We're officially halfway through our Road to Gen Con and it's time to say hello to Beasts, a compact cooperative puzzle game filled with clever cardplay, rising tension, and one very specific rule: play higher.
In Beasts (designed by Clarence Simpson), players work together to create an ever-increasing 3-digit number by playing cards to the hundreds, tens, and ones slots of a shared board. On your turn, you’ll choose a suit and play all cards of that suit from your hand—carefully deciding where each card goes to build a valid number that’s strictly higher than the one before.
That’s the easy part.
Once the Beasts start appearing, everything changes.
🐾 What Are the Beasts?
Each Beast card represents a “type”. In addition to the typical 4 card suits (spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds) there are also shattered versions of each.
When a Beast shows up, it immediately restricts your team’s options by blocking that type from being played in the row beneath it. Even worse, Beasts can be startled by matching cards, forcing them to shift left across the board and potentially block even more space.
If you ever have cards in hand and cannot play a card, then you all lose. Sounds a bit brutal, right? No worries! To help you out a bit we give you 3 discard tokens. At any time, the current player may choose to spend one to discard any one number card (not Beasts) from their hand.
🔐 Communication, But Make It Cryptic
You can’t share numbers or show your hand. All you can do is subtly hint at what might be coming.
You might say things like:
- “I can go low this turn”
- “I really need someone to clear the 1s place”
- “We should focus on Clubs”
- “I don’t have a safe play coming up”
🧠 The Puzzle That Keeps Changing
The core loop of Beasts is simple but deeply strategic. You’re always asking:
- Should I clear the lower places to leave room for the next player?
- Can we lure the Beast to a less dangerous part of the board?
- Is it worth playing now or saving my discard tokens for later?
It’s a puzzle that shifts based on player count, difficulty, and even how many Beasts you include. The game comes with a standard mode (3 discard tokens, 4 random Beasts), but you can raise the stakes by adjusting both. Want a real challenge? Try Beastmaster Mode with no discards and all 8 Beasts in play.
🎲 Why We Love It
Beasts delivers that magical “silent cooperation” energy fans love from games like The Mind, The Game, and Hanabi. But here, the logic puzzle is layered, dynamic, and filled with moments of collective brilliance or shared dread. It’s a small box experience with big replay value, and we can’t wait to show it to you at Gen Con.
📦 Game Info
- Designed by Clarence Simpson (The Wolves, Merchants of Magick)
- Art by Pauliina Linjama
- 2–5 players | 20-30 min | Ages 12+ | MSRP: $17.95
- Debuting at Gen Con Booth #215
- Retail release coming this fall
- Read the rulebook
Can't make it to Gen Con? Preorders are also open on our website.
