Rock Hard: 1977 – Can You Become the Next Rock Legend?

It’s 1977. Disco is booming, punk is rising, and rock ‘n’ roll is louder than ever. You and your band have one dream: to make it big. But the music scene is brutal, and only the best will survive. If you want to live off your music, you’ll need to hustle, build your reputation, and win over the crowds. Fame isn’t just handed to you. You’ll have to fight for it, gig after gig, song after song. Do you have what it takes to become the best new artist of the year, or will you fade into obscurity before your first album even drops?

👥 2-5 players, ages 16+
⌛ Playing time: 90 minutes
📝 Designer: Jackie Fox
🎨 Artwork: Jennifer Giner

🏢 Publisher: Devir Games (review copy provided)

Gameplay Overview

Rock Hard: 1977 is played over nine months, or until one player reaches 50 fame points. Each month, you’ll live through one key day, broken down into several phases: the daytime, the nighttime, and the after-hours, with a preparation and cleanup phase before and after.

During the daytime, you’ll focus on improving your career. You can rehearse, hire crew members, do indie promos, and work with publicists to grow your stats: reputation, chops (musical skill), and song count. These stats are crucial when it’s time to negotiate that all-important record deal, which is also an action you can take during the day.

Once the sun sets, it’s showtime. You can rehearse at night, but let’s be real. You’re here to play gigs. The better your stats, the bigger the venues you can book. At the start, you’ll be rocking tiny cafés, but as your fame grows, you’ll work your way up to arenas and even stadiums.

A musician’s life doesn’t end after the encore. After hours, you’ll have two main options. You can record a demo to help with record deal negotiations later, or you can hit the local bars. Each bar gives you a card with unique benefits. Keep collecting them, and if you gather four from the same bar or four from different bars, you’ll score an instant five fame points.

If none of the standard actions fit your strategy, you can always write a song to increase your song count, donate blood to earn some quick cash, work a job to keep yourself afloat, or buy and sell candy, which can be a powerful but risky boost.

Like every struggling musician, you’ll need a day job to survive at first. The schedule depends on the job card you receive at the beginning of the game, and you have to show up. Skip work three times, and you’ll get fired. At that point, you’d better hope your music career is taking off, because paying bills without a paycheck isn’t easy.

Candy lets you push beyond your normal limits, allowing you to take extra actions in a round. Of course, pushing yourself too hard has consequences. If your craving level gets too high, you’ll have to roll a die. Roll lower than your craving, and you’ll crash, which means you’ll be stuck in bed recovering during the next day’s phase, wasting valuable time.

The spot you choose during after-hours also sets the turn order for the next round, based on the numbers on the plectrums (guitar picks). At the end of each month, you’ll receive royalties from your record deal. Every third month, you’ll need to pay your manager. He gives you useful perks, but if you can’t afford his cut, he’ll tank your fame as revenge.

Winning the Game

At the end of December, or if someone hits 50 fame points early, it’s time for final scoring. You’ll earn points for common and personal goals, your base stats (chops, reputation, and songs), and leftover cash, which can give your fame a small boost. The player with the most fame wins the Best New Artist of 1977 trophy, securing their place in rock history.

Game Info

Rock Hard: 1977 is a worker placement game for 2 to 5 players, ages 16 and up, with a playtime of around 90 minutes. For us, what really sets this game apart from other worker placement games is how much it leans into the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. And that’s no accident. The game was designed by Jackie Fox, former bassist of The Runaways, one of the most iconic all-female rock bands of the ‘70s. She’s been in the industry, lived through the chaos, and put all that experience into the game. In fact, on the back of the rulebook, she even admits that a lot of the in-game events are pulled from real life. So when things go sideways, a gig gets canceled, your manager pulls some shady business, or you end up completely broke, you know it’s coming from someone who’s actually been there.

The game was released last year by Devir, a publisher known for games that mix strong themes with engaging gameplay. But does Rock Hard: 1977 really capture the grind of a musician trying to make it big? Let’s dive in.

What’s in the Box?

First things first: this box is stuffed. No empty space, no pointless filler, just a ton of components. The game board is big and double-sided, with one layout for two to three players and another for four to five. There are ten different character boards, each representing a struggling musician trying to claw their way to the top.

The player boards are one of the best parts of the production. Designed to look like vintage amplifiers, they even have functional knobs to track your stats like reputation, musical skill, and how many songs you’ve written. And yes, the dials go up to eleven. If that doesn’t immediately make you think of Spinal Tap, we can’t be friends.

The game also uses paper money, which is usually something people either love or hate in board games. Here, it works. The bills have little printed details like coffee stains and scribbled notes, giving them that grungy, lived-in feel. Instead of boring turn order markers, you’ll use guitar picks, which is a great touch. And rather than generic meeples, you get acrylic standees for your musician workers, which makes everything feel just a bit more premium.

It’s not all perfect though. The game box has a glossy overlay that makes the title only visible from certain angles. It looks cool, but functionally, we would have preferred a more readable title. We also wish there was an insert to keep everything organized because without one, setting up and packing away the game can feel a bit chaotic.

How It Plays

The rulebook is well-written and easy to follow, but at 24 pages, it feels a little long for a game that can be explained in about ten minutes. That said, the mechanics themselves aren’t overly complicated. If you’ve played a worker placement game before, you’ll pick it up quickly.

What really makes the game work is how seamlessly it connects gameplay to theme. Each round is broken into daytime, nighttime, and after-hours phases, mirroring the real grind of a musician. You’ll spend your days rehearsing, networking, and trying to score a record deal. At night, you’ll hit the stage, starting out in dingy cafés and working your way up to stadium shows. And after hours? Well, that’s when things get interesting. You can either hit the recording studio to lay down a demo or head to the local bars for some… let’s call them “networking opportunities.”

Turn order is more important than you might think since some action spaces are limited. For example, recording a demo is key for securing a record deal, but even in a four-player game, there are only two spots for it. If someone beats you to it, you’ll have to wait until the next round, which can seriously mess with your plans.

The action you take during after-hours also determines your turn order for the next round. Taking a more flexible action puts you earlier in turn order, while visiting a hangout pushes you further back. Since hangout cards can give great bonuses, there’s a constant push and pull between grabbing an immediate advantage and making sure you’re not stuck picking up the scraps next round.

Luck vs. Strategy

For a game that’s mostly about planning ahead, there’s still a bit of luck involved.

One of the biggest wild cards is candy. Using candy lets you take an extra action, but what kind of boost you get depends on a random draw. Most of the time, you’ll get one extra action, but if you’re lucky, you’ll pull a rare card that gives you two. Or, if your luck completely abandons you, you might get a sugar-free candy, which does nothing except make you question your life choices.

After using candy, you’ll roll a die to see if your sugar rush is higher than your craving level. If it is, great, you’re still standing. If not, you crash and miss the entire next day. Nothing like making big career moves one night and then sleeping through all your responsibilities the next day. Sounds about right for the rockstar lifestyle.

The hangout cards bring a bit of unpredictability to the game. Every card gives you a bonus, but some will be way more useful than others depending on your situation. Sometimes you’ll get exactly what you need, and other times you’ll just have to make the best of what you’ve got. That’s the music business for you.

Final Thoughts

Rock Hard: 1977 is a fairly straightforward worker placement game, but what makes it special is how well it captures the feeling of being an up-and-coming musician. That’s hardly surprising given Jackie Fox’s background. The game puts you right in the middle of the struggle, forcing you to constantly balance money, reputation, and skill to move forward.

We had a great time with it. The mix of strategy and lighthearted chaos makes for an entertaining experience, and the game really nails the tension of trying to make it in the industry. Our group plays competitively, so naturally, we had a blast blocking each other from key actions and laughing when someone faceplanted from a sugar overdose. Seeing someone lose an entire turn because they got greedy with candy? Comedy gold.

Mechanically, it’s a solid combination of worker placement, resource management, and a little risk-versus-reward decision-making. The official playtime of 90 minutes is about right, though it can run longer, especially in your first game or with five players. We found that it plays best with three or four since that keeps downtime low while still giving you enough competition for key spots.

If you’re looking for a deep, brain-burning strategy game, this might feel a little light. But if you love music-themed games or worker placement with a bit of personality, Rock Hard: 1977 is definitely worth checking out. It’s got a great theme, fun mechanics, and enough unpredictability to keep things interesting.

📝 We received a copy of the game from the publisher, Devir.