Cross Bronx Expressway

For me, Cross Bronx Expressway is one of the strangest entries in the COIN series. It is played exclusively with three players and does not cast them as conventional factions, but as abstract ideologies: capital, the state, and collectives. Everyone is trying to “save” the game through one of six distinct points in the historical course of the Bronx, and that thematic choice noticeably changes how you read the conflict.

Its core is extremely tight. There are few available actions, but each carries major weight, so the economy of choices is its main arena. I did not find it difficult because it buries the player in edge cases, as Gandhi or Pendragon can; it is difficult to digest in a different way, because its mechanisms need substantial familiarity before they begin to read clearly.

The interaction is also highly unusual. It lacks the immediacy that certain actions have in the more military games in the series, and that may put off even COIN fans expecting a more direct conflict. Here, you need to understand how the choices of the three ideologies fit together and affect the game’s progress across the six historical points, rather than expect a more obvious, aggressive exchange of actions.

If you do not like COIN games, I do not think this will change your mind. And if you do like them, there is a real chance that its unusual form of interaction will initially leave you cold. But if you persist, there is a great deal to chew on: serious gameplay, serious metagame, and a density of decisions that almost makes me call it a SplotterCOIN.