Tie earthworms in knots to conquer the world in the wonderfully weird Wormlord

Magic Maze maker Sit Down! has unearthed its next brilliantly quirky real-time game: Wormlord.

In Wormlord, the players command opposing armies of earthworms clashing over their right to conquer the world – a little bit like classic PC game Worms except not at all.

The disagreement between the worm factions comes to a head (or, er, is that a tail?) on Wormlord’s central grid board, which sees the helpfully colour-coded sides battle for control of the patch of grass.

The worms themselves are short strings similar to shoelaces, which players must knot and place on the squares to take control of the territory. Meanwhile, their opponents can pick up the worms and undo the knots to remove them from the board.

The whole game is played in real time, so the players must race to tie and untie worms as fast as they can to win. 

The actual victory condition can apparently change depending on which map is being used, but typically comes down to claiming the most spaces with your knotted worms.

Up to eight people can play, so expect things to quickly get chaotic – something that Magic Maze excelled at turning into a hilarious experience. 

Wormlord will be out at this year’s Essen Spiel convention in October. Best get practising those knots.