Review of 16 Mice in a Mech: A Mighty Adventure for Many Mousey Accomplices!
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16 Mice in a Mech is made for all ages!
16 Mice in a Mech is great for any age, young or old! All the rules fit on one page and are easy to follow, and, because this is so collaboration focused, everyone should be helping each other out during the game (so it’s a great opportunity to help little ones with counting too).
Everyone gets to play and be part of the mech suit mayhem, and it’s also just some silly fun. Plus, with the number of players this can accommodate, it would be great for an after school program, a whole lunchbreak table, a family get together with young kids to family elders, a game night with friends, and more!
16 Mice in a Mech makes for some memorable settings!
16 Mice in a Mech doesn’t have a particular setting, but it does have some possible goals, like finding a way to land your mech on another planet or showing off some new mech tech. From there, you can plunk this down into any setting!
When we played, we were trying to take on an opposing mech – a maniacal mole had created their own mech and was trying to destroy the city! It definitely had some superhero kind of vibes going on with a lot of story.
I could also see this just as easily being about space exploration or trying to pull off the ultimate heist from a cheese factory or any other number of wacky ideas! There’s a lot of versatility here, as long as you’ve got your mech!
Your mech mice in 16 Mice in a Mech
In 16 Mice in a Mech, you play as one of the mice scurrying around inside the mech making it work!
To make your character, you determine their roll number, size, role (like a mechanic or doctor), and their name (with as many m’s in it as possible). Then, you’re all set to go… from an individual standpoint!
There is another character in this game, and that is your mech suit itself. While it isn’t sentient, it does have a bit of a life to it, and I think warrants a mention as a character. To create your mech, you need to name it and give it some specs as a whole team.
For us, we had mice ranging from a “tiny” mechanic named Emma Morgan the Maverick to a “chonk” doctor named Dr. Mac McCoy all riding around in a mech that could turn invisible and shrink… but also had a laser that randomly misfired!!
Rules lite mechanics and collaborative storytelling in 16 Mice in a Mech
Tweaking Lasers and Feelings for a new style of game
16 Mice in a Mech uses the Lasers and Feelings system for its core mechanics, but applies it in a fun and unique way that’s engineered just for this game.
Each mouse has a number specifically for them. When they roll their dice pool, they are basing their rolls around that specific number. For actions that are more mouse-like, they want to roll over their number, and for actions that are more mech-like, they want to roll under. The number of dice from the dice pool that are a success determine what happens with the action!
These rules were easy to follow and, especially considering the number of players, were a really easy way to quickly stat each character and determine what roles they likely would lean towards and be able to help with. You quickly get a mouse business team and a mechanics team forming up and complimenting each other as you strategize how to solve each problem.
Collaboration in 16 Mice in a Mech
16 Mice in a Mech is a highly collaborative game as all players are essentially running one meta player (the suit) in completing the same task. The mechanics also allow for helping each other and for having ALL the mice in the suit team up for a mega dice pool!
I teach engineering classes that focus on practical applications and teamwork as my day job, and I seriously want to try this with my class one day if we ever get a free period from finishing our projects early. There’s a lot to be learned from collaborating on engineering projects here, from seeing everyone trying their best but not always succeeding to all the brainstorming that’s going on with that teamwork foundation prompting the shared stake in a project. I would love to see my class of ~20 engineering students come up with some wacky ideas in this game and work on some team building skills at the same time!
What did my kid think about 16 Mice in a Mech?
To quote my kid, “We defeated Mr. Mole! My mouse got to turn us invisible and then we snuck into the secret lair!” and “I really liked all the different mice! And the laser! It kept going off at the wrong time!”
How I read this is that he was really excited that he got a moment to shine with his mouse amongst the others, and the wonky laser proved to be VERY funny (on a fail, we had the laser go haywire)! He also asked if we could play again but next time to go to the moon to get cheese.
Overall thoughts on 16 Mice in a Mech
16 Mice in a Mech is great for large groups, lovers of gundam style mech suit shows, and anyone who likes mice mischief! It’s quick to learn, easy to include everyone, facilitates teamwork, and is also perfect for some silly fun! We really enjoyed this game, and I hope you do too!
Find a copy of 16 Mice in a Mech
You can find Rosie, the game’s creator here on twitter, and you can find 16 Mice in a Mech here on Rosie’s ko-fi!
Let me know below if you try it out and what your thoughts are! If you liked this post, make sure to subscribe to the TTRPGkids monthly newsletter to stay up to date on the latest reviews, tips and tricks, game and podcast list updates, and more! Thank you for playing tabletop RPGs with your kids and sharing this awesome hobby with the next generation!
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