Grail-game hunters, the moment has arrived. Container, the cult-classic shipping economy game that's spent years going for £200-plus on the secondary market, is finally coming back into print. AllPlay's Kickstarter for the reprint, bundled with two stablemates, raised $1,113,666 (£885k) from 13,706 backers, and the campaign just posted its final fulfilment update on 12 May confirming containers (ha) are in transit to warehouses for May and June shipping.
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Start organising for freeFor the uninitiated, Container is a roughly 90-minute economic game for 3-5 players, originally designed by Franz-Benno Delonge and Thomas Ewert and released by Valley Games in 2007. Players build factories, produce coloured shipping crates, set prices, auction loads to rivals, and ferry cargo to a central island where hidden value cards dictate what's actually worth winning. It's a closed economy with finite cash and brutal pricing pressure, the kind of game that makes someone at the table go "oh no, I've broken it" and another go "yes, you have." Shut Up & Sit Down once called it "one of the most exciting games you've ever played."
The legend grew because the print runs were tiny, the 10th Anniversary Jumbo Edition from Mercury Games was a luxurious oversized affair, and the original Valley Games copies became collector's items. AllPlay's edition is the opposite play: a smaller-format reprint at a far more reasonable price, with modernised art and the same brutal economic core.
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Find events near youThe Kickstarter also funds Peter C. Hayward's word-clue party game Triangulation for 3-8 and the magnetic-mech micro-wargame GRUNTZ for 2 players, but Container is the headline draw. If you've never played one of the great economic euros, here's a chance to get it on your shelf without remortgaging. Once it lands, round up a group on Backseat Gamer and book a learn-to-play night.
Sources: AllPlay | Kickstarter | Shut Up & Sit Down
