Born to Serve

Born to Serve is the sort of small indie Kickstarter surprise that does not need to shout to be noticed. Beneath its comic premise — unemployed superheroes competing with their former teammates for a waiter’s job — sits a carefully made little box, with production that looks properly lovely spread across the table after a Tuesday at work.

At heart, it is clean, quick area control: players contest spaces and positions against one another, trying to come out ahead in the scramble for the job. The interaction is direct, because someone occupying the place you need is not background decoration. They are your problem.

Variable player powers give each superhero a slightly different route into the contest without loading the game with explanation. A game stays under an hour and keeps moving, so it gets its joke across and leaves before it has worn it out.

It is not some great, dazzling revelation, and it does not pretend to be. It is an honest, well-made game: the sort of compact box that slips easily into a collection and finds its way back to the table even more easily.

Updated session

Later plays at three, four, and five players confirmed the first impression rather than changing it: Born to Serve remains entertaining, quick, and reliably good at each of those counts. If your collection is missing this kind of area-control game, it is worth seeking out.