Corporate Takeovers for the Rest of Us

While at GenCon this weekend, the good people over at Corporate Espionage gave a tutorial of their card game and some free decks to those in attendance. Being the broke bloggers that we are, Tim Burke and I  jumped on the chance and gave the game a shot. The product that we demoed, and the culture being built around it, got me more excited/interested than just about anything else during the best four days in gaming. Check out more on this intriguing new card game after the bump.

The mechanics of Corporate Espionage have players building a corporate empire from the ground up. Player companies gain income and lose expenses each round based on the employees they hire, the assets they purchase, and the various methods of espionage and corporate savvy that they employ.  The game is fairly balanced, save for the fact there is a fairly small number of defensive cards to counter your opponent’s attacks. While there is little focus on deck-building right now, the initial decks that we got our hands on contained 80 unique and individually designed cards. When asked about expansions for the game however, their unique business model reared its gorgeous mane and made itself proudly known.

The owner and creator of Corporate Espionage, Amanda Abelove, does plan on having more cards designed for future prints of the game. However, she has much more interactive plans for getting other businesses involved in the game. For events such as GenCon, companies can create a custom collectible card to be handed out at their booth. Being limited prints, these promo cards would become collectibles, turning it into another game entirely for those seeking to collect all of the promo cards at an event. Additionally, promotional codes attached to each card would allow companies access to quantitative data regarding how successful the campaign is, while allowing players of the game access to unique online content or points to obtain more free cards. As a big fan of elaborate and interactive data mining operations, this entire concept made me giddy as a school girl.

As an entertaining, social, and easily accessible gaming product, Corporate Espionage excels on every level. From 5 year old children learning about business terminology, to elderly retirees gambling away their Vicodin money on whose corporation will prevail, Corporate Espionage is a game that will bring together people of all ages and get them to interact on a social and educational level not normally attained. The game is available on their website at $10 per pack, with each pack containing everything necessary for one player to get into the game. This is definitely a game to keep an eye on. And, who knows, maybe you’ll see some Geekspective-designed cards out there in the not too distant future.

Final Verdict : 9/10

Tags: card games, Corporate Espionage, corporations, family, social, strategy, tabletop, TCG