--- product_id: 19189722 title: "Portal The Uncooperative Board Game" brand: "cryptozoic entertainment" price: "B/.181" currency: PAB in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 category: "Cryptozoic Entertainment" url: https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/19189722-portal-the-uncooperative-board-game store_origin: PA region: Panama --- # Modular board for dynamic gameplay Free Steam code for Portal 2 included Includes miniatures of iconic Portal elements Portal The Uncooperative Board Game **Brand:** cryptozoic entertainment **Price:** B/.181 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 🎯 Outsmart, outplay, outcake—because the cake is never just a lie! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Portal The Uncooperative Board Game by cryptozoic entertainment - **How much does it cost?** B/.181 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.pa](https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/19189722-portal-the-uncooperative-board-game) ## Best For - cryptozoic entertainment enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted cryptozoic entertainment brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Dynamic Modular Board:** Experience a constantly shifting Aperture Lab with 15 interlocking tiles that keep every game fresh and unpredictable. - • **Exclusive Digital Bonus:** Get a free Steam code for Portal 2, merging your board game nights with legendary video game action. - • **Iconic Portal Miniatures:** Play with detailed miniatures including Test Subjects, Companion Cube, and Turret that bring the Portal universe to your tabletop. - • **Fast-Paced Strategic Gameplay:** Engage in quick, tactical rounds where every move counts—perfect for millennial managers craving both challenge and fun. - • **High Replayability with Social Interaction:** Navigate shifting alliances, bluff opponents, and outsmart rivals in a game that rewards foresight and social savvy. ## Overview Portal: The Uncooperative Board Game, designed by Valve staff, delivers a fast, strategic area control experience with a modular board and miniatures inspired by the Portal video games. Featuring dynamic gameplay where players compete to collect cake while navigating a constantly recycling lab, it includes a free Steam code for Portal 2, blending physical and digital gaming worlds. Ideal for 4 players, this game offers high replay value through tactical depth and social interaction, making it a must-have for fans and strategy enthusiasts alike. ## Description With a grinding of gears and some uneasy rumbling, Aperture Laboratories has resumed testing! Your team of Test Subjects have entered the Lab and are ready to perform all sorts of important, dignified and dangerous testing procedures. all in the pursuit of Cake! It's a fun and funny fast-paced fight to the finish. And by finish, we mean your team probably died. The Lab is an ever-changing conveyor belt of death and dismemberment. But SCIENCTIFIC PROGRESS must be at the forefront of the mind of every good Test Subject. In this game of constantly shifting area control and cardplay, players move and Portal their Test Subjects to various Chambers in the Lab. At the end of each player's turn, one of the Chambers on the end of the Lab gives way, plunging all Test Subjects on it into oblivion. But, should your Test Subjects have numbered greater than all others in the falling Chamber, they earn you some wonderful parting gifts, which can include Cake. Yet, these moist slices of industrial-grade Cake must be stored in the Lab, where they are at risk of falling into said oblivion. Not to mention that your jealous opponents can pick up your Cake and move it closer to that precipice. He who has acquired the most Cake when a team has lost its last Test Subject is the winner. Do you risk gathering Cake early for a quick win? Or do you bide your time and wait until you can protect it better? Win the game and prove the Cake was no lie. Review: A surprisingly complex testing experience - This was a great, chaotic boardgame that requires a lot of thought to play well. I won't go into the rules, since I think the product description explains them fairly well, but I'll focus on what I think makes the game work so well: you need to think ahead. Any one player can attempt to end the game at any point by trying to sacrifice all their test subjects, but the process of doing so often gives opponents the chance to take the lead by earning more pieces of cake. If you're going for the win, you need to set yourself up for several successful turns. But the rapidly changing gameboard means that you need to be able to anticipate the moves the other players will do, to stop them from winning or to set yourself up to win. Will they be collecting their own cake? What Aperture cards can/will they play? Which test chambers will they recycle? It truly is a dynamic experience among the players. The first three games we played (all 4-player games) went as follows: 1) 20 Minutes. We learned the rules, read the cards, and then everyone started killing each others' test subjects like maniacs and generally not making much progress. I ended the game the first chance I had and won with 2 pieces of cake (out of 8 possible per player). No cake incinerated. 2) 15 minutes. Winner had 3 pieces of cake, took advantage of an opening to end the game very quickly. The opening came from how other players had selected test chambers to recycle - it gave them a short-term advantage, but ultimately let him recycle a test chamber with all his guys in it and end the game. One piece of cake incinerated, but it was by an Aperture card, not by recycling test chambers. 3) 80 minutes, and I only ended it because I had to go to bed. All four of us finally understood that, every turn, you needed to watch your opponents and see what their path to victory was, and then try to stop it. Twice, I had a significant lead, but was blocked from killing my subjects and ending the game. Eventually, 7 of my cake pieces had been dumped in the incinerator, so it was nearly impossible for me to win. Winner had 3 pieces of cake. There were 16 pieces of cake in the incinerator (half of all the cake pieces the game came with). I was the one who ended the game, but I did not need to - had I been so inclined, I could have begun working against the leading player, but it would have dragged the game out even longer. Another time, I probably would have done so. But not then. As I said above, once we realized that we had to actively monitor the other players' strategies, the game became so much deeper. The first two games were like the 4-move checkmate in Chess; if your opponent isn't watching, you can quickly win. But if they are paying attention, you need to utilize a more complex strategy. A ton of replayability, in my mind. The randomized board prevents common openings, and then changes shape to produce some really bizarre dynamics. I've seen some complaints that there should have been more Aperture/Character cards, but I think it's just the perfect amount, and I will address that with some specifics. There are enough that you will never run out (each player can only have 3 at a time), and their uses are very situational and they often interplay with one another. It's good that there are multiple copies of the 8 different Aperture cards, since you will want to be doing the same thing more than once. There's a good amount of Character cards, as well - some of them are great effects regardless, and some will only be useful in certain situations. There can be a fairly quick cycling, so it's possible to see the same Character come up again later in the game. For both kinds of cards, the complexity comes from interactions with other cards, and the cards available will affect the strategies of you and your opponents. An Aperture card that lets you move one test subject to an adjacent chamber plays very differently if a Character lets you freely move a Portal (giving you a straight shot to a test chamber you're about to recycle), if a Character says you cannot split groups of test subjects (since that card will effectively bypass the restriction), if you have an Aperture card that can move the test-subject-killing Turret (you thought your guy was at a safe distance? Think again!), or if you are trying to carry another player's cake away from the safe end of the board (I can take your cake and run twice as fast as you!). The Companion Cube is another good example - when you place it in a test chamber, no one gets rewards for that chamber. Usually, you place it to stop an opponent from getting rewards, but I would use it on myself to keep from accumulating test subjects when I was trying to end the game. After that glowing review, I would like to issue a few words of warning. First, the similarities to the video game are solely aesthetic. If you are looking for unique puzzles, an engaging story, or eccentric characters, this is not for you. As a board game, it is awesome, but it does not capture the experience of playing Portal (and it's not supposed to). Second, there is a ton of Kingmaking potential, so if that's a recurring problem in your group, you might also want to stay away from this game. My gaming group is comfortable with everyone else "teaming up" on the winner, but I know a lot of people would consider that a point against the game. Review: Don't worry, it's good - Quick take: Don't worry, it's good. A worthy use of the award-winning video game's IP, Portal: the Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game is very good. For fans of the Portal series (like me), it's great. It would also be fun without the Portal universe supporting it, which certainly is the mark of a great licensed game. The videogame was groundbreaking; the boardgame isn't quite that but the core gameplay mechanics are still unique and interesting, Positives The game, at its simplest, works like this: use your Test Subjects to gain Cake and/or more Test Subjects. Once you have more Cake on the board than your opponents, you will try to end the game by getting rid of all of your own or one opponents' Test Subjects. However, if you're too slow at doing this, you leave your opponents with an opening to add Cake to the board with their own (dwindling) Test Subjects and turn the tables by taking advantage of your "help." This balancing act makes for a fascinating game. The board itself is also unique. It is made up of fifteen interlocking tiles that create the Laboratory. Familiar Portal staples such as Test Subjects, Cake, a Turret, a Companion Cube, and portal tokens will be moved around on these tiles. Every turn, each player is required to choose a tile on the "old end" of the Laboratory to activate. The tile will give bonuses to Test Subjects on the tile and then flip over to the "new end" of the Laboratory, creating a constantly changing and recycling board. It's the good kind of chaotic, especially with three or four players. The Aperture cards that players will use throughout the game are also a great addition. They can be quite powerful, but they are easy to obtain so other players aren't at a disadvantage. The cards are especially interesting because the other side of each card has a unique character from the Portal universe which alters the game for all players. So, you'll play one of Aperture cards that allows you to destroy a Test Subject, but which in turn activates "Chell." Chell allows the next player to freely move a Portal token to any Test Chamber, potentially a very powerful ability. More often than not, every decision in the game has these cause/effect scenarios and the board often changes quickly and dramatically. I would be remiss to mention the inclusion of the Portal universe. The miniature Test Subjects, miniature Companion Cube, and miniature Turret match the look and feel from the videogame, and the colored cake pieces are a cool touch. The Aperture cards are interesting and thematic. The sardonic humor of the original game comes through even in the very premise of this game: doing whatever you can to gain Cake and often sacrificing your own Test Subjects in the process. The namesake portal tokens for jumping around the board are there but aren't the focal point. Which is fine. Negatives The concept of the interlocking tiles and the constantly recycling game board is a good enough concept to base a game on. However, it isn't perfectly accomplished. The pieces are smaller than Catan tiles, with additional tabs that are meant to lock into each other so that the board can be easily shifted on the table. Some tabs fit, but many others don't or they fit too well and make it difficult to pull the tile up. This isn't a game breaker but it's something you'll quickly notice as you play. From a thematic perspective, GLaDOS doesn't really play any kind of role, which is a little disappointing since the Companion Cube, Turret, Cake, Test Subjects, and portals are used throughout in gameplay. She doesn't even have her own Aperture card. Still, a minor qualm. Final Thoughts When I heard that Valve was involved with developing a Portal boardgame, I knew that we would have to check it out. I'm happy to relay that it's a lot of fun. With two players it's quite strategic, though can sometimes trigger long thinking turns for AP prone players. Three and four player games are more chaotic and tactical, with the game board changing dramatically by the time it gets back to you for your turn. There is a ton of player interaction, both direct and indirect. It's a special kind of fun to grab your opponent's Cake and march through a portal, activating a test chamber and incinerating their Cake piece in the process. You'll make constant risk/reward decisions like this, sometimes teetering on the brink of being eliminated until you have enough Cake to win the game by intentionally walking your Test Subject into a Turret. Games will usually end quickly and abruptly like this. Overall, the game is one of the more unique ones that we've played. Portal fans or those who like puzzle-type games with a lot of player interaction will find a lot to like here. Note: reviews of this game and others, including gameplay descriptions, more bad puns, and a lot more pictures available at playbegins.com ## Features - Designed by Valve staff, the makers of Portal & Portal 2! - Includes a free Steam code for a copy of Portal 2! - Fast and fun gameplay - Modular board - Includes miniatures of popular Portal game elements ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | ASIN | B00TVQ00BI | | Age Range Description | Baby,Kid | | Are Batteries Required | No | | Best Sellers Rank | #116,435 in Toys & Games ( See Top 100 in Toys & Games ) #2,791 in Board Games (Toys & Games) | | Brand Name | Cryptozoic Entertainment | | CPSIA Cautionary Statement | Choking Hazard - Small Parts | | Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 395 Reviews | | Edition | Standard Edition | | Educational Objective | Science | | Genre | Area Control, Strategy, Possibly Bluffing and Storytelling | | Global Trade Identification Number | 00815442018236 | | Included Components | Player pieces, Game board, Miniatures of Portal game elements | | Indoor Outdoor Usage | Indoor | | Is Assembly Required | No | | Item Dimensions | 3 x 10.5 x 10.5 inches | | Item Part Number | 18236CZE | | Item Weight | 881 Grams | | Manufacturer | Publisher Services Inc (PSI) | | Manufacturer Maximum Age (MONTHS) | 192.0 | | Manufacturer Minimum Age (MONTHS) | 180.0 | | Manufacturer Part Number | 18236CZE | | Manufacturer Warranty Description | No Warranty | | Material Type | Cardboard, Plastic | | Model Number | 18236CZE | | Number of Items | 1 | | Number of Players | 4 | | Operation Mode | Manual | | Rulebook Availability | Printed Included | | Set Name | Portal | | Size | 10.5 inches (W) x 3 inches (L) x 10.5 inches (H) | | Sub Brand | Portal | | Subject Character | Cryptozoic | | Supported Battery Types | No batteries required | | Theme | Video Game | | UPC | 815442018236 | | Unit Count | 1.0 Count | ## Images ![Portal The Uncooperative Board Game - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61iC5IWGDuL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A surprisingly complex testing experience *by A***R on April 15, 2016* This was a great, chaotic boardgame that requires a lot of thought to play well. I won't go into the rules, since I think the product description explains them fairly well, but I'll focus on what I think makes the game work so well: you need to think ahead. Any one player can attempt to end the game at any point by trying to sacrifice all their test subjects, but the process of doing so often gives opponents the chance to take the lead by earning more pieces of cake. If you're going for the win, you need to set yourself up for several successful turns. But the rapidly changing gameboard means that you need to be able to anticipate the moves the other players will do, to stop them from winning or to set yourself up to win. Will they be collecting their own cake? What Aperture cards can/will they play? Which test chambers will they recycle? It truly is a dynamic experience among the players. The first three games we played (all 4-player games) went as follows: 1) 20 Minutes. We learned the rules, read the cards, and then everyone started killing each others' test subjects like maniacs and generally not making much progress. I ended the game the first chance I had and won with 2 pieces of cake (out of 8 possible per player). No cake incinerated. 2) 15 minutes. Winner had 3 pieces of cake, took advantage of an opening to end the game very quickly. The opening came from how other players had selected test chambers to recycle - it gave them a short-term advantage, but ultimately let him recycle a test chamber with all his guys in it and end the game. One piece of cake incinerated, but it was by an Aperture card, not by recycling test chambers. 3) 80 minutes, and I only ended it because I had to go to bed. All four of us finally understood that, every turn, you needed to watch your opponents and see what their path to victory was, and then try to stop it. Twice, I had a significant lead, but was blocked from killing my subjects and ending the game. Eventually, 7 of my cake pieces had been dumped in the incinerator, so it was nearly impossible for me to win. Winner had 3 pieces of cake. There were 16 pieces of cake in the incinerator (half of all the cake pieces the game came with). I was the one who ended the game, but I did not need to - had I been so inclined, I could have begun working against the leading player, but it would have dragged the game out even longer. Another time, I probably would have done so. But not then. As I said above, once we realized that we had to actively monitor the other players' strategies, the game became so much deeper. The first two games were like the 4-move checkmate in Chess; if your opponent isn't watching, you can quickly win. But if they are paying attention, you need to utilize a more complex strategy. A ton of replayability, in my mind. The randomized board prevents common openings, and then changes shape to produce some really bizarre dynamics. I've seen some complaints that there should have been more Aperture/Character cards, but I think it's just the perfect amount, and I will address that with some specifics. There are enough that you will never run out (each player can only have 3 at a time), and their uses are very situational and they often interplay with one another. It's good that there are multiple copies of the 8 different Aperture cards, since you will want to be doing the same thing more than once. There's a good amount of Character cards, as well - some of them are great effects regardless, and some will only be useful in certain situations. There can be a fairly quick cycling, so it's possible to see the same Character come up again later in the game. For both kinds of cards, the complexity comes from interactions with other cards, and the cards available will affect the strategies of you and your opponents. An Aperture card that lets you move one test subject to an adjacent chamber plays very differently if a Character lets you freely move a Portal (giving you a straight shot to a test chamber you're about to recycle), if a Character says you cannot split groups of test subjects (since that card will effectively bypass the restriction), if you have an Aperture card that can move the test-subject-killing Turret (you thought your guy was at a safe distance? Think again!), or if you are trying to carry another player's cake away from the safe end of the board (I can take your cake and run twice as fast as you!). The Companion Cube is another good example - when you place it in a test chamber, no one gets rewards for that chamber. Usually, you place it to stop an opponent from getting rewards, but I would use it on myself to keep from accumulating test subjects when I was trying to end the game. After that glowing review, I would like to issue a few words of warning. First, the similarities to the video game are solely aesthetic. If you are looking for unique puzzles, an engaging story, or eccentric characters, this is not for you. As a board game, it is awesome, but it does not capture the experience of playing Portal (and it's not supposed to). Second, there is a ton of Kingmaking potential, so if that's a recurring problem in your group, you might also want to stay away from this game. My gaming group is comfortable with everyone else "teaming up" on the winner, but I know a lot of people would consider that a point against the game. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Don't worry, it's good *by A***R on December 28, 2015* Quick take: Don't worry, it's good. A worthy use of the award-winning video game's IP, Portal: the Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game is very good. For fans of the Portal series (like me), it's great. It would also be fun without the Portal universe supporting it, which certainly is the mark of a great licensed game. The videogame was groundbreaking; the boardgame isn't quite that but the core gameplay mechanics are still unique and interesting, Positives The game, at its simplest, works like this: use your Test Subjects to gain Cake and/or more Test Subjects. Once you have more Cake on the board than your opponents, you will try to end the game by getting rid of all of your own or one opponents' Test Subjects. However, if you're too slow at doing this, you leave your opponents with an opening to add Cake to the board with their own (dwindling) Test Subjects and turn the tables by taking advantage of your "help." This balancing act makes for a fascinating game. The board itself is also unique. It is made up of fifteen interlocking tiles that create the Laboratory. Familiar Portal staples such as Test Subjects, Cake, a Turret, a Companion Cube, and portal tokens will be moved around on these tiles. Every turn, each player is required to choose a tile on the "old end" of the Laboratory to activate. The tile will give bonuses to Test Subjects on the tile and then flip over to the "new end" of the Laboratory, creating a constantly changing and recycling board. It's the good kind of chaotic, especially with three or four players. The Aperture cards that players will use throughout the game are also a great addition. They can be quite powerful, but they are easy to obtain so other players aren't at a disadvantage. The cards are especially interesting because the other side of each card has a unique character from the Portal universe which alters the game for all players. So, you'll play one of Aperture cards that allows you to destroy a Test Subject, but which in turn activates "Chell." Chell allows the next player to freely move a Portal token to any Test Chamber, potentially a very powerful ability. More often than not, every decision in the game has these cause/effect scenarios and the board often changes quickly and dramatically. I would be remiss to mention the inclusion of the Portal universe. The miniature Test Subjects, miniature Companion Cube, and miniature Turret match the look and feel from the videogame, and the colored cake pieces are a cool touch. The Aperture cards are interesting and thematic. The sardonic humor of the original game comes through even in the very premise of this game: doing whatever you can to gain Cake and often sacrificing your own Test Subjects in the process. The namesake portal tokens for jumping around the board are there but aren't the focal point. Which is fine. Negatives The concept of the interlocking tiles and the constantly recycling game board is a good enough concept to base a game on. However, it isn't perfectly accomplished. The pieces are smaller than Catan tiles, with additional tabs that are meant to lock into each other so that the board can be easily shifted on the table. Some tabs fit, but many others don't or they fit too well and make it difficult to pull the tile up. This isn't a game breaker but it's something you'll quickly notice as you play. From a thematic perspective, GLaDOS doesn't really play any kind of role, which is a little disappointing since the Companion Cube, Turret, Cake, Test Subjects, and portals are used throughout in gameplay. She doesn't even have her own Aperture card. Still, a minor qualm. Final Thoughts When I heard that Valve was involved with developing a Portal boardgame, I knew that we would have to check it out. I'm happy to relay that it's a lot of fun. With two players it's quite strategic, though can sometimes trigger long thinking turns for AP prone players. Three and four player games are more chaotic and tactical, with the game board changing dramatically by the time it gets back to you for your turn. There is a ton of player interaction, both direct and indirect. It's a special kind of fun to grab your opponent's Cake and march through a portal, activating a test chamber and incinerating their Cake piece in the process. You'll make constant risk/reward decisions like this, sometimes teetering on the brink of being eliminated until you have enough Cake to win the game by intentionally walking your Test Subject into a Turret. Games will usually end quickly and abruptly like this. Overall, the game is one of the more unique ones that we've played. Portal fans or those who like puzzle-type games with a lot of player interaction will find a lot to like here. Note: reviews of this game and others, including gameplay descriptions, more bad puns, and a lot more pictures available at playbegins.com ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fun and easy to learn game *by R***. on May 28, 2017* Fun and easy to learn game. This is a great filler game. The components are well illustrated and of sturdy construction. One of the unique mechanics of the game is that the board tiles interlock and get moved around during play. Unfortunately, the tiles are not cut with precision making some of them difficult to assemble and disassemble. Since this is a fundamental aspect of the game I deducted a point for this lack of attention to an important detail. Other than that, the gameplay is enjoyable and the Portal theme can be seen throughout. My daughter was disappointed that this was not a puzzle solving game like the original video game, but overall still had fun bringing about the demise of test subjects, firing off portal guns, launching from faith plates, activatng turrets and incinerating cake. ## Frequently Bought Together - Cryptozoic Entertainment Portal The Uncooperative Board Game - Jinx Portal 2 Rubber Bracelet Set (Multicolor, Medium) - Leyland Designs Portal Cat Sticker Outdoor Rated Vinyl Sticker Decal for Windows, Bumpers, Laptops or Crafts 5" --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/19189722-portal-the-uncooperative-board-game](https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/19189722-portal-the-uncooperative-board-game) --- *Product available on Desertcart Panama* *Store origin: PA* *Last updated: 2026-07-06*