interaction bonuses
- Caper/Heist
- Three locations across Europe where mastermind plans to pull off robberies
- Competitive two-player heist with keeper tracks and dynamic scoring
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Burning cards and reversals — A small subset of cards can burn opponent’s gear and reverse certain effects (coins, goods, caper moves).
- Card placement into action slots — Players place thief or gear cards into specific slots on a three-location board.
- Coin economy and discard actions — Coins power gear plays; discard options can grant coins; gear cards may have costs.
- End-of-round and discard rules — When players reach one card, they discard; rounds progress until the end of six rounds.
- Keeper tracks and caper tokens — Each location has a keeper track; markers move toward a player to establish control and award points.
- Stolen goods and set collection scoring — Tokens and cards contribute to multiple scoring bonuses, including sets of stolen goods.
- Two-phase rounds (thieves rounds and gear rounds) — Rounds alternate between thief-placement actions and gear-play actions.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the game is for two players exclusively players in about half an hour and I found the game to be really fun to play
- The Mastermind with the most victory points will win in Caper Europe
- the game is played in six rounds