A game lives and die by its rulebook. No matter how complicated a game is, no matter how thick that rulebook has to be, a successful game is one that not only explains the rules but clarifies them. Leder Games does fantastic rulebooks for games like Root and Vast thanks to including both basic setup, the rules, and a clarification book as separate items in their games. It shows a level of care and playtesting for a game. Other games do not make it so easy. These games make things so opaque, so confusing, that just getting the game on the table is a chore let alone playing it. And even if you do get through deciphering the setup and basic play, these games will grind to a halt as you quibble and argue over misread, unprinted, or vague directions. No matter how well produced, pretty, and seemingly carefully made a game is the bad rules will always let you down.
Compile: Main 1, a two-player card game from Greater Than Games, is an example of this problem.
What’s In The Box?
If I seem bitter about Compile: Main 1, it’s because it was truly disappointing for this game to let me down. Visually this is a gorgeous game that was rapidly making the rounds at Gen Con (among industry and con-goers alike) as a great little game that looked fantastic on the table. Card games have limited space to effectively use their visuals and I can confidently say Compile: Main 1 is a game that does that to perfection. The cards are bursting with color and there’s fantastic foil effects on each one to give it the “cyberspace” spin that the game wants to go for. The box is chunky and is cut in a way that really stands out on its own. It’s like if you could make the perfect venus fly trap of a board game.
How’s It Play?
Before you can get into the game you need to get past the rules, which are on a single fold out piece of glossy paper (not a great sign in my book). I think they wanted a “simple” game with minimal rules, but at the same time they went way “clever” with the game. It’s never great when someone is trying this hard to re-invent the wheel.
You play as two rogue AI’s trying to change reality around them by compiling “protocols.” Players start the game drafting them into your deck and playing them into your “lines.” Basically you’re creating lines of code with each card/protocol as the code and each protocol being some physical or metaphysical concept. When you play a card into your line, it also lets you use the abilities of the card to benefit you and change the playfield, get you more cards, etc. Your end goal is to get the cards in one line to have values that add up to at least ten AND have more value than your opponent. When you do, your protocol is “compiled” and the line is deleted. Opponents can mess with and move around their opponent’s lines with the “control” action. First to compile three wins. Phew.
The Verdict?
This could be a fairly fun and simple game that’s been overthought and over design. While the ins and outs do mimic the logic of an AI computer, moving things around, making small changes, fitting it all together in lines. But it’s just so impenetrable from the jump. It’s never good when I’ve played the game, read the rules, and written a summary up there and I’m still not 100% certain I’ve done it right.
There’s simultaneously too many and not enough things going on, if that makes sense, and the rulebook makes the assumption that you just get it at the jump and can handle it yourself. You can easily compare it to something from Button Shy Games, which are card-based games that exist to test the designers ability. They take way fewer resources and are able to create compelling, easy to learn titles. Compile: Main 1 is someone trying to show off like that but without the ease of access. All in all a disappointing game in an absolutely beautiful package.
You can grab Compile: Main 1 from the Greater Than Games shop or your FLGS at an MSRP of $19.99.
Images via Greater Than Games
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