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Game Info
Year
2015
Collection
Mechanic profile
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Vibe profile
How this game feels to play
Description
Mars. The very near future.
The Solarus Corporation discovered an infinite source of rare and precious minerals deep in the red crust. Resources that will end the energy crisis on Earth and fuel the deep space expeditions planned as population swells beyond capacity.
You have been chosen to lead an elite crew of Pod pilots who will delve below the surface of Mars in Solarus Corporation's first major drilling expedition. As a part of this maiden voyage, the corporation has agreed to let you reinvest any wealth you uncover back into training your Pod pilots, increasing their skills and efficiencies. Will you be remembered as the greatest Solarus Corporation employee in the galaxy?
Super Motherload is a tile-laying deck-building game, which means that you have your own deck of cards from which you draw each turn. The cards in your deck start out very basic, but over the course of the game you add new and more powerful cards to it. You use these cards to bomb and drill minerals and other bonuses from the game board. You then use the minerals you've collected as money to purchase better cards for your deck. Some cards give you an immediate bonus when you purchase them, and some give you other bonuses when you use them to drill. Each card you purchase from your library is worth victory points (VPs). You can also gain VPs from achievement cards that become available throughout the game. Whoever has the most VPs at the end of the game wins.
Super Motherload features game boards that are added and removed during play to create videogame-like scrolling action, and it challenges spatial relation skills for 2-4 players who love video games, Eurostyle board games, or deck-building card games.
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 4
This page: 4
Sentiment:
pos 3 ·
mix 1 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–4 of 4
Video D_QBctVK8GY
Getting Games Review at 0:02 sentiment: positive
video_pk 63650 · mention_pk 157140
Click to watch at 0:02 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Subtle asymmetry across player decks
- Achievement structure influences decisions and pacing
- Appealing art and strong visual theme; looks fun and accessible
- Good introduction to deck-building; approachable for new players
- Tactically engaging with a playful Mars mining/splosion theme
Cons
- Minor achievements can stagnate in a two-player game
- Downtime can be a problem late in games with more players
- Mineral doubler can feel dominant and may steer strategies in a way some players dislike
Thematic elements
- blowing up and digging on Mars to mine minerals for deck upgrades
- Mars surface/crust mining
- goofy, lighthearted, tactile
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Achievements — Major and minor achievements provide end-of-game scoring and refill rules that affect decision-making.
- alien artifact heads — Cover alien heads to gain access to random alien tokens that grant power; the board depth can increase as artifacts are revealed.
- asymmetry — Player decks are asymmetric with different abilities and interactions per color.
- bombing — Red cards enable bombing patterns to remove blocks; some bombs grant additional effects and card draws.
- Compound Scoring — Victory points come from purchased cards, achievements, and certain tokens.
- Deck building — Players start with a seven-card deck, draw four cards, and acquire new cards to strengthen their deck.
- deck-building — Players start with a seven-card deck, draw four cards, and acquire new cards to strengthen their deck.
- drilling — Discard same-colored drill cards to drill into the Martian plates, collecting minerals and expanding from the surface or a cavern.
- end game bonuses — Major and minor achievements provide end-of-game scoring and refill rules that affect decision-making.
- hand limit — There is a hand limit of five cards; you discard down to five at the end of a turn if necessary.
- mineral doubler — Certain cards double the value of minerals when purchased.
- mineral economy — Minerals (gold, iron, etc.) are collected and spent to purchase cards; gold is worth 3, iron worth 2.
- scoring — Victory points come from purchased cards, achievements, and certain tokens.
- Wild cards — Wild cards enable multi-color drills or other special effects; some wilds force discarding minor achievements to draw new ones.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I am a huge sucker for goofy tiebreakers
- it's a light game it's going to play in an hour or less
- this game looks fun
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video iHldO3JNqD4
Getting Games Playthrough at 0:05 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 63653 · mention_pk 157143
Click to watch at 0:05 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- potential for big, multi-step turns
- asymmetric pilots add variety
- achievements provide clear scoring incentives
- theming with Martian mining and pilots
Cons
- this particular playthrough felt stagnant at times
- minor achievements lacked variation and were hard to achieve
- wild/pilot card mechanics weren't fully explored in this session
Thematic elements
- mining minerals with pilots on Mars
- Martian terrain
- explanation-as-you-go live playthrough
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- achievements (major/minor) — achievements grant victory points for specific card sets or actions; major/minor distinctions exist.
- alien artifacts — artifact tokens grant effects like extra draws or allowing retrieval of purchased cards.
- bomb action — spend a bomb token to blast terrain in a specified shape; blast patterns vary by card effects.
- buying bonuses and hand drawing — purchasing cards can place them in discard or hand; some provide extra effects or actions.
- Deck building — players buy cards to add to their deck; cards provide drill icons and other abilities.
- deck-building — players buy cards to add to their deck; cards provide drill icons and other abilities.
- drill action — spend colored drill icons from cards to drill through terrain; certain terrain requires bombs.
- mineral collection and placement — drilling yields minerals that are placed on Pilot cards and used for purchases.
- mineral doubling — certain effects allow doubling minerals to boost purchasing power.
- Multi-use cards — pilots have drill icons and buying power; some have special bonuses that affect gameplay.
- pilot cards with buying power — pilots have drill icons and buying power; some have special bonuses that affect gameplay.
- two-player depth progression — the game progresses differently in two-player mode, with depth advancing to depth four in this session.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- this was a huge turn for me
- it's going to be close
- I love this game
- this playthrough did show off really good parts of this game
- this is not going to be a review by any means
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video vowH9lunY9w
Getting Games Review at 3:55 sentiment: positive
video_pk 63654 · mention_pk 157145
Click to watch at 3:55 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- beautiful packaging and elegant concept; deck-building with mining synergy
- asymmetric decks increase replayability
- achievements provide strategic incentives
Cons
- complexity may be high for some players
- rules interactions can be tricky to teach
Thematic elements
- deck-building and mining; asymmetric decks; upgrading through purchases
- Mars mining
- enthusiastic explanatory
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Achievements — Achievements guide what you should do and grant victory points.
- asymmetric decks — Each player has an asymmetric deck with unique powers.
- asymmetric player powers — Each player has an asymmetric deck with unique powers.
- board mining and tunneling — You drill or blow up to mine resources and place tunnels on a board to go deeper.
- Deck building — Players purchase cards into their own deck, improving through gameplay.
- deck-building — Players purchase cards into their own deck, improving through gameplay.
- purchasing into your deck — You spend resources to purchase cards that go into your own deck; there are four color stacks and one wild, ordered from bottom (best) to top (worst).
- tokens and bonus effects — Aliases like alien-head tokens give additional effects and enable powerful turns.
- two actions per turn with multiple options — On each turn you effectively have two actions, with options to draw cards or mine (drill/blast) on the board.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- The heart of this game is essentially drafting cards into a little engine and then knowing when to destroy that engine.
- You have four different colored pawns.
- The first card you can pretty much take anything because you're going to have all four columns out.
- This game lasts five turns, by the way.
- This is about competitively mining Mars.
- the decks are asymmetric.
- This game is about competitively mining Mars.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 3CYTaF7WULo
Game Night Picks - Pair Of Dice Paradise Top List at 8:46 sentiment: positive
video_pk 32185 · mention_pk 95060
Click to watch at 8:46 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- thematic and accessible digging experience
- engaging exploration with tangible rewards
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- mining and treasure discovery
- underground digging, exploration for gems and gear
- DigDug-inspired theme with tile reveals
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- tile-digging / exploration — a dirt-filled board where digging reveals gems and equipment; powers and cards shape play
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- We gamified it.
- This is the board game version of DigDug.
- 90% done. I adore the game.
- It's so silly. It is so fun and I don't think very many people know about it.
- It is love at first sight.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–4 of 4