Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Easier to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
More strategic control
How it plays
How does it play?
Win tricks for power, lose tricks to manipulate the control board, fulfil a secret two-part agenda, and assemble the first monument to appliance supremacy.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Trick-taking
Play one card each and award the trick according to suit and rank rules.
Highest-Lowest Scoring
Final scoring depends on balancing categories because the highest or lowest value matters.
Solo / Solitaire Game
Provide rules and objectives designed for a single player.
Read the full game description
Power Vacuum is a treacherous trick-taking game set after the Great Vacuum short-circuits and leaves the household without a ruler. Players lead and follow coloured appliance suits, with the highest card normally winning power tokens. The lowest card of any suit is just as important because it manipulates the shared control board, moving power among appliances and changing which one has the most or least. Each conspirator holds a secret agenda naming both extremes, so a deliberately lost trick can be more useful than a win. Spies hide among the regular suits and can upset the current trump, while captured power buys the four levels of a ridiculous personal statue. The first appliance to complete its monument takes absolute power. Solo rules and variable agendas preserve the game's puzzle when fewer rivals are available.
