What’s He Building in There?

About this board game

What’s He Building in There? is a worker-placement-style game for 2–6 players, listed at 60 minutes, in which Evil Doctors race to complete a Doomsday Machine and an Escape Plan.

Set in London’s Evil Doctoring World of the late 1800s, the game places you under pressure from Scotland Yard. You have only 15 turns to gather what you need, improve your position, and finish both of your major projects before suspicion catches up with you.

Each player uses a Doctor and three henchmen to take actions around the city. Visit available shops to acquire resources, obtain gold, explore the black markets, and provide the labor required to turn ambitious designs into reality.

• Provide “Genius at Work” labor and “Manual Labor”
• Improve your Doctor’s social standing
• Invent things and pursue additional victory points
• Build both a Doomsday Machine and an Escape Plan

Higher-level Doomsday Machines and Escape Plans are worth more victory points, but completing them quickly is essential. You can also earn bonus points for fitting in with society, eccentricity, security, and inventions, creating several ways to strengthen your final score.

With its combination of worker placement, resource acquisition, labor management, invention, and timed objectives, What’s He Building in There? turns an Evil Doctor’s secret construction project into a race against discovery. The official description estimates approximately 25–30 minutes of play per player.