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Scythe creator’s latest board game is an adaptation of the Red Rising book series

Go for Gold.

Navigate through a dystopian world of dangerous intrigue in Red Rising, a board game adaptation of the sci-fi book series co-designed by the creator of Scythe, Jamey Stegmaier.

An upcoming game for one to six players, Red Rising takes place in a science-fiction world that sees its citizens sorted into 14 different castes - each one having access to certain privileges and rights. During the board game, players will become members of a house that has ambitions of improving its social standing and rising through the ranks to the higher castes. Should they gather enough support from followers and influence from important individuals, players will have to decide whether to tear down the system or take their place in the highest coloured caste, the Golds.

Throughout the game, players will use their hand of five cards to gradually collect enough allies needed to advance to a higher caste. On their turn, players can place one of their cards at a location on the game board, thereby gaining that location’s effect. The player then takes a card from another location - which will be displayed face-up - or from the main deck, which remains facedown during the course of the entire game, and adds it to their hand.

Cover image for YouTube video

As the game continues, players will gather points by activating the various locations spread across the board and collecting valuable cards into their hand. Whichever player has the largest point total by the end of the game is granted the opportunity to become a Gold, or to possibly take another path entirely.

Red Rising is the first in a series of science-fiction novels by Pierce Brown. The book follows the character of Darrow, a 16-year-old who lives in a dystopian world set hundreds of years in the future. As a member of the Red caste, Darrow is forced to work in a mine beneath the surface of Mars, but discovers an opportunity to escape his servitude when he is recruited in a group of rebels intent on upheaving the status quo. There are currently five books in the series - split into two trilogies - with a planned sixth book set to be released some time in the future.

Cover image for YouTube video

Aside from Stegamaier - who also co-designed vineyard management game Viticulture and created legacy game Charterstone - Red Rising is co-created by Alexander Schmidt, with this being their debut board game design.

Stonemaier Games, co-founded by Stegmaier, is the publisher responsible for releasing Red Rising, alongside the aforementioned Scythe, Viticulture and Charterstone, as well as Elizabeth Hargrave’s ornithological game Wingspan and Stegmaier’s civilisation-building game Tapestry.

The release date for Red Rising is yet to be confirmed by Stonemaier. According to BoardGameGeek, the upcoming game is set to be released sometime later this year.

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About the Author
Alex Meehan avatar

Alex Meehan

Senior Staff Writer

After writing for Kotaku UK, Waypoint and Official Xbox Magazine, Alex became a member of the Dicebreaker editorial family. Having been producing news, features, previews and opinion pieces for Dicebreaker for the past three years, Alex has had plenty of opportunity to indulge in her love of meaty strategy board games and gothic RPGS. Besides writing, Alex appears in Dicebreaker’s D&D actual play series Storybreakers and haunts the occasional stream on the Dicebreaker YouTube channel.

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