Reiner Knizia brought all his mathematical skills to bear to create a push-your-luck overall concept for a board game that is currently one of the best in the genre. As if that wasn't good enough, a cat theme was placed over the framework: In combination, MLEM came out. The board game from Rebel Studio is over in this country Asmodee available.
When Félicette was launched into space on a French rocket in October 1963, the black and white ball of fur could hardly have imagined that cats would be the leading experts in the astronaut business just over 100 years later. At least that's the premise of the family board game MLEM: In the year 2075, astrocats fly through space, explore planets and set out to become the best lead cat ever. As we know, it was a small step for a cat, but a big leap for all four-legged friends.
Push your rocket!
Sure, there isn't a lot of backstory behind MLEM, a board game with a "push your luck" mechanic written by author legend Reiner Knizia. The brief story about astro cats has been superimposed on the gameplay framework, but the implementation is so charming that you are only too happy to accept this trick: tokens in the shape of cat heads, player boards with furball astronauts printed on them, bonus markers that match the theme - and planets , which could hardly be closer to a universe through which the cuddly four-legged friends fly. Everything at MLEM is geared towards cats, which makes the board game a special feature in purely visual terms. Joanna Rzepecka was responsible for the illustrations.
What looks good doesn't necessarily have to play well. In the case of MLEM, however, there is no danger: With the roll of the dice, the rocket travels through space, moons and planets serve as intermediate stops where you can get out or not - there would then be points for this or not. If you overextend your luck with the dice, the rocket crashes and the flight begins again. Cat tokens with different abilities allow players to influence what happens: for example, it's about bonus points or lifelines.
Once you have played a round, you know what will happen in the next round. MLEM plays smoothly, which ultimately makes the board game an excellent door opener even for those who have had nothing to do with board games before. Getting started is easy, even for newbies, because it's basically just about two things: rolling the dice and making decisions.
Learned quickly, played quickly
Anyone who has played Celestia will be very familiar with the basic concept of MLEM, but everyone else won't need any longer to understand it. The process per move requires just a few steps. The role of the rocket captain changes in turn; he is the one who challenges the luck of the dice. Players decide which cat to put in the spaceship, then off they go. The dice eyes on the respective rocket fields must be hit, which determines how much distance the rocket can travel.
If the throws fail and there is no rescue anchor, that's it for the flight. The captain role changes and the process begins again. In MLEM, cats have more than seven lives - the game is played until the maximum number of crashes allowed has been reached or one of the players has been able to fit all of their astro cats on the rocks in space.
This basic variant is the most family-friendly version of the board game. Children can easily join in here too. Optional modules bring more complexity into the game: there are secret missions or a UFO that is heading towards the rocket. New conditions add spice to the game, but they don't make the game particularly complicated. The optional components are aimed primarily at those who have already completed their first rounds of MLEM through space or at game fans for whom the basic version is too shallow right from the start. If you play MLEM with all modules, you'll really enjoy it, because you can use a lot more tactics in the pure basic process, in which four bonus combinations on planets or moons ensure a minimal boost to your points account.
Incidentally, hitting dice advances the rocket, but - with a few exceptions - reduces the number of dice. With each successive throw it becomes more exciting, but above all more risky. Actually reaching the end of space is difficult - it's far more difficult with the basic version than with the modules.
Gamble all the way to the Milky Way
Even as a complete experience, MLEM remains a board game in the family game sector. This might not be enough for connoisseurs or even experts, but even they will hardly be able to resist the charming combination of the cuddly theme and the fast dice game. The board game lives from the small moments of tension and the annoyance factor, such as the rapid ascent through pure luck with the dice and the deep fall when the rocket runs out of fuel shortly before reaching the Milky Way. If you place your astro cats too early or perhaps not at all, you give away points.
Because MLEM is a cooperative board game up to a certain moment, you can't help but take a swipe at the table if the other person's plan doesn't work out. The game from Rebel Studio is simply designed to have a good time with lots of shared moments. Ultimately, the idea is as simple as it is ingenious: everyone is in the same rocket, everyone wants to go high, but in the end the one who was able to slow down the others most skillfully wins.
Information about MLEM
| Number of players: 2 to 5 Age: from 8 years Playing time: 30 to 60 minutes Difficulty: Family game Long-term motivation: medium Classification: Push your luck, semi-cooperative Author: Reiner Knizia Illustrations: Joanna Rzepecka Publisher: Asmodee, Rebel Studio Official Website: Link Year of publication: 2023 Language: German Cost: 42 Euro |
Conclusion
As a board game with a push your luck concept, MLEM is of course driven by the luck factor. At its core, however, it is more about being able to assess the risk of each rocket journey as accurately as possible. What must be rolled to get to point X? Is that even possible with the existing dice? Which rescue measures could help and when should I use point boosters as cleverly as possible? It's the many small questions that MLEM is all about.
Every decision can be right – or dramatically wrong. The board game reduces great fun to a minimum of effort. This is the special intellectual achievement at MLEM. Ultimately, the gambler's idea brings fun into pretty much every combination of a game round. Everyone hopes for the furthest possible journey, but sometimes also that the captain simply screws up the flight.
The constant criticism that in such mechanical games the theme is just artificial and unnecessary should not be accepted in the case of MLEM: Everything here is geared towards cats, but above all it has already been designed, which ultimately offers great added value that you can count on you don't want to do without - from the token to the space play mat (here there is neoprene instead of cardboard) the look is right.
However, this cannot hide the overall simple gameplay principle. However, it doesn't have to be, because MLEM is so much fun because of the few rules.
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Rebel, MLEM: The Astrocats, family game, dice game, 2-5... * | 37,85 EUR |
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