I think Eight-Minute Empire is a slightly optimistic title, but it certainly sounds snazzier than “23-Minute Empire.” Still, it’s a cool game that manages to pack a lot of interesting choices in a short game. The game ends after a set number of rounds (depending on number of players). It’s pretty straightforward, with simple icons representing each action. The actions on the cards let you move armies, place cities, place new armies (on your cities or the Start), destroy armies, and move across water. Each time a card is purchased, then all the cards slide down and a new one is added. The cards have increasing costs: 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, and 3. Each player picks a card, pays for it, and uses the action shown on the card. Six cards are laid out on at the edge of the board. The various types of resources are worth different points: For example, the gems are worth one point each, but you’ll need three carrots to get one point. Controlling a region is as simple as having the most armies there, and controlling a territory means you have the most regions. The goal of the game is to get points by controlling regions, controlling continents, and collecting sets of resources (on the cards). In practice it’ll be more like 20 minutes until everyone’s accustomed to it.) It has a blend of area control and set collection, and the rules fit on one double-sided page.Įveryone gets three cities, eight coins, and 14 armies - each player starts with three armies in the Start location on the map, and you bid for the privilege of going first. Ryan Laukat’s first game, Empires of the Void, was a sprawling sci-fi empire-building game that takes hours to play. Two to four players, about 15 to 20 minutes (see below), $20 for the base game (or $30 for the game with an expansion board), Kickstarter funding ends Nov. Since they’re short games, I’ll just give you a short overview of each. I like to think of small boxes as “fun-sized.” To wit, here are a few board games (some currently on Kickstarter) that are short enough to play during your lunch hour that still have some kick to them. (OK, to be fair, good things come in big packages, too.) Just because a game can be played in 30 minutes (or eight) doesn’t mean it can’t be fun and engaging, even a bit of a brain-burner.

Eight-Minute Empire print-and-play version shown.

Eight minute empire print and play