Pendulum Board Game
Pendulum at a Glance
| Game Type Economic, Card Game, Action Timer, Deck Construction, Real-Time, Simultaneous Action Selection, Solo / Solitaire Game , Variable Player Powers, Worker Placement, Different Worker Types | Play Time 60 - 90 mins | Skill/Complexity (3 - 5) Medium |
| Age 12+ | Publisher(s) Stonemaier Games | Published 2020 |
| Categories Strategy | Players 1 - 5 (3 Ideal ) | Cost $31.99 approx. |
| Our Rating 8.2/10 |
About Pendulum
It’s difficult to imagine two gaming mechanisms that you would least expect to find together in one game than real-time gameplay and worker placement – so it certainly perplexed the gaming community when Stonemaier Games (publishers of Scythe and Viticulture) announced Pendulum, a strategic worker-placement game that features sand-timers.
This is a combination that, at first glance, seems incompatible. After all, strategic euro-style games are often known for long periods of silence as players stare at the board and map out their next several moves to achieve optimal efficiency in a hodgepodge of complex interlocking mechanisms. On the other hand, real-time games are usually geared toward a family or casual gaming audience and involve extremely simple rules to encourage fast-paced and stress-induced gameplay. So how can these two entirely opposite styles of games work together in Pendulum?
Who Is Pendulum Best Suited For?
My first reaction when I learned about Pendulum was that I myself was a little confused at who this game was geared toward. I often play with heavy-Euro gamers, and there is absolutely no way I could imagine many of them even being willing to play this game due to the real-time element. I also play with a lot of casual gamers, and I couldn’t imagine trying to teach them a game with moderately-complex rules – and one that they had to fully grasp and navigate in real-time without my ability to coach them through their decisions.
After having played the game, I would say this game is best suited for people who have played at least one or two worker-placement games (i.e., Lords of Waterdeep, Viticulture, Stone Age, etc.) and understand basic concepts of resource-management. But, most importantly, this game is geared toward gamers who don’t take games too seriously and have an open mind to new kinds of experiences – people who won’t get upset and complain about a game being “broken” when things don’t go their way, but just simply want to simply have a good time.
Skill – Complexity (medium-weight)
I would consider Pendulum to be a moderately-complex game, and definitely not the first game to introduce someone to who has never played modern board games.
To make teaching and learning the game easier, however, the game does include a non-real-time variant in the box. What’s awesome about this version is that it is fully interchangeable with the standard version in the sense that you can play one round non-timed to teach the rules and really slow down and walk players through their choices, and then move to the standard version in the 2nd round. Or you can decide to play an entire first game non-timed to fully learn the rules if that works best. This non-timed variant is excellent and doesn’t make you feel like you’re missing out on a lot in the first round. It’s a great way to “ease” new players in, and I highly recommend using it when necessary.
Gameplay and Insights
At its heart, Pendulum is a worker-placement and resource-management game where players are trying to score the most points over the course of 4 rounds. Each player has a unique player board with 3 tracks that represent power, prestige, popularity, and legendary achievement. Players are trying to move all of their markers on these tracks past a certain victory threshold to win the game; if multiple players accomplish this, the player who moved their markers the furthest number of spaces past this threshold is declared the winner.
Players begin the game with 1 common worker and 1 grande worker. Similar to other worker-placement games, they will be placing these workers on the board to perform a number of different actions – to acquire resources, move up the tracks on their board, and gain province cards which add bonuses when taking certain kinds of actions.
The real-time twist comes in with the fact that there are 3 sand-timers on the board, 1 in each area that focuses on a certain kind of action or track on their board. Each sand-timer will be flipped back and forth onto one of two rows in that area of the board. When placing a worker, it must be onto an action space within a row that does not currently have a sand-timer on it. Many spots only allow for a single worker, but some spots allow for multiple. The grande worker can be placed on any space, regardless of capacity.
Once a sand-timer has finished running, any player can decide to flip it to the opposite row. At that point, any player with a worker in the row where the sand-timer is running can perform the action of the space they are on. However, they cannot move their worker until the sand-timer is flipped again. In other words, if a player has a worker on a row with a sand-timer present, that worker is locked until the time runs out. To make things even more interesting, each sand-timer is a different amount of time: one is 45 seconds, one is 2 minutes, and one is 3 minutes. As you might imagine, the longer the sand-timer, the more powerful the action.
There are also any-time actions players can take, including claiming an achievement if they meet the requirements listed on the current achievement card (and move up the legendary achievement track on their board if they are the first player to do so this round), and play stratagem cards. These stratagem cards are really designed to give players something to do while they wait for timers to run out, and are a way to gain resources and other benefits. Once a player uses a stratagem card, they discard it; at any point, a player can also pay the required resources indicated on their player board to pick their stratagem cards back up into their hand.
There are no turns in Pendulum – players place and move workers, and perform actions in real-time and simultaneously, with the exception of the Council Phase which takes place at the end of each round (once the 3-minute timer has been flipped 3 times). In the Council Phase, players determine who collected the most vote tokens (which can be obtained at action spaces and on cards) and arrange their markers on the privilege track accordingly. In that order, players can gain a privilege card and its associated bonus.
At the end of the Council Phase of the 4th round, the game is over, and the player who meets the victory requirements wins the game.
Versions – Editions – Expansions
At the time of writing this, there is currently only one version of Pendulum and no expansions that have been published.
Likes & Dislikes
As you can tell from the description above, there is certainly a lot going on in Pendulum. So what did I like and dislike most about it, and what are my final thoughts?
- A truly unique gameplay experience – While it’s true that none of the worker-placement or resource-management elements are unique, the real-time gameplay is what sets this game apart and makes it feel unlike any game you’ve ever played before. It’s definitely one I couldn’t stop thinking about after I played it, which to me is always a sign of a good game.
- Time as a resource – I love the idea of actual time, as measured in seconds, being a resource in a game. Not only does Pendulum make you plan out what you need and how you are going to make it happen, it makes you think about how long each action will lock a worker, and how much time is likely left in this round. I love how more powerful actions lock a worker for a greater amount of time, and that’s something you definitely need to consider.
- It’s not as time-pressured as you would think – There are many actions on the board that allow multiple workers to be there, and there are also periods of time where you have 30 seconds or so while you wait until a worker frees up. This gives you just enough time to think and plan things out in terms of what you want to do next. I think this game does a good job of keeping downtime to an absolute minimum through real-time gameplay, but while avoiding creating a sense of panic and the need to physically race to a certain spot on the board to beat other players.
- Combo-building – I always appreciate when a game allows you to chain bonuses, and I really the province cards in this game are a lot of fun. Essentially, the province cards stack up on the bottom of your board under 4 different slots that represent 4 different types of actions on the main board. Anytime you take an associated action, you gain the bonuses listed on all the cards beneath that slot on your board. It’s a very light type of engine building that feels very satisfying.
- Simple iconography – I think that in order for this game to be a success, it needed to have very clear and easy-to-digest iconography, and in this regard, I believe the designer and publisher were successful.
- Non-timed variant – While I would never choose the non-timed variant over the real-time one with experienced players, I will use this variant every time I teach the game to new players at least for the first round. This variant basically dictates when timers are flipped, but players ignore the sand in the timer and just perform actions until everyone agrees to move to the next step. Without this variant, the game would be extremely hard to teach to new players.
- Player engagement – If you feel annoyed when players get distracted at the table by looking at their phone, checking social media, or having side-bar conversations, you will definitely not experience that in this game. Players are constantly focused and engaged, and the rounds never drag on longer than they need to.
While these aren’t necessarily deal-breakers for me, here are some things you should keep in mind about Pendulum:
- The timers aren’t 100% precise – I did some basic stopwatch timing on my phone to see how accurate the timers were, and they were usually off by 5 or so seconds. This might bother many people.
- There is definitely room for player error – Because of the simultaneous and real-time nature of this game, most players won’t be paying close attention to what anyone else is doing in order to prevent unintentional rules mistakes. In this sense, there’s no question that the opportunity for player error is there in Pendulum.
- Generic theme – I didn’t talk much about the theme of this game in the description, because it’s a fairly-generic fantasy theme about trying to become the new ruler of a fantasy kingdom. There isn’t really anything about the game that draws me into the theme, other than some cool looking artwork and characters on the player boards.
- You may make a lot of sub-optimal moves and get frustrated – If you’re someone who likes to sit for a really long time and analyze the state of the gameboard and calculate the most optimal move on a board by analyzing other players’ decisions and resources, just avoid this game because you will probably not enjoy it. Due to the fact that you have to think fairly quick to keep the game moving and just roll with the decisions you make, you have to be okay with making sub-optimal moves from time to time and be wiling to just have a good time.
- Not a ton of “replay value” – While each player board has some unique asymmetry, I don’t think there’s much here that will make each game feel radically different. However, the game itself to me is fun enough that I don’t think this will bother me much over time.
Final Thoughts
Pendulum has a unique place in my gaming collection. I do really like it, but it’s not a game I think I will have an opportunity to play often. It really does require the right audience and circumstances. However, I know that when I do get it to the table, I will no doubt have a great time.
Related: See other related strategy board game reviews that may interest you.
Check Out What Others Have Viewed Recently!
