Tinker Tactics is a free, abstract microgame for 2 or 4 players and takes around 5-10 minutes to play.

To see how it’s played, watch this video (if it doesn’t load, click here to go directly to YouTube)

If you’d like to make your own set of cards, Print and Play files can be found here: Tinker Tactic Cards

Rules:

There is also a 4-player variant:

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19 Responses

  1. I started playing this game with my family and they love it! I am going to introduce it to friends soon to. Good job with it

    1. I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying Tinker Tactics! Thanks for letting us know! Any winning strategies? I’m terrible at this game…

  2. Thanks for the game! Easy to learn, but with good depth. I’m thinking of making a wooden game board with larger squares. Maybe two boards with magnets to join them after the initial setup.

  3. Why do you have to hide enitial roll cant someone lie? I understand hiding dice placement

    1. They can indeed lie, but where would be the fun in that! The reason for the hide is to minimise information before the placement and dice reveal. If you know your opponent has lots of evens, you can gain a small advantage based on parity. It’s a tiny advantage, and in the grand scheme of things won’t matter to most players. Like we say, we just build the system, feel free to tinker away! ?

  4. Also when playing 4 cards does the center gap count as a space? Thanks awesome game 😀

    1. At present it counts as a gap (so no movement across or into it), however we are planning to more extensively playtest this variant. We’re always looking for playtesters if you fancy getting involved!

      1. Awesome thank you for the help and its a great game … I will keep you guys updated if I find anything else I just made boards ill be playing with friends to see how it goes. High Fives. …. oh P.S. do you know of any other easy to play games using polyhedral dice this is a fun way to mix in with down time during DnD sessions 🙂

  5. what are your thoughts on adding a heal option. You can sacrifice one die and roll a D10 which can be used to heal all pieces.

    1. Hi Daniel, thank you for your suggestion. It seems like an interesting way to bring in a heal mechanic, but we intentionally avoided any element of healing to avoid lengthening what we’ve intended to be a quick, tactical game. However, the beauty of board gaming is that you can house-rule as much as you like 🙂 Feel free to try out that additional rule and let us know how it goes 😀

    1. The cards we used are standard business size, 3.5 x 2 inches. If you go slightly larger (say 5.25 x 3 inches) you should keep the small foot print without the dice overhanging the spaces.