Can you escape the evil genius’s lab, warn the world, and save the day in this real-time cooperative puzzle game?

Each player takes a set of circuit pieces. Using the difficulty level in the rules as a guide, lay out seven challenge cards (the number on their backs indicates the difficulty level) and place the evil genius on the far left. Shuffle the room cards, place one in the center of the table, start the soundtrack, and reveal the room as well as the far-left challenge card. The room shows the starting switch, a grid of spaces, as well as colored nodes around the edge of the grid. The challenge card shows which nodes you must connect to the switch using your circuit tiles. When placing tiles, they cannot overlap with each other or any of the computer chips shown on some spaces on the grid, nor can they fall outside the grid, and you are only allowed to touch your own tiles. When completing a challenge card, draw a new room card and reveal the next challenge. Some challenges will also give a bonus tile when revealed that you can use at any time except during the last challenge. These are useful one-time abilities, such as covering up a computer chip space on a grid or allowing you to skip connecting the switch to one of the listed nodes. Every two minutes the soundtrack indicates that the evil genius has advanced, and you move him onto the next challenge card. If he ever reaches the challenge card you are currently working on, the players lose the game. If you complete all the challenge cards, you win.

14 Frantic Minutes is quite challenging. The soundtrack does a great job of setting the mood for the game, but you can use a timer if it’s preferred. The game lives up to its title — it really does feel frantic as you race to solve the puzzles. Plus, the many combinations of rooms and challenge cards ensure plenty of variety in gameplay.

The more you play, the better you get at figuring out how the circuits can fit together, and you should expect to lose for a while at the start. But even as you get better, there are plenty of levels of difficulty to keep the game challenging. Players really have to work together and communicate clearly how best to use their tiles, making this a solid cooperative game that’s also highly thematic.