Hot Spot (board game)

Hot Spot is a two-player science fiction board wargame designed by W. G. Armintrout and published by Metagaming Concepts in 1979 as the fifteenth title in the company's pocket-sized MicroGame series. It simulates a battle for control of a molten planet called Chiros, where the Ziegler Corporation's mining operation faces an armed insurgency from a rebel faction known as the Technocrats. Play centers on maneuvering forces across floating platforms above the planet's molten surface, an unusual terrain concept that gave the game a distinct tactical puzzle compared to the historical hex-map wargames common at the time. As with other entries in the MicroGame line, its scope and component count were kept small and inexpensive relative to SPI's larger folio games, aiming the title at players who wanted a complete tactical conflict experience in a compact, science-fiction package rather than a sprawling historical simulation.