Board game, Spirit Island, designed by R. Eric Reuss and published by Greater Than Games, USA, 2017

Boxed board game consisting of a large number of parts and playing pieces of printed card, injection-moulded plastic and turned wood. The components are as follows:

1 Invader Board
4 Island Boards
8 Spirit Panels
4 Scenario Panels
3 Adversary Panels
36 Minor Power Cards
22 Major Power Cards
32 Unique Power Cards
2 Blight Cards
15 Fear Cards
15 Invader Cards
8 Player-Aid Cards
4 Power Progression Cards
2 Terror Level Dividers
3 Adversary Reminder Tiles
40 Explorer Pieces
20 City Pieces
38 Blight Pieces
36 Dahan Pieces
52 Presence Discs
12 Single-Turn Effect Markers
20 Fear Markers
32 Energy Markers

Board games have existed for thousands of years and have, for the most part, mandated competition between players in order to win. Some games, such as ‘Risk’, allowed for co-operation between players as a short-term strategic option. However, the idea of a fully co-operative experience, where players are pitched against the game’s own mechanics, is a relatively recent innovation. The popularity and potential of such games exploded following the critical and sales success of Matt Leacock and Z-Man Games’ 2008 classic, ‘Pandemic’.

Spirit Island, designed by R. Eric Reuss and published by Greater Than Games, is a complex, thematic game in which players co-operate to defend their island against invading European colonisers. Each player is a different spirit boasting unique elemental powers, which they use strategically to fight the invaders by playing cards and expending energy. Different combinations of cards matching a particular spirit’s powers can bring bonus effects. The invaders spread across the island in a semi-predictable manner, building settlements, displacing natives and blighting the landscape. Different invaders, for example a Swedish mining colony or remote British colony, might offer different challenges. A wild card element is present in the form of the island’s other inhabitants, who sometimes will aid the spirits, but at other times will not. The game escalates as it progresses – colonisers step up their efforts and spirits gain better powers. Victory is gained when all colonisers’ settlements are destroyed, but the players lose if any of the spirits is lost.

Since its release in 2017 a number of expansions have been developed which further increases the game’s replayability. Spirit Island was nominated for ten industry awards in its release year and was winner of the Board Game Quest Awards Best Coop Game.

R. Eric Reuss is a Massachusetts-based designer of board games, RPGs, LARPs and text adventures. Previously a computer programmer, in the early 2000s he switched his focus to board game design, with his first major board game, ‘Fealty’, published in 2011. In 2021, Reuss published ‘For Science!’ his first new game since Spirit Island.

Greater Than Games is a St. Louis, Missouri-based games publisher founded in 2011 by Christopher Badell, Adam Rebottaro and Paul Bender. They merged with Dice Hate Me Games in 2015 and acquired publishing rights to Cheapass Games in 2019. As well as Spirit Island, their titles include Tak, Kill Doctor Lucky, Bottom of the 9th and Medium.

Ninth printing

Spirit Island is an interesting game within the canon of co-operative board games. As well as being well-designed and featuring artwork from a number of artists, it has considerable depth and complexity. It is overtly political, with the fantasy-cum-alternate history theme firmly framing the European invaders as an oppressive force, intent on the exploitation of resources and environmental ruin. This positions it within an important and growing group of games with stories that explore politics, histories, experiences and beliefs.

Historically, many games are about violent victory by taking something over, with the emphasis being on the aggressor. Spirit Island flips that narrative, asking players to be the natives protecting their land, therefore shifting the power.

B.58:1-2022