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You and the other players work at Loop Incorporated, the most prestigious time travel agency in the world. Well, that’s not entirely true. It’s a mismanaged, third-tier agency owned by the slick Mr. Loop, who cares more about making a buck than making sure the delicate weave of the time-space continuum stays tight and safe. For you and your coworkers, it’s as good as job as any, and if you time things just right you may even get a nice bonus at the end of the day. And since you have a time machine, you can take multiple cracks at it… assuming things don’t get too chaotic with your past selves running around.
Loop Inc. is played over the course of three days, with each day actually being the same day, but a different time through it. During the first day, players will get to perform three actions and send out their one time machine. Actions include gathering components, setting up advertising, and more. Then, at the end of the day, players jump into their time machines and return to the beginning to start the day over again. The catch is, when players go back in time to try the day again, their past selves are still running around. This means they’ll have to perform all the actions from the previous version of the day, as well as three new ones. They’ll also have an additional ship to launch. On the third try, things compound even further...making timing key. At the end of the third day, the player who completed the most profitable trips wins, provided they didn’t cause too many tears in the space time continuum.
- I enjoyed it.
- airplanes and delivering
- island
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Hey everybody, I'm Tom Vassal.
- This is look back, a series where I go through uh games that I reviewed last year during this time frame and 5 years ago, 10 years ago, and 20 years ago.
- And I tell you what I think about the games now, if I think about them at all.
- Twinkle Twinkle from All Play Games.
- Men Nefer. This is from Firman Million who did Petoku and the very modern Covenant.
- Infiltrators. This is a deduction style game, and you are working together trying to figure out these infiltrators at the playing the cards at the right time.
- And those are the games that I reviewed 1, 5, 10, and 20 years ago.
- Thanks so much for watching.
- Hey. Thanks for watching another video here on the Dice Tower.
- If you really like what we're doing here at the Dice Tower, then there are different ways to support the Dice Tower.
- Until next time though, I'm Tom Vasel, and I hope you enjoyed this video.
References (from this video)
- Strong thematic integration between theme and mechanics
- Clear, teaching-friendly components (per-department reference guides, boards)
- Tight action economy with 20 turns keeps planning focused
- Multiple viable setups and milestones increase replayability
- Good balance of depth without excessive duration (~2 hours)
- Balance is uneven across departments; some are easier than others
- Weekly bonuses can dominate choices and feel compulsory
- Early-game card randomness can grant opponents an early advantage
- Limited player interaction despite competition for milestones
- Process optimization, manufacturing flow, and inter-department competition
- Industrial corporate factory setting within LG Inc., across multiple divisions
- Asymmetrical departments with shared corporate objective; procedural workflow
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action selection on a supervisor track — Move between connected action spots to perform actions; the path dictates available options.
- asymmetrical player boards — Each department (cosmetics, biofuel, goods, or bioplastics) has unique boards and tiles.
- Card Drafting — Contract cards with end-month scoring, onetime, and permanent abilities.
- Card drafting with end-of-round contracts — Contract cards with end-month scoring, onetime, and permanent abilities.
- Contracts — Milestones grant position-based bonuses; players can use personal contracts with special rewards.
- Conveyor belt production line — Yellow main belts and green secondary belts move LG cubes through production stages.
- End Game Bonuses — Weekly bonuses based on actions and energy; end-of-month scoring milestones.
- End-of-week bonuses and end-game scoring — Weekly bonuses based on actions and energy; end-of-month scoring milestones.
- Energy management and byproduct mechanics — Byproducts can be burnt or stored; energy affects bonuses and scoring.
- Export and market/demand system — Export products to cities with demand tokens; value must meet/exceed city demands plus market value tokens.
- Milestones and personal contracting — Milestones grant position-based bonuses; players can use personal contracts with special rewards.
- resource and currency management — LG cubes, energy, science points, money; exchanges 2:1 for resources and 3:1 for wild tokens.
- Resource Management — LG cubes, energy, science points, money; exchanges 2:1 for resources and 3:1 for wild tokens.
- Upgrades via scientists/engineers and tiles — Scientists and engineers upgrade the grid, flip tiles, and unlock bonuses.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I like that this is a good crunchy euro, but doesn't outstate its welcome.
- This is a bear to teach, but once you get over that initial rule set, it makes sense.
- Definitely. And it's been a highlight for me and will probably end up my top 100 games the next time I do my list.
- You only have 20 turns to take all your actions.
- The interconnected gears really work for me on this one.