''Block Mania'' is a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

published by

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...

in 1987 that is based on the ''

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977), which is a British weekly anthology Comic book, comic. He is the ...

'' comics.

Gameplay

''Block Mania'' is a 2-player board game set in the ''Judge Dredd'' universe in which residents of two city blocks must cause as much harm as possible to each other before the Judges arrive to restore order. Weapons include spray paint, guns, flamethrowers and heavy lasers. The winner is the player whose block is the least damaged at the end of the game.

Publication history

''Block Mania'' was designed by Richard Halliwell, with artwork by Dave Andrews, Chris Baker, Colin Dixon, and

Brett Ewins Brett Ewins (1955 – 16 February 2015) was a British comic book artist best known for his work on ''Judge Dredd'' and ''Rogue Trooper'' in the weekly anthology comic '' 2000 AD''. Biography Ewins studied Conceptual Art at Goldsmiths College, ...

, and published by Games Workshop in 1987. The same year, Games Workshop also released an expansion game, ''

Mega-Mania ''Mega-Mania'' is a board game published by Games Workshop in 1987 as an expansion for ''Block Mania'' based on the ''Judge Dredd'' comics. Gameplay Based on the two-player game ''Block Mania'' set in the ''Judge Dredd'' universe, ''Mega-Mani ...

'', that allowed up to four players to play. More rules and tiles titled ''Block Mania: Happy Hour'' were published in the October 1987 edition of ''White Dwarf''.

Reception

Richard Halliwell reviewed ''Block Mania'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

'' #93, and stated that "Eliminating as many of the neighbours as possible helps. This seemed like a totally splendid notion in its own right, so the rules were designed to be as simple and unobstructive as possible, while keeping the game going at a suitably fast pace." In the December 1987 edition of ''

Casus Belli A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one b ...

'' (Issue #42), Pierre Lejoeux thought that the ''Block Mania'' rules "perfectly capture the atmosphere of the comic strip." His only negative comment was that the game could only be played by two players, and he highly recommended buying the ''Mega-Mania'' expansion, reasoning that "If a war between two blocks is already so destructive, how much more between four blocks?"

References

{{reflist Board games introduced in 1987 Games based on Judge Dredd Games Workshop games Science fiction board games