The year is 20XX. Humanoid robots have become commonplace and four companies have dominated the market. However, each manufacturer uses a proprietary power cell that can only be used with their product line. Robots without the right batteries won’t function and will just take up space in your home. Likewise, batteries that can only be used with specific models will do you no good unless you have the robots that power them. Additionally, the competition between these four companies is intense and even the act of requesting a specific brand can have a big impact on its value. All you want is some robot helpers with the proper power to run them, but nothing’s that simple.

RoboKraft is a must-follow trick taking game for 3-4 players, designed by Thorsten Gimmler (No Thanks, Odin’s Ravens) with art by Rob Turpin, in which the relative ranking of the suits changes with each trick. There is no dedicated trump suit. Instead, depending on which suit is led, the value of that suit will go up or down in comparison to the rest. After all cards are played into a trick, the player who played the highest card of the highest value suit played will take the cards played and separate them into the different suits face up on the table. The player who played the lowest card of the lowest value suit played will take a Power Cell cube of the color which won the trick. At the end of the game, players will multiply the Utility Ratings on cards they have won in each suit by the matching discs they have acquired. Any cards and discs that do not have a match are negative points.

NEW MILL INDUSTRIES