Meltdown 2020

About this board game

Meltdown 2020 is a 40-minute evacuation game for 1-5 players, set after a disaster damages nuclear reactors across the country. Lead a rescue operation, move survivors toward two airfields, and save as many people as possible before radiation overwhelms the landscape.

The board is built from twelve tiles, each containing seven hexes. Seven nuclear reactors and two airfields are scattered among the country’s landscape, while twenty color-coded people and three vehicles—a car, bus, and helicopter—begin on their designated hexes.

Every round combines vehicle movement with the escalating danger of radiation. The action unfolds in a strict sequence:

• Radiation outbursts: Roll the eight-sided die and add a counter to the numbered reactor, unless an 8 is rolled.
• Vehicle movement: Move buses, cars, and helicopters in turn order, picking up or dropping off your passengers as you go.
• Radiation reparation: Roll again to remove a counter from the numbered reactor, if one is present.
• Radiation sickness: People absorb radiation based on their distance from reactors, and can be affected by more than one reactor.

Buses travel up to two spaces and carry four passengers, cars travel up to three spaces and carry three, while helicopters travel up to four spaces and carry two. Vehicles cannot enter reactor hexes or share a space with another player’s vehicle, except at an airfield. A vehicle can be airlifted from an airfield to save its driver, but doing so reduces future rescue opportunities.

Radiation is cumulative: people become ill, very ill, or die as their exposure rises. The game ends when a reactor receives a fifth counter or the sixteenth counter would be placed. In Meltdown 2020, the player who rescues the most people wins, with healthy survivors deciding ties.