Polygon.com / 20.01.25

Can't wait for Red God? Play the Red Rising board game

Its 2025, and no, we still havent heard word about a Red God release date. In the meantime, though, Ive been holding myself over lately with the Red Rising board game. Turns out, a conveniently color-coded social hierarchy lends itself not just to timely social commentary, but also to the bones of a terrific board game. The whole crux of Red Rising, an excellent series of grimdark sci-fi novels written by Pierce Brown, is a futuristic version of humanity that has remade itself quite literally, via genetic modification into color-coded castes. Reds comprise the bottom of the ladder, manual laborers consigned to spend their lives mining for helium. Golds, meanwhile, are at the top: faster, smarter, stronger, and wealthier than everyone else. The rest of the social order breaks down into neatly clarified roles Silvers are bankers, Greens are tech wizards, Violets are artists and journalists, and so on. (You can see the whole hierarchy here.)  The series consists of six novels to date, st...
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