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Box art via BoardGameGeek
Kanban EV
A brutal electric car factory where the boss is out to get you.
Designed by Vital Lacerda · 2020
One of the most efficient heavy Euros you can put on a table, as long as you and everyone else are ready to actually learn it. Punishing, clever, and weirdly fast for how big it feels.
Best for: Experienced strategy gamers who like being squeezed from every direction.
What it is
Kanban EV puts you in an electric car factory as a manager trying to look good in front of the board. You're moving through five departments, grabbing parts, training your skills, and pushing cars down the line. It's Vital Lacerda, so every action feeds three other things, and the theme actually holds. Reviewers keep using words like tight and rewarding, and they're right. The pieces lock together in a way that makes the rules stick.
The catch
Here's the part nobody softens. Sandra, the factory manager, walks the departments and slaps the player who's least trained in each one. Early on she's the bane of your existence, and a wrong color or a mistimed turn snowballs for the rest of the game. The factory theme is also thinner than other Lacerda boxes, and the analytical turns mean real thinking time. First games are rough. You will lose to the rules before you lose to a person.
Who it's for
Once it clicks, though, it sings. The board meetings let you claim scoring spots and snipe rivals off theirs, so it's genuinely interactive instead of four people doing quiet math. What surprises people most is the speed. This is On Mars-level decisions in a fraction of the runtime, with almost no downtime. If you've got a group willing to learn it properly, it's a keeper. Casual table? Skip it.
What other players say
This write-up is grounded in real reviews and player discussion, not just one opinion. A few worth reading:
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