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In Rats of Wistar, you play the role of one of the four rats who organized the escape from a lab. As such, you will have to lead your family to prove that you are the most deserving of leading the entire colony. Thanks to your extraordinary skills, you will be able to explore the Farm until you reach the pantry to be able to grab the appetizing cheese; exploiting the artifacts abandoned by humans at the edge of the Wood, you will create new inventions and expand your lair under the trees, digging new rooms and building new beds. You will meet native rats and mice that you will welcome into your family, and when necessary, you will visit the Alchemist mouse to gain some extra advantage.
The game takes place over 5 rounds (equal to the 5 days in which the challenge takes place) and you will earn victory points (VPs) as follows:
build beds,
excavation rooms,
by solving missions within the Farm,
welcome host mice,
build new Inventions,
claim Achievements.
At the end of the game, the player with the most VPs wins. In case of a tie, the player furthest in the turn order wins.
Note: Rats of Wistar is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology.
—description from the publisher
- tight action economy with meaningful planning and timing
- deep engine-building and card tableau synergy
- attractive and thematic production with cute rat artwork
- short, five-round game with tight pacing
- lots of strategic depth and multiple viable strategies
- potentially AP-heavy in practice due to tight spaces and blocking
- the action spaces can become punishing when opponents optimize early, requiring careful planning
- rats advancing technology and building an engine through rooms and missions
- Academy of WIA and the houses with rat-led activities
- tableau/engine-building with mission exploration
- Tetum
- Woodcraft
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- build_rooms_and_resources — Build bedrooms/rooms by spending wood and use them to place more mice and access new actions; digging expands space on the board.
- card_tableau_and_inventions — Inventions are represented as cards that cost wood/metal and provide passive or immediate abilities; cards must be played to maximize combos.
- dynamic_action_strength — The main actions' strengths are influenced by the distribution of your rat pieces across sectors; the wheel rotates and changes available power between rounds.
- end_game_objectives_and_scoring — End-game scoring based on quests, digging, rooms, and other objective tokens; balancing multiple scoring tracks is key.
- explore_and_missions — Exploration of the house to reveal doors and missions; missions grant bonuses and some are common to all players.
- movement_tokens_and_minions — Movement tokens allow repositioning your minions to optimize actions; movement is limited and strategically important.
- worker placement — Place workers on single occupancy spaces; action strength depends on the number of your pieces in a sector; there is an Alchemist space where any number can go.
- worker_placement — Place workers on single occupancy spaces; action strength depends on the number of your pieces in a sector; there is an Alchemist space where any number can go.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's essentially a six action Euro with a card Tableau building element to it
- engine build is the key
- there are so many things you can do so many different strategies
- the artwork is really good
- it's a five round game
- this is really good game
References (from this video)
- Thematic integration with a cute, engaging theme
- Mechanics are sound and approachable
- Relatively accessible for players familiar with similar designers
- Not particularly memorable for the reviewer
- Might lack depth for some players seeking heavier euro mechanics
- Rats building and utilizing inventions within a laboratory/house setting
- Lab rats in a potentially dystopian lab environment with inventions and exploration of a house
- thematically driven with light storytelling
- Golem
- Gloomhaven
- Woodcraft
- Lefi and Wilds
- Tetum
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting — Acquire cards to upgrade your tableau and unlock buildings
- Card drafting/purchasing — Acquire cards to upgrade your tableau and unlock buildings
- Resource management — Gaining resources to spend on purchasing cards and upgrading tableau
- Rondell action placement — Place workers on action spots to gain resources and perform actions
- tableau building — Build and upgrade a personal tableau with buildings and improvements
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a very mechanically sound game with an interesting theme
- it's a pretty cute theme
- the most interesting part about this game is the programming
- I really enjoyed this game I'll just say despite my I guess not as high score
- I would play this again