Grab you hard hat and complete the health and safety checks because there are bound to be some accidents in Men at Work. There’s a bit more of a performance element to being the only person to stand up and move around the table as you find the perfect place to slot in your piece, but it just amplifies the stakes and adds to the stability and integrity of the game. Once the right number of employee awards have been obtained, dependent on player count, that player wins.

The main thing holding back Men at Work from a higher rating is the player elimination at the 3-5 player count. There’s very little to dislike about the game, unless you just don’t like balancing or dexterity games. A particularly bad mess can feel like plucking a single straw from a bird’s nest without unsettling the surrounding straws, while balancing on tiptoe atop a fully extended ladder. You have to build off of what other people have built, and you’re often stuck with a task you don’t even want to do.When it’s your turn, you feel the tension and pressure of trying to complete this potentially unforgiving task, but when it’s someone else’s turn, you don’t feel bad for them for one second, as you sit back hoping for them to fail. My sense of control usually fades when things don’t go as planned, but when it does, it does feel rewarding. However, it that piece never makes it to the floor and stays clinging onto the structure, things are okay, and you keep your certificate. When a hot man is lying in a narrow passageway, do you pluck him out with your fingertips, or drag him out with the hook and hope he doesn’t snag and cause further damage?

Now place one of each of the different coloured girders however you like, as long as each of the supports has at least one girder touching it. You might be asked to balance a girder on a strong worker’s shoulder or move a worker onto a girder whilst they are carrying a brick on their shoulder. If you want to make things easier, lie them flat down, but if you like a challenge, stand them on end. The player who first gains the required number of Employee of the Month certificates wins, or if they are the only player remaining with Safety Certificates.

Join the community and come discuss games like Codenames, Wingspan, Brass, and all your other favorite games! A worker has to stand on one of the two colours available, and a girder has to be one of the colours.

With high quality components and an engaging theme, it’s easy to get carried away just watching others play. In either case, I usually have lots of fun with them, even if I don’t win which happens more times than not. If you want to change things up, the cardboard crane can be built and placed in the middle of the starting construction.Rather than crashing the game to a halt, cleanup is just one more balancing act in a string of them.

On the top of the draw pile is either a picture of a builder’s hat with coloured gloves or a picture of coloured girders. But that absence of justice is a form of justice in its own right, leveling the playing field as surely as a bulldozer prepared this edifice’s foundations. Having this alternative victory condition is awesome because it creates both positive and negative moments of tension. and the hilarious gasps and squeaks that involuntarily escape the players' lips as the pieces teetered precariously.I've talked previously about the “finger feel” of game pieces and this one hits the nail on the head (…. So if you’re in the mood for a build-em-up knock-it-down type of dexterity game, or just looking to play something while the snags are cooking on the BBQ. The youngest player sets up the construction site my organizing 3 supports, 1 of each colour of girder and one worker.