Waste not want not
NIGHT SOIL
Designer: Jon Moffat | Publisher: Grail Games
Theme is often a divisive topic in tabletop gaming. While some are only truly happy when playing a Star Wars game, others couldn’t give a monkey’s how pasted on the theme is. Then there are games such as Night Soil, which take divisiveness a step further by throwing in a comedic, slightly off-colour subject matter. It goes further still by introducing mechanisms that are also guaranteed to divide opinion. So, not much to discuss here then.
Night Soil is a game about shovelling... let’s go with ‘poop’. Night soil companies were a real thing in the Tudor period, so there’s a level of historical accuracy here, while the art, mechanisms and flow (ahem) fit the theme well. However, the poop element is clearly played for attention and will no doubt put some players off, which is a shame, as buried beneath that poop is a game worth shovelling it for.