Few board games let you assemble a working 90s computer out of spare parts, but that is exactly the pitch behind Computer Junkyard, and gamers clearly liked the idea. The indie title from Dream Egg Games blew past its modest Kickstarter goal in four minutes flat, and after a successful campaign it is now reaching UK shelves this autumn, with copies already shown off at UK Games Expo.
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Find events near youThe hook is refreshingly hands-on. You are racing rivals to build a vintage computer from a scrap heap of illustrated hardware tiles, slotting components together like jigsaw pieces on your board. Parts are bought from a shared junkyard where prices climb as stock runs low, so timing your purchases matters. Each player has a unique machine to build with its own software to run, and the first to complete a bug-free computer that meets the spec wins. Along the way you can steal parts off opponents, trade, or slap a bug tile onto a rival's rig to gum up their build. It plays for 2 to 4 players, ages 14 and up, in roughly 60 to 90 minutes.
The Kickstarter numbers tell the story of a sleeper hit. Against a token 5,000 dollar goal, the campaign pulled in 245,205 dollars from 2,765 backers, nearly fifty times its target, helped along by that four-minute funding sprint. For a first-time outing from a small studio, that is a serious vote of confidence.
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See how it worksUK gamers do not have long to wait. Retailers including Forbidden Planet have it pencilled in for around early October, and it has already been doing the rounds at conventions. If you grew up coaxing games to run on a temperamental beige box, this one is going to hit a very specific nostalgic nerve.
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Sources: Dream Egg Games | Kicktraq | Tabletop Sentinel | Forbidden Planet
