Mind MGMT - RFY / WFY
Review copy provided by the publisher
Some games take a left turn at interesting and then drive all the way down until they hit downright refreshing. So when a board game manages to do something different—and do it well—you pay attention. And I’m genuinely happy that Mind MGMT, the new hidden-movement game from Jay Cormier and Sen-Foong Lim, kept its momentum from the first few plays and {after six plays) left me intrigued as to all of the things I haven’t discovered and all of the ways I’ve yet to play.
And while I’m definitely a fan of the game—its startling aesthetic and its clever design—this ultimately isn’t about me. Read up on my first impressions if you want the more subjective look. I’m here to help you. To see if this is a game for you. Right or wrong.
There’s a lot here to unpack from a chunky, hearty hidden-movement experience.
The 2021 release is based on the comic series of the same name and features artwork from Matt Kindt, the creator of the MIND MGMT world. It’s a game for 1-5 players and it most frequently will be a one-against-all experience where the majority of players are tracking down one deceptive individual scurrying about on the board. For solo and cooperative play, it will look a bit different, but the most likely gameplay setup is the one I’ve described.
Put on your tinfoil hat. Make sure you haven’t been secretly dosed with LSD. And let’s get started.
Overview
To be clear, Mind MGMT is a “game” because we all know that it’s really happening out there… right?
But if you were delusional and thought this was all just a silly game, then it’s a relatively simple concept. One player will represent Mind MGMT as one of its Recruiters. They will move through the city and try to persuade new blood to join the ranks of the shadowy organization that influences world events. Their movement is secret, though, recorded on a separate map from the main board, which is used by the other players to search for the Recruiter. These other players are Rogue Agents, disillusioned with Mind MGMT as a sinister global power and determined to bring it all crashing down. The Rogue Agents will try to stop the Recruiter by capturing them before they’ve either gathered enough recruits or evaded capture for too long.
Moving around the city, asking questions, revealing visited Features, shaking down Immortals, and eventually capturing the Recruiter. This is the mission. And they’ve got mental notes and other data to consider as they pursue this local manifestation of the Mind MGMT network.
The Mind MGMT Recruiter needs to collect 12 recruits or survive 16 turns. Conversely, the Rogue Agents need to capture or trap the Recruiter before either of those two conditions are met.
It’s a game of psychic kittens and a large NY sewer rat. That very popular game that we all have heard of…
Theme
Is there ever any comfort when you realize the world isn’t as you believed it to be?
Is Cypher really that wrong for wishing to be blissfully ignorant and to eat his steak too?
In MIND MGMT, a journalist stumbles on the kind of story that shatters your worldview—a top-secret organization with snaking tendrils that touch much of the world beyond our shallow understanding. She encounters psychics, subliminal media, fearsome immortal figures, and mind-breaking truths and falsehoods.
That’s the world that players will step into. It’s a place where reality is being shaped by these unseen forces and where Mind MGMT has a tight grip on the geopolitical landscape.
Will you be a willing agent of this global entity or will you go rogue and try to dismantle the operations of the Mind MGMT program?!
Matt Kindt’s original espionage story comes to life in board game form. The genre comic is now a hidden movement game!
Accessibility
While the deluxe version of the game is going to be more versatile in terms of accessible design—like with the cardboard screen for the Recruiter player with slots for Feature and Recruit cards—the intent was to create a game that builds in scope. It starts off approachable and simple with a tutorial mission and then slowly builds with the full rules and additional reveals that happen within the SHIFT system.
The components are interactive and create multiple ways for players to engage with each other and explore the systems of Mind MGMT.
No matter what version of the game you get, though, you’ll benefit from a Game Trayz insert that keeps all of the components (original and unlocked) organized and ready to go.
Also, the inclusion of dry-erase components gives players the choice of how they record information. Many people have their preferred methods of notation or reminders and this design provides the freedom necessary to keep all their progress and theories visible on the board.
The graphic design and visual style of the board is another arena in which the development team has worked to create an experience for players that clears the air rather than muddies the water.
The neutral background color of the board leaves a distinct contrast with the Features that players will need to key in on and the empty space around those Features gives ample room for standees or wooden meeples to fit without blocking the view of important information.
It doesn’t sacrifice the distinct art appeal of the game but it ensures that players all have an easier time distinguishing what’s where on what can become a crowded board.
Gameplay
If you want a more in-depth exploration of the gameplay, then check out the First Impressions article from last month, but know that you’re playing an asymmetrical hidden-movement game with variable player powers.
One person takes on the role of Recruiter and works behind the hidden screen to track their movements on the board while visiting different Features in the city to attract recruits for Mind MGMT.
While that’s happening, the other players are trying to ask questions and hunt down the Recruiter, capturing them before they either gain a certain number of recruits or escape from the city.
Rogue Agents have their actions that they can perform as well as Allies to rely on. More powers can be unlocked through the game using the SHIFT System.
The Recruiter has one special movement action that they can activate and then Immortal figures on the board to help hinder the progress of the Rogue Agents’ investigation, but it’s mainly about their careful plotting around the map.
It’s like a hidden-movement Snake game, just not on a Nokia phone. The Recruiter can never retract their old steps, so they have to be careful not to box themselves in and to move in ways that allow for future maneuvering.
If the Rogue Agents capture the Recruiter, they win. If the Recruiter meets their rookie Mind MGMT quota or escapes the city, they win.
Which side will you choose?!
But even if you lose, don’t fret because the SHIFT System exists, which gives unlockable add-ons to the game. It’s a cool way of balancing the experience after every play until it becomes a tense, fraught competition that has matured from the outset into something special and unique for each playgroup.
Modes of Play
An app enables you to play solo or cooperatively, but the main way to experience Mind MGMT is through the 2-5 player mode where one individual operates the sly Recruiter behind the hidden screen and the other 1-4 players control the Rogue Agents who are trying to track down the shadowy figure who represents their former employer.
And then three versions of the game exist.
The tutorial of the game is a Slim-Fast Mind MGMT meal that takes the essence of the hidden movement game but strips away some of the flavor and character to give players the most basic understanding of the mechanics.
The traditional game includes a longer playtime, more Recruits needed to win, the intimidating Immortals, and some extra rules to keep in mind.
And then the full experience is the normal game accelerated or added to with the SHIFT System packages. Whenever a game ends, the losing side unlocks one of seven SHIFT packages that introduce new rules, components, or advantages to help in the next game. This is the full Mind MGMT experience. Yes, it will get more complicated. There are more rules to remember. But they’re added on slowly and transform this from an ordinary game into one that grows with the players and rewards them for time spent, which is atypical in a world where “the cult of the new” mindset and expanding board game collections are very real challenges to confront.
Innovation
Immortals change up the game by giving the Recruiter ways to block information-gathering on the part of the Rogue Agents while also granting the Mind MGMT player other avenues to recruit.
On the other hand, Rogue Agents can shakedown these Immortals with the chance of permanently slowing the Recruiter’s ability to gather recruits around the city. It’s a two-way street for players to manipulate.
Mayhem creates permanent blockades in the city that will inhibit the movement of both sides. It tightens the maneuverability of the Recruiter but also makes Rogue Agents have to dodge around as well.
It represents one of the mechanisms in play that constrict how the game is played. In the end it elevates the tension and creates a more memorable experience when slipping around the map as the Recruiter or tightening the noose when you’re one of the Rogue Agents.
Mental notes are what you make of them. When the Recruiter verifies the exact time they were on a location, then yes, it has a singular purpose, but the unverified white side of these dry-erase components can be used to create your own notation system.
Write entirely with iconography. Develop your own Spark Notes for Mind MGMT. Write whatever you need after asking questions to get a better sense of where the Recruiter is and what information has been revealed.
All of these components increase the original design in Mind MGMT and make players gravitate toward it when considering all of the interesting choices at play in this hidden-movement experience.
Pricing
The MSRP for the retail version of the game is $50, which puts it in pretty close competition to other titles like Letters from Whitechapel or the third and fourth editions of Fury of Dracula.
If you can get your hands on a deluxe version of the game, then you’ll be getting a lot of wooden and high-quality components, which isn’t necessary for the gameplay experience but certainly pops more on the board and gives a fuller sense of the world that Matt Kindt has created.
Either price point seems justifiable given what is in the box. And it could be argued that the SHIFT System alone provides additional content that makes it competitive for the prices it’s listed at.
Since I like to keep fewer games in my collection, I like each one to be the nicest version I can get; this is why I tend to gravitate toward the deluxe versions when I can, but this isn’t necessary to feel like you’re getting the most out of Mind MGMT.
Mind MGMT is…
Right for You!
Check out what the community thinks on BoardGameGeek.
Watch Quackalope play the game.
Learn more about Off the Page Games.