Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
You are one of the lieutenants to the nefarious Mr. White.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Action Drafting
Choose actions from a shared supply before opponents can claim them.
Action Points
Spend a limited allowance of points across several possible actions each turn.
Modular Board
Build the play area from interchangeable sections that vary between games.
Ownership
Claim assets or areas that remain under a player’s control.
Race
Compete to reach a destination, threshold, or objective before opponents.
Specialist Worker Placement
Place workers with different capabilities or restrictions on action spaces.
Read the full game description
You are one of the lieutenants to the nefarious Mr. White. You are tasked with building his secret underground headquarters on a remote volcanic island. Construct rooms such as the Missile Silo, Interrogation Room, and the Shark Tank — in the most optimal location to gain most favor (victory points) from Mr. White. Lair is a competitive building game where you are in charge of constructing a 60's era, underground HQ — inside a volcano, no less — for your nefarious boss. It has a Euro-influenced, worker placement mechanic where you have two types of workers: the lowly henchmen that you use to claim a room, and the boss that can command henchmen to activate the ability of the room. You spend Work Tokens to command a henchmen, but if you command another player’s henchmen, you have to give that player the Work Token. It also has an expanding score track that doubles as the elevator shaft, which affects your build options and game strategy in interesting ways. It is a small-box strategy game that plays more like a big-box game. The game is highly thematic, from the tongue-in-cheek art style, to the streamlined gameplay that rewards villainous actions. Command your workers and make judicious use of scant resources to build an optimum lair, and gain the boss's favor.