An excellent question was posed on BoardGameGeek regarding the manhole expansion and it’s one I’ve had on Twitter as well.
the rules go out of the way to state you cannot save a 7. So if you need a 7 to throw the manhole cover to open the FoS, you need to roll a 7 at the exact same instant your opponent rolls a 7 to close the FoS?
this seems to either be useless or could lead to a lot of bickering over how long you wait to roll again.
It would make more sense that whoever controls the cover should be able to throw it to open the FoS at anytime to prolong the game, but all other action need a 7.
I like that “bickering” was mentioned. That’s to be expected with the apocalypse . . . but here’s an easy way to clarify almost anything about Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse.
First (me and my tangents), I would recommend that most people play Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse a few times without using the Manhole Expansion.
Kate also had a hard time understanding the manhole cover but if I can explain it well enough, it should be an ah ha moment for anyone having similar issues.
The game is meant to embrace all the memes and cliches of apocalypses and ALSO reflect what could happen in real life under the conditions set in Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse.
Imagine you are in a small downtown or even a strip mall setting. There’s a school with an old fallout shelter or maybe a bank with a vault nearby.
There’s a crashed Red Cross truck just a few hundred feet away that boxes of food rations spilled out (that’s what the boxes are in my head). Or there could be a convenience store nearby. It could be a corner shop or a grocery store – some place with bottled water and twinkies (okay, you can be healthier and grab energy bars).
Then something happens, it could be an EMP, some military test, inter-dimensional warp, or who knows what – but a monster can be seen over the tree tops – holy crap!
You don’t get knocked out but your friends or family do.
With rolled 7s representing things going your way, here’s how to frame questions you may have about the rules:
What would you do in real life?
If you get knocked down and no one else from your side is up, you’d have to get up before you could help someone else (like using smelling salts or a slap in the face). If only one person is up, could they get into the fallout shelter?
Yes they could, but who would help others get up?
That’s why the rules say “You need 1 standing meep to help your meeps or knock down others.”
That makes your standing meep the hero of your group and that means you! You are the standing meep helping your confused and panicked friends – you are the one with the cool head that can get save them –
be the hero you were born to be! =)
Okay, let’s get the manhole cover into the mix and back to that BGG question. So you get shut out of the FoS – bah, that sucks, but it’s not over yet.
It’s only over when the monster’s die is on 1 and someone rolls snake eyes and no one’s willing to sacrifice themselves.
The basic game rules are really not changed with the Manhole Expansion – only the part about the FoS being closed ending the game.
That ends the basic game because it’s assumed that the monster will eventually get to 1, snake eyes will be rolled, and everyone outside will be eaten.
Adding the Manhole Expansion to your game means that you can now play until that very end.
But you know what they say about assuming things . . .
So, what would you do as a hero once the FoS was closed and you had a way to open it and save your friends?
You’d do your best to open it of course! *cue heroic music*
The person who closed the FoS has a lot of incentive to roll as fast as they can and get the monster to a 1 and roll snake eyes. They want to ensure their win.
You, as the person shut out, need to claim the manhole cover (if you don’t have it yet) and then throw it with your adrenaline supercharged hero self to reopen the FoS (rolling 7s are still needed – you’ve got to able to get the manhole cover and then be able to throw it accurately).
Even if the monster gets to 1 and your opponent rolls snake eyes, normal rules still apply.
You can sacrifice one of your meeps to stop that snake eyes.
Both of you keep rolling. You want to toss them out and save your team. If you sacrificed one meep, you can still win.
And now your opponent also has reason to sacrifice one of their own. They can still win with 4 in.
In fact, you could keep sacrificing and kicking them out to keep them under 4 meeps in FoS and eventually cause both of you to lose.
Why would you do that?
It’s the apocalypse and people get bitter and do weird things under stress!
