Alcatraz: The Scapegoat Arriving Soon from Z-Man Games

Jun 5, 2012

Sure, we had fun kidding around about the title of this game on the podcast a while back but it now looks like Alcatraz: The Scapegoat, from Z-Man Games, should be making it’s way to game stores shortly. Players vie to escape from Alcatraz by any means possible and you don’t want to be one of the losers left behind!

From Z-Man:

You have been sent to Alcatraz, but you do not plan on staying there very long! You must find a way to escape. With your fellow convicts, you will elaborate a plan to return to freedom. But beware; you do not want to be the one the others leave behind

In this cooperative game, you will take the role of prisoners trying to escape the prison together. However, for their plan to succeed, the group knows that one of them will have to be left behind as a scapegoat if any of them hope to make it out alive!

However, getting out of prison is not an easy task! Players will have to accomplish various tasks that will put into place an element of their escape plan. The players who, cooperatively, manage to carry out all six phases of the plan together will escape; the others will be caught by the guards and spend the rest of their lives in Alcatraz.

After each round, a new guard will come into play, making it more and more difficult to acquire the things you will need for your escape. But don’t worry; there are ways to make the guards look away from what you are trying to do…

Once a task has been completed, the player who accomplished the task gets to mark his prisoner’s sheet for the appropriate part of the plan. He then randomly draws a task card that will be completed by everyone except the scapegoat.

Being the scapegoat can have its advantages; like being the first to play and having more actions per turn than the other prisoners. This can allow you to become essential to the completion of the plan. So even if you are the scapegoat, you must make yourself indispensable, so that the others have no choice but to let you escape.

After every turn, check to see if there is a group of players that has completed at least one of each parts of the plan. If so, you have succeeded in escaping form Alcatraz; leaving the other prisoners behind you to take the blame…

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Jeff McAleer

Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...