Matagot • 2016
Two teams of four sit on opposite sides of a table with a screen between them. Each team is the crew of a submarine. One player is the Captain, calling movement directions. One is the Radio Operator, listening to the enemy Captain and tracking their position on a transparent overlay. One is the First Mate, charging weapon systems as the sub moves. One is the Engineer, managing the systems that break down with each movement. In real-time mode, there are no turns. Both Captains are calling directions simultaneously. The Radio Operator is frantically tracking. The First Mate is yelling that the torpedo is charged. The Engineer is telling the Captain they can't go North because the engine will blow. The game is chaos by design. Information is imperfect. Communication breaks down. Someone fires a torpedo at where they think the enemy is, and either the room erupts in cheering or someone quietly announces "miss" and the hunt continues. There's also a turn-by-turn mode for groups that prefer structure, but the real-time mode is the reason this game exists. It creates a kind of pressure and teamwork that nothing else really replicates. It needs exactly 6 or 8 players. At 6, one person doubles up on roles. Fewer than that and it doesn't really work. You also need a physical table long enough for two teams to sit across from each other, which is worth thinking about before you buy it.
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