Asmodee Editions M.U.L.E. Board Game (Multi-Colour)

I played the original Atari game in the 80s and my friends and I were hooked. I just played the board game with my kids. Spectacularly well done. Totally worth the extortionate price.

I have always wanted to play a MULE based board game. And wow. This game is just brilliant. The gameplay us organised around the same gameplay of the original computer game (if you havent played it, go get a C64 emulator and do so!). The dynamics and phases of play are all very good. My wife (who is not a board game fan) likes playing it and almost all people I have introduced it to, have enjoyed it as well - its very accessible.The length of play is a little on the longer side, 2 hours or so. The setup takes a little getting used to, but the effort is worth. There is a real ebb and flow to the game as people change resource strategies - changing from smithore, to crystite or food and energy. And the trading can really lead to some fun results, where people horde energy or food.This game is one of the most replayed games we have, right up there with sushi go, atomic, catan and space explorers. Highly recommended if you can get one! :)

I played M.U.L.E. many years ago on the Atari 800, and founds many hours of enjoyment. This game plays exactly the same, except there is no solo play and you need at least three players. But the game is solid and plays exactly the same. Enjoyable game!

M.U.L.E. is a medium-weight market game that simulates the economy of a frontier planet in a sci-fi setting. 3-4 players compete to earn the most money over 7 rounds (6 in the beginner variant) by working plots of land with the help of robotic M.U.L.E.s (Multiple Use Labor Element). You'll need to produce enough food and energy to keep your operation running, smithore to fabricate more M.U.L.E.s, and eventually crystite to ship back home for maximum profit. Goods can be sold to the store for prices which are set each round by demand for each good, or to other players for whatever the market will bear. This is as much fun as it sounds. Buying out the store to prevent other players from getting food? Totally legit. Holding out your stock of smithore so M.U.L.E.s become prohibitively expensive? Bring it.My favorite thing about M.U.L.E. is how balanced it is. It's designed specifically to increase the difficulty for the lead player while giving the last place player a break, making runaway victories less likely and never leaving players feeling like they're out of the game. It's also unpredictable—each round a card is drawn which can increase, decrease, or even halt production of a particular resource, cause you to lose a M.U.L.E., burn down the colony store, and so on. Some heavier strategy gamers will be *really* put off by the randomness and inability to plan for every eventuality. My group found it hilarious.Components are good quality, with cute artwork and clear iconography. The palette does tend a bit toward light brown on light brown so it's not the prettiest thing, but it evokes the setting quite well. Punching the game was a bit of a chore—each one of the blue smithore tokens has to have a small transparent M.U.L.E. decal applied to one side, which is pretty time-consuming and not the most fun thing. But they look nice once finished. Honestly, my only major complaint is the box. Unless you've got your own supply of clear plastic bags to separate the various chits and tokens, you'll have a hell of a time getting the game set up. Even with everything bagged, it's still a bit of a hassle to break down afterward. A better organized box insert would make it easier to play, and at this price point I feel a bit more thought should have gone into storage.Nostalgia alert—I played the computer game back in the 80s on my Commodore 64. I loved it then, I love it even more now. I've introduced the game to several people who never played or even heard of the digital version and they also had a lot of fun with it. This'll be hitting the table regularly for a while.

There is a bit of reading to get the game going, and you will be referring to the rules often for the first few games, but well worth the effort! I used to play this game on my Atari 800 computer back in the day, and this new board game accurately re-creates the feel of the original. Even people who have no knowledge of the original game had a blast playing this. Highly recommended!!!