Men at Work (game)

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Men at Work
Game situation with Men at Work
Game situation with Men at Work
Game data
author Rita Modl
graphic Bernard Bittler , Chris Quilliams
publishing company Pegasus Games ,
Pretzel Games ( Plan B Games )
Publishing year 2019
Art Skill game
Teammates 2 to 5
Duration 15 to 45 minutes
Age from 8 years

Awards

Men at Work is a skill game by the game designer Rita Modl , which was released in 2019 by the development studio Pretzel Games in English and Spanish and in German by Pegasus Spiele . In the game, players try to place figures, beams and transport material on a construction site so that they do not fall down.

Theme and equipment

In the game, the other players try to place figures, beams and transport material on a construction site so that they do not fall down. You have to fulfill task cards that give you the elements to be placed. The winner is either who is the last construction worker to have a safety certificate or who has been awarded “Construction Worker of the Month” most frequently.

In addition to the instructions, the game material consists of:

  • 16 construction workers,
  • 28 steel girders,
  • 8 supports,
  • 12 beams and 12 bricks,
  • 36 construction plans,
  • a card "Chef Rita",
  • 15 safety certificates,
  • a lifebuoy with a ruler,
  • a crane with a platform, and
  • 13 certificates for "construction worker of the month"

Style of play

preparation

Before the game, all construction plans are shuffled and laid out as a face-down pile, with the backs with steel girders or helmet and gloves facing up. Around a quarter of the cards are withdrawn, with the “Chef Rita” card inserted underneath. Each player receives three safety certificates. The construction site is then built with three supports and one steel beam of each color. A construction worker is placed on one of the steel girders and all other building materials and construction workers are placed next to the construction site.

Game flow

Beginning with a starting player, the other players play one after the other in clockwise order and must each complete a task specified by the construction plans. To do this, the top card of the stack of cards is lifted and turned over, and the revealed card and the following card together indicate which task has to be performed. If the next still face down construction plan shows a steel girder symbol, the player must install a steel girder according to the revealed card; if he shows a helmet and gloves, he must place a construction worker and the corresponding work material. Both are shown on the upside down map.

Order of the game rounds
  • Determine the encryptor
  • Draw code cards
  • Write down the notes
  • Read hints aloud, note opposing hints
  • Guess the code
  • Resolve code
  • Distribute markers

In general, the player may only use one hand to install new elements and construction workers in the construction site. Components that have already been installed and construction workers can be touched, lifted and moved with the new elements to be installed and the player can test different positions for the new elements and as long as no accident happens, start again several times. If the player succeeds in placing the elements without an accident, it is the next player's turn.

An accident happens when parts that are already in place or the new parts after they have been placed fall off their position. In this case, the active player must hand in a safety certificate and the next player must remove the fallen parts from the construction site with the help of the rescue hook and put them in the supply; if another accident occurs while cleaning up, his turn ends. Then it is your turn to complete a task card.

When the “Boss Rita” card is turned up, the “Construction Worker of the Month” certificates come into play. The card is placed next to the certificates and the active player reveals a new order card. Every player who from now on places a component or a construction worker on his turn so that this element occupies the highest position on the construction site receives a "Construction Worker of the Month" certificate after his turn. The height can be measured using the measuring stick on the lifebuoy.

End of game and evaluation

The game can end in three different ways:

  1. as soon as there is only one player left who has at least one security certificate, he or she wins the game.
  2. If a player has a number of “Construction Worker of the Month” certificates, which is dependent on the number of players and is specified in the game rules, he wins the game. With five players this is three certificates, with three or four players four certificates or with two players five certificates.
  3. if the building material comes to an end and a task can no longer be fulfilled, the building will stop. In this case, the player with the highest combined number of safety certificates and “construction worker of the month” wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most “Construction Worker of the Month” certificates wins, and if there is another tie several players win.

Publication and reception

The game Men at Work was developed by game designer Rita Modl and published in 2019 by the development studio Pretzel Games of the publisher Plan B Games in English and Spanish as well as in German by Pegasus Spiele .

The game critic Udo Bartsch describes the game as "solid", but he criticizes the length of the game in the endgame when only two players have to play and everyone else has to watch. He wrote:

"Everything you can expect from a good game of skill: You feel challenged, look for creative solutions, take a deep breath when it works, and rejoice when you leave the next one with an almost collapsing construct."

In 2019, Men at Work was honored as a “Games Hit with Friends” at the Austrian Games Prize together with Hexenhaus and Spring Meadow .

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Men at Work , game instructions, Pegasus 2018.
  2. ↑ Men at Work , versions at BoardGameGeek. Retrieved February 22, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Udo Bartsch : Men at Work on Reviews for Millions, December 3, 2018; accessed on February 22, 2020.
  4. ↑ Dagmar de Cassan: The winning games 2019 , June 24, 2019; accessed on February 22, 2020.

Web links