For millennia now, Transylvania has fascinated and terrified. The home of vampires though is not too pleased with its current renown and is keen on burnishing its reputation by transforming what is often used as the plot of horror movies into a vibrant hub for tech startups and yuppies. This may now be possible thanks to WizKids’ upcoming board game by J.B. Howell, “SiliconVania” set to release early next year.
Get a Succulent Bite out of the Startup World
While details are a bit harder to find presently, the game itself seems to have a nice setup fleshed out. The vampire Council of Elders has taken it into themselves to revitalize the Old World and hire a new City Planner who can enact the marvelous changes that will transform this picturesque countryside into tech heaven.
While this is a position to kill for, only one of the 2-5 players may land the job. The game takes anything between 45-90 minutes to complete and is suitable for ages 14+. Howell himself is a familiar face, having worked on prominent projects such as “Papillion,” “Reavers of Midgard,” “Flotilla,” and “Gates of Mara,” to name a few.
Of course, anyone who embarks on the job would have to account for vampiric taste, which means that you need to create plenty of blood banks to satiate citizens’ thirst for blood while cajoling overseas experts who are keen to flock to the technological hub and help elevate the Transylvanian countryside into the technological anvil of the future. “Come to work and live in Transylvania. We don’t bite,” may sound like a cool marketing slogan but some empiric evidence may be required to calm jarred nerves.
Transforming Transylvania into SiliconVania will be only possible through cut-throat competition as you bid to secure the best building tiles and Specialist cards, claim one-time bonuses, or play the long game and hope to score points as part of the end-game conditions.
You will need to exact careful planning as you place building tiles on the grid, bid on Specialist cards for their abilities, balance cost efficiencies, and deploy your own Specialist cards to score points, and even hint to your opponents about what objectives you are after.
Preserve Biodiversity as You Build a Tech Hub
The game takes place over eight rounds with every player striving to score the most points and secure all seven building types (if possible), a network of blood banks (you do not vampires hungry lest specialists begin disappearing), and more.
There is more. For example, vampires would be loath if you were to harm Transylvania’s biodiversity and they would expect you to build in a sustainable matter (yes, even vampires care about the environment, and so should you!). More will unfold and become available to you as you explore the myriad opportunities in the game. The game has already appeared on some retail board game shops online, but nothing definitive yet. Keep an eye out for more information by WizKids.