If you have ever wanted to relive the summer of 1986 as a teenager in a garage band, Garage Rock has your name on the bill. The new worker-placement board game from Mariposa Games puts one to four players in charge of a fledgling rock outfit with a single goal: win the local Battle of the Bands, hosted by pirate-radio DJ Johnny Law.
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Start organising for freeOver sixteen rounds, each standing in for a week of summer, you send your bandmates around town to do the unglamorous graft behind the dream. They will upgrade their skills, post flyers, flog merch, write new songs and play gigs to earn the cash for trips to the Music Shop and the Clothing Store. Cut a good demo and Johnny Law might spin it on his pirate station, winning you the fans that ultimately decide the champion.
Garage Rock comes from Arizona's Mariposa Games, the studio behind the Trailblazer hiking series, with design by Nate Heater. It is pitched as a mid-weight game for one to four players aged 12 and up, running 60 to 90 minutes, and reaches US retail on 18 August 2026 at $49.99.
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Set up your group for freeIt is not the only recent love letter to garage-band glory, as Devir's Rock Hard: 1977 mined similar territory, but Garage Rock's summer-long, skill-building arc and its teenage underdog story give it a distinct flavour. If your group likes a thematic euro with a soundtrack you can hum, this one is worth a look. Line up a game night and see whose band tops the charts.
Sources: ICv2 | Mariposa Games | BGG
