Chances are whenever you see the word “quantum,” that rather than bearing a passing resemblance to the actual meaning of the word, it pretty much means whatever the author needs it to mean to get the plot rolling. And in Quantum, the new board game by Eric Zimmerman, that rule is taken to the extreme. Why is it your goal to plop cubes down onto planets? Quantum. How is it that your ships can reconfigure into entirely different forms, transforming from a tiny scout to an indefatigable battleship without so much as winking in the direction of the law of conservation of mass? Quantum. Why is the logical endpoint of your imperial research program to suddenly become nomadic? I’ve said it already: quantum.

Read the rest of this entry →