Board Game: Infernal Contraption

Thread: Re: Modifying while activating

Dreadnaut — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:12:20 +0000

I knew that there were some that allowed you to add to your machine (by taking from an opponent, etc.), but I didn't know about letting you reorganize your machine on-the-fly. I guess a part that was activated, moved to the right, would then reactivate? Weird.

Thread: Re: Modifying while activating

indiexxx — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:07:14 +0000

Dreadnaut wrote:
I thought the process was to build into your contraption and then activate. How are you modifying it while activating? Is there some card that allows this?

Yes, there are some cards that allow you to add parts, or move parts around, during activation.

Thread: Re: Modifying while activating

indiexxx — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:06:04 +0000

Each part of your machine activates individually, in order, from top to bottom and left to right. So if you add a part to the left of your current position in the machine during activation then the part will not activate that turn. If you add the part to the right of your current position, then it will activate when you reach it.

Thread: Re: Modifying while activating

Dreadnaut — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:47:18 +0000

I thought the process was to build into your contraption and then activate. How are you modifying it while activating? Is there some card that allows this?

Thread: Modifying while activating

ekted — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:40:27 +0000

If you add or move parts while in the process of activating your machine, which parts function and which don't? If you move a part that has already been used to the right, does it activate again? If you move a part that hasn't been used to the left, does it not activate at all? What about newly added parts on either side of the current part?

Thread: Re: A Very, Very Short Review of Infernal Contraption

YearoftheCat — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:57:04 +0000

I too thought that this would be a one word joke review, Instead its a well written paragraph summing up the feel of the game. I want a refund!

Thread: Re: "Build at the same time" variant idea - and "run at the same time", too.

xofour — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:54:27 +0000

Have you played this way yet? How well does it work? On the one hand it sounds like it would speed up the game dramatically. But I wonder how much it will actually change the game and the effects. Especially because some of the effects of running a machine can make major changes in a persons hand. Won't some of the be lost if everyone is playing their cards at once. I know the game is about draining your opponents stockpile. But hurting their hand can be beneficial.

I have a similar question in the "Run at the same time" option. Again, I do see how it would significantly speed up the game. But wouldn't it lessen the usefulness of some of the steal a piece of another machine cards?

I am curious to try a faster version of this game, so if you've tried it please let me know how much the feel of the game changes.

Thread: Re: "Build at the same time" variant idea - and "run at the same time", too.

silverparasol — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:00:44 +0000

A good idea for fasten the game time.
I'll try it. ^^

Thread: Re: Power Sources

GameCrossing — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:13:58 +0000

Dreadnaut wrote:
I don't remember clearly (as I don't own the game), but if I recall correctly, you have to have a contraption directly connected to a power source in order to fire it. So, you need the additional power source cards to power more than two contraptions in your machine.

Thank you muchly, sir.

Thread: Re: Power Sources

BeatPosse — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:24:45 +0000

This is correct.

Thread: Re: Power Sources

Dreadnaut — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:30:24 +0000

I don't remember clearly (as I don't own the game), but if I recall correctly, you have to have a contraption directly connected to a power source in order to fire it. So, you need the additional power source cards to power more than two contraptions in your machine.

Thread: Power Sources

GameCrossing — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 21:27:48 +0000

I've just got the game and haven't had a chance to play, but from looking at the rules, the one thing I've seen that hasn't been addressed is the power source cards. From looking at it, the only thing I see them being useful for is to convert one type of socket into another (and POSSIBLY to keep one card from being open to getting picked off by some attack from an opponent by tying up a socket). Is that is? And if it is, how dire a need is there in the game to switch socket types?

Thread: Re: Infernal Contraption - A Negative Review

KingCroc — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:49:33 +0000

I'll agree that you have misread the rules. The only cards that MUST be played as "plugs" (or vertically) are consumable cards. It's perfectly legal to place a power source as a plug, though this will usually be ineffecient since sources in that way can only power one machine.

Also, you are allowed to put down a contraption that isn't connected to a power source. It won't actually have any affect on your machine, but it is sometimes necessary.

Multiplier cards can be played as part of your "main line" (horizontally) thus allowing a single multiplier to effect multiple contraptions.

If you misread these rules, I can see you lost some of the fun of the game. Although I do think there's more strategy than you realize. Whenever I play, I find that rarely does a player ever pull far ahead. While the notion that a player who doesn't attack will somehow be spared, the game has a great physical reminder of who is winning. A player with a high stack of cards is a target, regardless of how much they aren't attacking. Only if players are playing some kind of "grudge match" does the game fall apart. But that's true of any game.

Thread: Re: Infernal Contraption - A Negative Review

Cringing Dragon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:23:49 +0000

jodokast wrote:
Additionally all mechanical cards must be attached to a power core. Also mechanical cards must be played horizontally, whilst one shots and multipliers must be played vertically.

I didn't read the rules that way at all. I admit, I haven't played it yet (lack of people to play with), but I didn't think there were many limitations on which cards could be played vertically and which horizontally. Multipliers can be horizontal, and their effect can work on more than one other card if played that way.
Also, some of the cards only work if attached to a power source, but there's no rule saying they must be attached to a power source. Such cards don't work themselves, but do not stop the rest of the contraption from working.

Thread: Infernal Contraption - A Negative Review

jodokast — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:49:05 +0000

Infernal Contraption is a card game for 2-4 players. This review will be divided up into two sections, mechanics, and opinion.

Mechanics
Infernal contraption is not a usual card game. Each player has his own draw pile (spare parts). There are four different types of cards, power cores, mechanical cards, one use only cards, and multipliers. At the begning of the game each player will play cards from his hand and attach them to his machine. A machine can do a range of things from damaging an opponents spare parts pile, to letting a player restock his hand from the discard pile, to forcing an opponent to discard from his hand. A player will then target his machine at another player. A player may then redraw cards from his spare parts pile. Then the next player has their turn. Players are eliminated when they have no more cards in their draw pile.
These mechanics are made slightly more complicated in that every card has four 'plugs' one on each side of the card. To attach a card to the machine one must match up the plugs from the card you are trying to play to the card that is next to it in your machine. Additionally all mechanical cards must be attached to a power core. Also mechanical cards must be played horizontally, whilst one shots and multipliers must be played vertically. The end result is that your machine ends up looking like this

mulipliers
| |
-+-+--+ < mechanical cards as - and power cores as +

Opinion
The cards appear to fairly standard card stock. If you were going to play the game regularly I would suggest sleeves. There are some very cool illustrations on the cards, however in general the cards are too busy. The card has a large name at the top, the four plugs, the illustration, but the description is in size 8 font down the sides of the cards. This makes the cards hard to read whilst holding them in your hand. The game ensures that you have between 7 -10 cards in your hand for most of it, making it near impossible to both hold your cards and know what they will all do.
There is some planning in creating your machine due to the fact that you have to ensure your plug connections match. However due to the number of plugs, I found that often you could only match one or two mechanical cards to your machine during any given turn. This meant strategy existed ocassionally in the sense of 'Is this card better than this card?'. Due to the fact that your hand was fluid (due to the actions of your machine and other players machines) plannning to attach cards in later rounds was not worthwhile.
The game tries to add another layer of strategy by requiring players to pay a cost for the second and subsequent cards players add to their machines every turn. The idea is that if you build too much too soon it will cost you. The problem with this is that it does not work well with the one shot cards. It is often far more important to add a multiplier or a mechanical card than a one shot. One shots seem to be used as easy cards to discard.
However my biggest complaint is that the outcome is highly random. The winner will be the person who is attacked the least. As there is no trading, only threatening this is essentially random. This is particularly true as the machines become fairly powerful after several multipliers. The difference between having one attack a round, and two attacks a round is huge. This problem is compounded by the fact that the deck size is really too small. A larger deck size would help even this fact out. A practical effect of this is that often this game seems to boil down to three players, the active player can wipe either player out but not both, whilst both of them can retaliate and wipe out the active player.

So in conclusion whilst there can be strategy, I feel that the game essentially just forces the players to pick a winner. Winning is not about constructing the best machine, but rather by having the players just attack you one or two less times than anyone else.

Thread: Re: A Very, Very Short Review of Infernal Contraption

rri1 — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 15:24:52 +0000

Too verbose!!! :p :)

I was expecting something like, "Mechanical" or "Ingeniously put together"

Thread: A Very, Very Short Review of Infernal Contraption

Ori Ironarm — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 07:35:42 +0000

I bought Infernal Contraption last summer and have now had a chance to play it twice. These are my impressions after playing twice and observing my relatives play:

I like the cards a lot--the illustrations are very clever. The good thing is that there are lots of options for designing machines that mess with your opponents. However, largely thanks to that variety, I find it a bit difficult to keep track of what exactly my opponents' machines do, and unless you can recognize the cards from all the way across the table, staring at their machines won't help you. This makes it hard to fine-tune one's strategy.

My niece's husband, Jim, said he liked the game, but wasn't really able to formulate a strategy, either. I told him frankly that my only strategy is to find Contraption cards that steal cards from other players and then add Upgrades that double their effects. Last summer, my grand-nephew assembled a horribly effective machine that doubled a Contraption twice. He was stealing 8 cards from another player every round. One thing I learned this time is that it's far better to have Contraptions that add cards to your Parts Pile than to your hand.

I have yet to win a game of Infernal Contraption. This time, I narrowly lost to Jim after we eliminated my niece Vickie and her daughter Kristen. My family is about evenly split on whether this game is fun or not. I like the concept, but I find the details a bit hard to keep track of. But I would play again, definitely.

Thread: "Build at the same time" variant idea - and "run at the same time", too.

jsimantov — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:20:24 +0000

After playing with 4 players and realizing just how much downtime there is in this game while waiting for 3 other players to build their machines (and run them), I was thinking, how about a variant where everyone builds their machine at the same time?

Materials:
One "Start Player" indicator.
Four number tiles, marked 1 through 4.

Determine Start Player randomly, as normal. That player gets the Start Player marker. Set aside the number markers. Then, each player, starting with the Start Player, can play 1 card into their machine, in order around the table. Then, each player (in order) can play a second card into their machine (scrapping one first, as normal). Etc. Basically you just go around the group, and each player can play one card into their machine, or can pass. Much shorter turns.

Once a player "passes" they can take a number tile 1-4 from the pile. They are done adding to their machine. The number tiles determine the order the machines will run in. Run each player's machines in order (each player "cleaning up the shop" when their machine finishes), then, pass the Start Player marker over to the left and do it again.

I was also thinking of extending this variant to where the machines would run at the same time, card by card. You'd have a marker to show at which point of resolving your machine you were in--it would only land on contraptions (blue) and consumables (rust)--and each player resolves one card at a time in sequence. Actually, with this variant, there isn't a tremendous advantage to running the machine first, so I'd do away with the number tiles and just have a rotating start player marker to indicate who starts the build and the machine-running.

Thread: Re: Equalizer Engine: Unbalancing mechanism?

TybaltGray — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:22:34 +0000

Mike Sisson wrote:
It looks like I need to get the Sabotage expansion to liven play up a bit.

I highly recommend the Sabotage expansion. It adds a great new level of interaction. It also addresses the question you had about trashing parts of your opponents machine (still no real way to remove bits from your machine, though...)

In regards to the Equalizer Engine, I can see how it could be a killer late in the game, but I think it is really a good addition, especially if you are playing with three or four players. It can also be a huge morale boost to a losing player (that may get to play against you again, when they may not have after taking a real pasting in their first game).

Thread: Re: [Video Review] Infernal Contraption

unixrevolution — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:54:45 +0000

vandemonium wrote:
Interesting take on it Tom. I love "take that" games like Munchkin, heck I even like Killer Bunnies, but I found this game fairly dull. I have only palyed it twice and each time it was two player. I wonder if a 3 player game is a sweet spot for this game.
Cheers,
Van

I think Infernal Contraption is pretty good, but with 2 I like the purity of the two compeditors. With 3 and 4, one person gets ganged up on early, but that's the way it goes I guess.

Thread: Re: [Video Review] Infernal Contraption

vandemonium — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:19:27 +0000

Interesting take on it Tom. I love "take that" games like Munchkin, heck I even like Killer Bunnies, but I found this game fairly dull. I have only palyed it twice and each time it was two player. I wonder if a 3 player game is a sweet spot for this game.
Cheers,
Van

Thread: Re: [Video Review] Infernal Contraption

lengthtoavoid — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:05:52 +0000

you have great timing with this...I just bought the game along with sabotage in one shot over the weekend to save on the cost of uying a big box game this time aorund.

I am always worried when I purchase a game that doesn't contain cardboard and wood bits (ie buying a card game)...so its good to see that you were satisfied with your purchase. I will get to playing mine this afternoon. thanks!

Thread: [Video Review] Infernal Contraption

TomVasel — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:02:45 +0000

Quick Comment: A simple "take-that" game, but has combos and is fairly fun, even though it's a little long with four players.

Youtube Video

Thread: Re: Order of events when upgraded.....

Spacehulk — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:05:06 +0000

unixrevolution wrote:
Good to know. That'll change things up a bit.

Does that mean if you can't pay the 2x cost for a "pay a card" contraption, you can't even run it in standard mode?

Yes. If you can't pay the (doubled) cost, the contraption won't be activated.

Thread: Re: Order of events when upgraded.....

unixrevolution — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:00:01 +0000

Good to know. That'll change things up a bit.

Does that mean if you can't pay the 2x cost for a "pay a card" contraption, you can't even run it in standard mode?

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joshp — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:02:02 +0000

Try to get lots of different-colored sockets early

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Grimwold — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:30:30 +0000

3 player game in progress... someone has a small machine!!

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swuyau — Mon, 26 May 2008 11:40:46 +0000

card

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swuyau — Mon, 26 May 2008 11:39:47 +0000

card

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kilroy_locke — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:56:43 +0000

My hand... just before losing.

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willk_1230 — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:37:09 +0000

Power Core Card - everyone starts with one

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Rokkr — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 01:43:08 +0000

game in progress

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axeme — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 00:22:19 +0000

The cards in the tray with a space open for the expansion.

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axeme — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 00:21:47 +0000

The card tray that fits in the smaller box with a space for the expansion.

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axeme — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 00:21:03 +0000

The removable box that holds the cards that comes out of the game box.

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axeme — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 00:20:06 +0000

Box in a box

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Mr_Dove — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 05:44:31 +0000

Paradox Converter (a very good card) and good art.

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Mr_Dove — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 05:31:32 +0000

rear of the box

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aaronseeber — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 08:03:17 +0000

Box Side

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Mr_Dove — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 06:12:41 +0000

Card Back