Desktop HEBOCON Battle Kit (2017)

卓上ヘボコン, a.k.a. Desktop HEBOCON Battle Kit, is a Japanese game based on the theme of "HEBOCON". This is form of 'robot-wars' events, with microbots fighting Sumo matches. One robot must defeat the other according to Sumo wrestling rules, such as pushing them out of the circle, or flipping them to a fall. At HEBOCON events, people construct their own robots and fight knock-out matches to find a winner. HEBOCON is derived from the Japanese word Heboku, meaning 'bad' or 'heavy', something that is childish. HEBOCON is designed for people with little technical ability. This game recreates that experience in a simple build and fight way.

During the game, players collect tiles and place them in their build area, a 6x6 grid. Gathering tiles and building is how the player programs their robot to fight. Players gain victory points during the Gather and Build stages, and get more VPs through winning fights in the Battle stage. The player with the most points will be the HEBOCON champion!

In the Gather stage, each player takes turns to take a tile from a large circle of pieces. You move your robot forward, taking a tile from the circle. Each time the last player makes a complete lap, they place a nut on the gameboard to show a lap has been completed. Once each player has made nine circuits and collected a stack of nine tiles, then they start to Build. Whilst collecting tiles, players cannot look at their stack and must use their memory for what they need to build.

In the Build stage, a player starts a digital timer and everyone has a brief time to assemble their bot. If a player fills out all 36 squares of their grid, they suffer a penalty as their robot is too technical! This reflects the same rules in HEBOCON. Players score points for a solid, connected build, which in HEBOCON is more important than winning a fight.

Finally the players Battle with their bots, by placing a nut on a tile on their grid. These are the bots actions, such as moving and making turns in the sumo ring. Once combat is finished, the player with the most points overall is the winner.

As well as all the boards and tiles, the game includes a digital timer and a bunch of metal nuts to mark actions in the game.

Publisher's summary
"Tabletop Hebocon” is themed on HEBOCON, “a robot sumo-wrestling competition for those who are not technically gifted” . Let’s GATHER, BUILD (program), BATTLE and compete for points. Even if a robot doesn’t work well, praise its performance with a shout of “HEBOI!”.

「卓上ヘボコン」は、「技術力の低い人のためのロボット相撲」こと、
「ヘボコン」をテーマにしたボードゲームです。
ロボットを組み立てて、対戦して、より高い点数を競いますが、
思ったように動かなくても「ヘボい！」とその出来をたたえましょう。

「桌上廢柴機械人大戰」是一款以「廢柴機械人大戰 HEBOCON」作主題的桌遊。
HEBOCON 是一個專門給沒有技術人士參加的機械人比賽。
我們來組合、編程、對戰、竟爭分數吧！
即使機械人運作不佳，也來叫他們一聲「廢柴！」稱讚一下他們吧！