- BGG rating
- 7.0
Long Live Backyardia
- 3–5 players
- 30–40 min
- 2024
- BGG rank
- BGG #7,050
- BGG rating
- 7.1
Bug Council of Backyardia
2022
Rules assistance for Bug Council of Backyardia
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 1–5 players
- 30 min
- 10+
- Complexity 2.2/5
For 1 player
Rules assistant for Bug Council of Backyardia
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Bug Council of Backyardia is a board game released in 2022 for 1–5 players, 30 minutes per game, and ages 10 and up. It was designed by Patrick Engro and Kyle Hanley and its main mechanics are Solo / Solitaire Game, Mancala, and Trick-taking.
Expansions
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About the game
In the vast realm of Backyardia, the Bug Council convenes to discuss important things like picnics, how to ruin picnics and, of course, income tax reform. The different factions of bugs — ants, flies, bees, mosquitos and cockroaches — find themselves in an ever-shifting balance of power and only those who ally themselves with the most powerful will seize the day. Bug Council of Backyardia is a trick-taking game that utilizes a mancala mechanism to dynamically shift which suits are powerful throughout the game, which is played over three rounds. Each round, players receive eleven cards to play ten tricks. During the tricks, the leader plays a suit and the rest of the players follow with a card of the same suit, if possible. Whoever plays the strongest card of the strongest suit wins the trick and collects it for scoring! Meanwhile, whoever plays the lowest on-suit card gets to visit the Bug Council; this player chooses a faction tile, collects its strength cubes, then distributes them in a clockwise fashion around the council, thus altering the strength of the suits. At the end of ten tricks, players use their remaining card to claim their allegiance to the faction matching its suit. If you play your cards right and manipulate the council to your favor, you can get a nice allegiance bonus to add to the tricks you've won. At the end of three rounds, whoever has the most points wins the game and will be forever remembered in the annals of Backyardia history!
Categories
Designers
Publishers
- Engro Games
Questions and answers
Bug Council of Backyardia supports 1–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Bug Council of Backyardia is 30 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Bug Council of Backyardia for ages 10 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Bug Council of Backyardia has a complexity rating of 2.2 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Bug Council of Backyardia belongs to these categories: Card Game. Its main mechanics are Solo / Solitaire Game, Mancala, and Trick-taking. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Bug Council of Backyardia are: Patrick Engro and Kyle Hanley. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Bug Council of Backyardia as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.