Rivets

About this board game

Rivets is a two-player tactical science fiction game of robotic warfare, designed for a 30-minute battle in the 22nd century. Released in 1977 as Microgame #5 in the Metagaming Microgames series, it places opposing robot armies on a compact game map.

The war is over, and everyone is dead—but the Boppers keep fighting. These robotic war machines continue their conflict with the limited intelligence of an electric can opener, turning the aftermath of war into a continuing contest of mechanical tactics.

In Rivets, each player chooses a robot army, programs its forces, and maneuvers them across the battlefield. The objective is to destroy the computer complex controlling the enemy’s robots, making planning and movement central to the struggle.

• Players: 2
• Playing time: 30 minutes
• Setting: Robotic warfare in the 22nd century
• Components: Rulebook, 8 1/4-by-14-inch game map, and 118 counters

The programming element gives the game its distinctive tactical focus: players must decide how their robotic forces will operate before maneuvering them toward the enemy’s controlling computer complex. Every move serves the larger goal of dismantling the opposing machine army at its source.

With its compact format, science fiction premise, and direct objective, Rivets presents a focused battle between autonomous war machines. It is a concise entry in the early Metagaming Microgames line, built around programmed armies, battlefield maneuver, and the relentless logic of robots that never received the order to stop.