For the production of all four commodities the players need the name-giving M.U.L.E.s, robotic machines which can be installed on a land tile to produce one of the commodities which can be found there. Since each player begins the game with one meagre M.U.L.E., they will require more of them to start working on more land tiles, and for this they can turn to the Store where new M.U.L.E.s will be produced from Smithore sold to the Store. However, in order to operate, a M.U.L.E. also needs Energy, and so the players have to balance their production capacities between producing Energy to power their M.U.L.E.s, Smithore to get more M.U.L.E.s, and Crystite which can be sold at high prices in order to become rich enough to win the game.

But what about Food? Well, in a way Food can be considered to be a second currency. Whereas the players need money for all purchase transactions with the Store, they need food to perform all actions like buying M.U.L.E.s or assaying land. It is also possible to change the commodity produced by a M.U.L.E. or to move a M.U.L.E. to a different Land tile, but this costs Food as well, especially of the Land tiles in question are situated on the outer borders of a player's board.

In order not to overburden the playing mechanism, the basic structure of each round is fairly easy. The players first have a possibility to acquire new Land tiles, before they start spending Food for buying and refitting M.U.L.E.s, assaying lands, gambling in the pub (small monetary gains) or trying to hunt the Wampus (luck based medium monetary gains). Next follows the spoilage of surplus stocks and the production of new commodities, and each production step is also enhanced by a randomly drawn Production card which will list some kind of special event for the phase. This is followed by the Market phase before finally the round ends with the players' ranking and personal events.

Let's look a bit closer at the Market Phase. As indicated, the players can buy or sell all four commodities available in the game, and the prices for which the Store buys or sells are determined on a price track before the individual sales start. From my perspective Heikki has found a quite good solution for importing the market mechanisms of the computer game into the boardgame, since the price level for each commodity can be determined rather quickly, following a few simple rules. The Smithore prices in the Store will increase if the Store does have less than 12 M.U.L.E.s in its "for sale" pen, whereas the price will decrease for each surplus Smithore unit in the Store if the pen is full. It's as simple with Food, since the Food price will increase for each unit of Food each player is below 4, whereas it will decrease for each unit of Food in the Store's warehouse. And Energy also is dealt with in a similar fashion, since a price increase is triggered if the Energy in the players' stocks is not sufficient to power all their M.U.L.E.s, whereas the price decreases for each unit of Energy available in the Store. Finally, the prices for Crystite are determined by a simple randomizer, using a value shown on the current Production card. Following these simple rules, Heikki and Tuomo really did the trick of bringing together well-working market mechanisms and a degree of simplicity which is needed for the smooth running of a boardgame. Kudos!

Returning the end of a round, another quite important element in the design of M.U.L.E. is the fact that a player ranking is established and adjusted at the end of each round, based on the players' wealth. This does not only serve as a leaderboard, but instead M.U.L.E. actually incorporates some playing mechanisms which will make the game a bit harder for the current leader. So, The leader will be allowed to draw a Lucky Event card which he has to hand to another player (usually someone who has fallen behind), whereas the player who has been the target of this Lucky Event will be given an Unlucky Event which he may assign to a player of his choice. This quite often will be the current leader, and so a player who does economically well may have to face some detrimental effects.

Talking to Heikki about this balancing mechanism, he pointed out that the way the player ranking works in conjunction with the events, effectively helping those who are falling behind, was a specific feature of M.U.L.E.. Heikki is quite aware that such a design is quite unique in the world of board gaming, but in his opinion it addresses a typical problem. When playing with 4 players, it is a quite common situation that not everyone will play with equal skill, experience and knowledge of the game. Due to the very strategic orientation of M.U.L.E., someone who has fallen behind might want to give up halfway through the game. At this point the special features of the players' ranking come in, equalizing the game without just increasing the element of luck, but actually mitigating the effects of both luck and overburdening skill. To Heikki's opinion, it's something that makes the game different, but if some players should not like the way ranking works the rulebook also contains some optional rules that lessen the effects of the player ranking.

All in all, this do not just sound quite intriguing, but to my opinion Heikki's and Tuomo's approach will ensure that everybody has a chance to enjoy the game from start till end, keeping at least a slight chance to turn the table. In a game which relies heavily on economics, one or two wrong decisions might prove disastrous, and it stands in line with the spirit of Dan Bunten's computer game that such harsh effects are softened in the boardgame. Of course, as the rules state there will always be some gamers who like full and absolute control, and this species may be put off by effects counterbalancing their economic feats, but in the end it is up to the players to decide whether they want to use the ranking effects described in the main rules or one of the variants.

An incredibly cute graphic design gives M.U.L.E. it's final polish, and if you want to join a colonization project with a humorous streak at the brink of the universe, you really should board the next spaceliner bound for Planet Irata!

See you soon - I am off to hunt the Wampus!!!