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Grifters is a hand-building game that has all the fun of deck-building games, without the deck. Set in the Dystopian Universe, players take on the role of powerful crime bosses, building their criminal organizations by carefully recruiting new operatives with specialized skills and directing their team’s nefarious deeds. All of your specialists are either in play or in your hand, ready to be used as you command. This unique hand-building mechanism gives you total control of your strategy.
Grifters is all about stealing as much money as you can from the corrupt government, malicious corporations, and your rival players. Each player starts the game with a hand of six Specialist cards, each with unique abilities. Your objective is to use this team of six Specialists to recruit more criminals, complete jobs, steal from the government coffers and swindle your opponents.
Each specialist has a special ability and skill. On your turn you can play a single specialist to perform their ability, or you can play a team of specialists to use their combined skills to complete a job. This means every specialist is a valuable asset to your criminal enterprise, earning immediate benefit through abilities and valuable end-game bonuses by completing jobs against the same target. And because all the cards in your deck are always available, you decide how to maximize your play.
Grifters uses a unique card "cooldown" system to control the use of your cards. On your turn, you play one or more specialist cards into the first "Night" of your hideout. If you already have a specialist card, or a team of specialist cards, in night one those cards advance to night two and push other cards through your hideout.
When a card is pushed out of the third night of your hideout it enters the refresh area. Any cards in your refresh area will return to your hand at the end of your turn.
The game ends when the coffers run out of money, there are no more jobs left to complete, or if there are no more specialists cards left for recruiting. End game bonuses are calculated for completing multiple jobs against the same target. The player with the most money wins.
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The Grifters (1st Ed) was first released via Kickstarter with the following backer exclusives:
Upgraded player tableaus - A thick chipboard tableau with linen finish will replace the cardstock tableaus found in the base game.
4 x New "Ringleader" cards - Informants are a new ringleader (every player starts with one of each of the ringleaders) that add an element of bluff and deception to the game.
With Informants in play, you can play any card face down and take the Informant action. Any other player may challenge the Informant. When challenged, the active player reveals the card that was played. If that card is the Informant, the challenger must give the active player 2M ISK. If that card is not the Informant, no payments are due from any player to the active player, the challenger steals 2M ISK from the active player and gets to take the action on the card that was played.
Informants are a really fun addition to the game and totally fitting with the Dystopian Universe.
A set of these promo specialist cards.
You are Awesome - Bonus #1: 3 x The Security Specialist promo
You are Awesome - Bonus #2: 3 x Crooked Warden promo
You are Awesome - Bonus #3: 3 x Veteran promo
You are Awesome - Bonus #4: 3 x Underboss promo
You are Awesome - Bonus #5: 3 x Negotiator promo
Shifters: Die and Retry!
Grifters - How To Play
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
References (from this video)
- Engaging hand-building mechanic that feels different from traditional deck builders.
- Strategic depth in card play and board management.
- Satisfying campaign progression with meaningful choices.
- Unique boss encounters that require adaptation.
- Can be punishing if players fail, requiring a full reset.
- The board state can lead to situations with very few cards in hand.
- Summoning shifters from different dimensions.
- Slay the Spire
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Boss decks — Bosses have their own decks of cards that dictate their actions and attack patterns, which players must anticipate and counter.
- Campaign — The game is played through a series of scenarios with a progression system that carries over, aiming towards a final boss fight.
- Card play on a board — Cards are played onto spaces on a player board, where they shift down over time to trigger abilities and effects. Only one card in a stack activates its primary effect.
- Hand building — Instead of a traditional deck builder, cards are added directly to the hand and can be played from there. Cards that are played go onto a board and then to a discard or recharge pile, requiring actions to retrieve them.
- Modular board components — Players can add 'modules' to their player board that provide tokens (attack, defense, energy) when cards shift down.
- Roguelike elements — Features campaign progression, persistent effects (though reset on total failure), and a learning curve where player knowledge is key to future success.
- scenario progression — Players navigate a map with different nodes, choosing paths that lead to fights, card acquisition, or other effects, ultimately progressing towards a scenario boss.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- So, it really is more of a hand builder. You're playing cards out of this hand. Cards you get go directly into your hand. They're always either going to be in your hand or on this player board that you see right in front of you.
- The amount of planning that goes into making that work is pretty insane actually.
- It's a very much a learning experience and it's meant to be so because you're going to play the first game and you're going to be like, 'Okay, well that was a slap in the face because I thought we could just hammer on damage.' But you're going to learn things as you play as they're revealed for the first time.
- The goal is that by the time you get to the very, very end, which the last scenario is this unique, gigantic boss fight. Once you get there, you'll have a very, very different deck every time you play the game.
- So, you're going to be able to arm yourself with that knowledge and then you'll get a little further and then you might die again, you have to go back. That is very rogike.
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- there will be a board game Consignment sale going on with 80% of sales going to a local charity
- according to the forecast there will be a drizzling of designers such as Andrew loen we have Glenn drover Stan cordoni and Kane Kinko
- sign up for strong towers as tickets are limited
- don't foret don't forget to tune in next time for more news
- this is Ryan and Bethany signing off saying news is what you make it
- thank you so much for watching and we will see you next time
References (from this video)
- Engaging ship/hand management and deck-building mechanics
- Accessible solo and two-player play
- Five worlds with a modular boss structure
- Crowdfunding page design is confusing and difficult to parse
- High price for the content shown
- Missing component list and clear pledge levels on the main page
- Non-alphabetized shipping regions and currency confusion
- Rushed video presentation with little narration
- Cooperative space-time exploration with shifting worlds
- Interstellar travel through space and time to save the universe
- Campaign-driven progression across multiple worlds with bosses and an ultimate enemy
- It's a Wonderful World
- From the Moon
- Lands of Legends
- Over the Moon
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Campaign progression and world diversity — Five worlds, five bosses, one ultimate enemy, with potential expansions.
- Cooperative Game — Players work together to explore universes and neutralize enemies.
- cooperative play — Players work together to explore universes and neutralize enemies.
- Deck building — Players manage and upgrade cards to access abilities and fight threats.
- deck-building / hand management — Players manage and upgrade cards to access abilities and fight threats.
- Path exploration and boss encounters — Travel along a world map with encounter cards leading to bosses.
- Resource management — Includes a board, tokens, trays, and other components to support play.
- Resource tokens and components — Includes a board, tokens, trays, and other components to support play.
- Shift mechanism — Cards or actions shift between worlds or states as the campaign progresses.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Kickstarter autopsy where I take a look at a Kickstarter project and try to figure out why it didn't hit the mark.
- Do I want it? Um, no. I mean, it looks fun.
- The fact he didn't just list me 38 euros for a solo to two-player game.
- Why are you even selling the silver pledge then?
- Five worlds, five bosses, one ultimate enemy.
- Show me that organizer.
References (from this video)
- Simple to learn
- Good intro to mech combat
- Balance between weapons may require house rules
- Simplified mech combat
- Mech warfare in a futuristic setting
- compact book
- Space Station Zero
- Grim Dark Future: Firefight
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Modular board — configurable arms/weapons
- Modular mechs — configurable arms/weapons
- No-to-hit resolution — hit automatically; defender rolls for damage effects
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Space Station Zero has pulled ahead by a good deal
- we're real happy with how things are going
- the starter set for steel riffs is a must buy for me
- there are a lot of options for them
- I think quiet is like one of the most important things for an airbrush compressor
- online here's the deal too is a lot of shops also sell stuff online
References (from this video)
- quick and simple drafting
- accessible entry point for new players
- lighter weight may not satisfy heavy gamers
- creative drafting with quick, accessible play
- literary drafting theme (drafting to build a deck of stories)
- light, drafting-focused
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- drafting — players draft cards to build a personal deck/collection
- set collection / engine-building — build synergies from drafted cards to maximize scoring opportunities
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Destinies could be cool it's kind of Cooperative but only one of you will fulfill his Destiny so it's a race game
- Time stories Revolution is something I'd say the smaller boxes the new ones yeah time series Revolution it will apply fine with two it's perfect with two I enjoy time stories more most with less people because you each individual can do more things
- there's a game called mysterium Park which they say is better than mysterium because it's shorter
- one person hides his treasures somewhere on the map just draws an X there and then he has to from time to time give Clues to other people to search and you actually can draw huge circles on the map from the information you have
- draft desire is an amazing quick simple drafting game