{"id":1101430,"date":"2026-01-27T03:35:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T03:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=510451"},"modified":"2026-01-27T03:35:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T03:35:27","slug":"cant-wait-for-red-god-play-the-red-rising-board-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/cant-wait-for-red-god-play-the-red-rising-board-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Can\u2019t wait for Red God? Play the Red Rising board game"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s 2025, and no, we still haven\u2019t heard word about a Red God<\/em> release date. In the meantime, though, I\u2019ve been holding myself over lately with the Red Rising<\/em><\/a> board game. Turns out, a conveniently color-coded social hierarchy lends itself not just to timely social commentary, but also to the bones of a terrific board game.<\/p>\n

The whole crux of Red Rising, an excellent series of grimdark sci-fi novels written by Pierce Brown, is a futuristic version of humanity that has remade itself \u2014 quite literally, via genetic modification \u2014 into color-coded castes. Reds comprise the bottom of the ladder, manual laborers consigned to spend their lives mining for helium. Golds, meanwhile, are at the top: faster, smarter, stronger, and wealthier than everyone else. The rest of the social order breaks down into neatly clarified roles \u2014 Silvers are bankers, Greens are tech wizards, Violets are artists and journalists, and so on. (You can see the whole hierarchy here<\/a>.) <\/p>\n

The series consists of six novels to date, starting with 2014\u2019s Red Rising<\/em><\/a>. Brown announced<\/a> Red God<\/em>, the saga\u2019s seventh and final entry, in 2022. But as of this writing, neither the author nor his publisher, Del Ray Books, have stipulated a release window for the book. The most recent in the series, Light Bringer<\/em><\/a>, hit shelves in summer 2023, meaning it\u2019s been a few years\u2019 worth of a dry spell for Red Rising fans, who may be more accustomed to a regular release cadence than readers of some<\/a> other<\/a> popular<\/a> fantasy books.<\/p>\n

But the board game tie-in is right there<\/em>! Has been for years! And, saying this as a delirious fan of Brown\u2019s series: It absolutely rules<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Red Rising<\/em>, designed by Jamey Stegmaier and Alexander Schmidt and published by Stonemaier Games in 2021, is a zippy, fiercely competitive tabletop game. Better yet, as an adaptation, it\u2019s deliciously faithful to its source material.<\/p>\n

\"Cards<\/p>\n

At the start of each game, every player randomly selects from one of six houses associated with the Institute, basically Red Rising\u2019s version of Hogwarts. (The first novel is an archetypical \u201ctraining at the fantasy war school for kids who can\u2019t fantasy war good\u201d arc.) From there, each player draws five cards from a deck of more than 100, all of which are based on characters from the novels. You finish setting up by placing two cards, drawn from the deck, on each of the board\u2019s four locations: Jupiter, Mars, the Institute, or Luna (the moon).<\/p>\n

The general structure of a turn involves placing a card on one location and drawing a card from another. Depending on how and where you place your cards, you\u2019ll make progress toward one of Red Rising<\/em>\u2019s three win conditions \u2014 earning seven helium tokens, earning seven influence tokens, or moving your ship token seven spaces on the \u201cfleet track\u201d segment of the board \u2014 and will ultimately earn points depending on how much progress you make toward each. The game ends when one player hits two of those conditions, or when all three are hit by any combination of players.<\/p>\n

Where Red Rising<\/em> gets tricky is the endgame \u2014 satisfying the game\u2019s win conditions merely ends<\/em> the game, but doesn\u2019t actually guarantee you the win.<\/p>\n

Every card has a point value. When the game ends, the point tally of cards in your hand counts toward your final score. Cards also have additional requirements that, when fulfilled, grant you even more points. (For instance, the characters Ragnar and Sefi are siblings; if you end the game with both in your hand, you\u2019ll get a higher score.) In every round I\u2019ve played, whomever has the most points in-hand has been the victor \u2014 and more often than not has always come from behind. So this isn\u2019t the sort of game, like Catan<\/em>, where you\u2019re racing to victory. Instead, you\u2019ll often find yourself trying to extend the match until you can get the strongest hand.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Red Rising<\/em> is a solid board game on its own merits, but it really shines when playing alongside fellow fans of the novels. For the most part, the cards are accurate reflections of the characters they\u2019re based on. Gold cards tend to have the naturally highest point tallies. Red cards aren\u2019t too powerful in isolation, but when you get a bunch of them together, you can amass a game-changing point total.<\/p>\n

This commitment to the source material gives a natural edge to those who\u2019ve read the books and inherently understand, say, that Orange cards are tricky or White cards are incredibly rare. But it\u2019s a blast playing with fellow Red Rising fans, shouting in mutual recognition when characters like Nero (\u201cScrew that guy!\u201d), the Jackal (\u201cScrew that guy!\u201d), or Lysander (\u201c[incoherent string of curses that are the functional equivalent of \u2018Screw that guy!\u2019<\/em>]\u201d) appear on the board.<\/p>\n

Yes, we might still have to wait some time for Red God<\/em> \u2014 which, to be clear, I\u2019m of the mindset that Brown should take all the time he needs to stick a landing he\u2019s proud of. That\u2019s fine. We can keep waiting. In the meantime, the Red Rising<\/em> board game is a damn fine holdover.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 2025, and no, we still haven\u2019t heard word about a Red God release date. In the meantime, though, I\u2019ve been holding myself over lately with the Red Rising board game. Turns out, a conveniently color-coded social hierarchy lends itself not just to timely social commentary, but also to the bones of a terrific board game. The whole crux of Red Rising, an excellent series of grimdark sci-fi novels written by Pierce Brown, is a futuristic version of humanity that has remade itself \u2014 quite literally, via genetic modification \u2014 into color-coded castes. Reds comprise the bottom of the ladder, manual laborers consigned to spend their lives mining for helium. Golds, meanwhile, are at the top: faster, smarter, stronger, and wealthier than everyone else. The…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1101431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1101430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nCan\u2019t wait for Red God? Play the Red Rising board game | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s 2025, and no, we still haven\u2019t heard word about a Red God release date. 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