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Portal: The Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game

Move and portal test subjects between chambers, because the lab keeps collapsing.

Aperture Laboratories has reopened for testing, and your team of test subjects is after cake. The lab is a conveyor belt of death and dismemberment, but science must go on, so you move your subjects between chambers and shoot portals to get them where you need them. It is a loud, shifting area-control game in which the board changes under your feet: at the end of each player's turn, one of the chambers at the end of the lab gives way and drops everyone inside. Made by the creators of the Portal video games, for two to four players, about 45 minutes, ages 15 and up, published in 2015.

Portal your subjects between chambersA chamber collapses every turnCake is the prize

Who it's for

You love the Portal video games and want a sarcastic, chaotic area-control game on a table.

Not for you if…

You do not know the video games or dislike games where your pieces keep dying.

Vibe's take

Darkly funny and unstable. The chamber at the end of the lab falls away every turn, so you are always moving toward the cake while the floor disappears behind you.

#6,116 on BGG

of over 30,000 ranked board games

Published 2015 · 11 years ago

older than 63% of games

In 4,552 collections

collected more than 55% of games

2–4 players · ages 8+

Best with 2 · publisher: 15+

30–45 min

shorter than 51% of games · typical 30–90 min

Complexity: medium

One warm-up round · 2.1 out of 5 · heavier than 54%

Opinions: divided

Some love it, others really don’t

Language: some text

Text on cards or in the rules

Play style: competitive