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Gather your ants in Micropolis, and send them through the anthill to do your bidding. What do you want? Fruit? Warriors? A queen? Even more ants?!
Each player starts with a central location that will be surrounded by ten tiles over the course of the game, with the tiles being connected by a series of tunnels. Over ten rounds, players draft tiles one at a time, with the player with the largest army going first. They can take the first tile in line, or place an ant on each tile they want to pass to get to something better. The tiles have various roles on them: Queens who if alone can improve their space; Nannies who give you extra ant soldiers; Architects who let you take any tile for free; Warriors who attack the first player; Generals who manage the movement of your ant soldiers; and Fruit gatherers who collect fruits, which score based on the variety you have.
Ants at the end of the game are worth one point each, and whoever has the largest army earns an additional 5 points.
- great artwork with standout fruit visuals
- gateway-friendly yet with depth for richer play
- family-friendly and highly recommendable
- art style may not appeal to everyone
- less direct interaction compared to some other gateway games
- ecosystem management and resource optimization
- ant colony building
- educational, nature-inspired
- Sushi Go
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area/building connectivity — connect tunnels and central galleries; scoring depends on connected structures
- Network/route building — connect tunnels and central galleries; scoring depends on connected structures
- scoring based on soldiers and tunnels — points for ants and for maintaining strong, well-connected tunnels
- set collection — collect fruit tiles to maximize scoring; sets must be in the same tunnel
- set-collection and resource management — collect fruit tiles to maximize scoring; sets must be in the same tunnel
- tiebreakers and end-game strategies — closing tunnels and keeping sets cohesive is key to maximizing points
- tile drafting from a line — take tiles from ends of a line; pay with ant soldiers for higher picks
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is one of my favourite filler games of all time so I would highly recommend this
- the theme comes through really nicely if you love the film
- it's definitely been made with love
- I love push your luck games I think that phase works nicely cause there's still a lot of luck involved
- gateway game with bite to them
- great to have a game that good in a box this size
References (from this video)
- fits the designer/publisher model well
- demonstrates successful collaboration between designer and publisher
- as a micro-title, market impact can be limited without broader campaigns
- neon/high-tech, light mechanistic feel
- two-player, compact game; part of a small-box line
- abstract/techno-inspired
- Micro Dojo
- 99 Ninja
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- co-creative_dev_design — collaborative playtesting history; embodies a small, iterative publishing process
- two-player_head_to_head — tight, rapid-fire decisions in a small footprint; competitive interaction
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Publishing makes me hate other people and designing makes me hate myself.
- Your brain is a super computer but it only has one megabyte of RAM.
- Volume negates luck—the more you do something, the less lucky you need to be.
- If I don't do this Monday I gotta wait till next Monday.
- I think micro Dojo fit in an envelope… it's one of the smallest games I've ever seen in my life.