Trepanation

About this board game

Trepanation is a worker placement game for 2–5 players, played over approximately 75 minutes, in which fraudulent doctors compete to become the most famous medical performer of the early 19th century.

Across six days, players prepare schedules by booking limited time slots at locations around town. The day’s events then unfold according to those schedules, making careful timing essential as you gather resources, recruit help, and stage spectacular medical shows for a gullible public.

Your plans will not always run smoothly. Rival players can create stock shortages, steal your audience, and claim the time slots you need. With many action spaces available, Trepanation focuses on using limited resources efficiently while anticipating the moves of competing doctors.

• Gather medicine and equipment for your performances.
• Employ accomplices and bribe the police.
• Perform related sets of shows to earn fame bonuses.
• Get your name into the local newspapers.
• Rob graves at night for cash, while damaging your reputation.

The era’s medical excitement provides a colorful backdrop of electrified corpses, tooth pulling, and so-called miracle cures. Players must balance spectacle, preparation, and opportunism as they build their public profile through a busy week of questionable medicine.

At the end of the sixth day, fame determines the winner. In Trepanation, the doctor who best coordinates schedules, resources, accomplices, and attention from the public claims the spotlight.