Making Monsters

About this board game

Making Monsters is a competitive board game for 2–4 players, playable in about 60 minutes, where mad scientists race to create the most impressive creatures at the Monster Maker Science Fair.

Each round begins with a secret decision: how many monster parts will you order? Choose carefully to gather the materials you need while trying to outwit your rivals. Then, all players simultaneously draw from their bags and assemble monster parts using a tense push-your-luck bag-building system.

Building too cautiously can leave you behind, but pushing too far may cause your experiment to collapse and your monster to fall apart in spectacular fashion. The challenge is to recognize when your creation is strong enough to complete and when another draw could make everything go wrong.

• Secretly order monster parts and compete for the materials you need.
• Draw and assemble parts simultaneously through a push-your-luck system.
• Complete monsters to gain points and special upgrades.
• Develop a growing tableau of upgrade and prestige point options.
• Use bonuses from the robotic assistant Lester and manipulate the science fair for future advantages.

Every completed monster can be re-animated for points and upgrades, helping your laboratory become increasingly wild and strategically flexible. Lester may provide useful bonuses, while actions that manipulate the science fair can shape your opportunities in later rounds.

At the end of Making Monsters, the fair reaches its Grand Finale. Each player chooses five favorite monsters from their lab and attempts to build them from their remaining resources in one final simultaneous challenge. Success earns prestige, while failure can cost dearly in this last test of strategy, memory, and risk management.