Unbiased – Is There a Representation Problem in Unmatched?

When Restoration Games launched the Unmatched series in 2019, the system was praised for its diverse character roster, a claim that’s stuck with it ever since. At the time of writing, there are now 75 hero decks, based on fictional characters and real people from around the world, with a Hellboy set due imminently. With an average of just over 15 new heroes released a year, we’ll hit 100 heroes before the end of 2028. The future as tabletop’s most accessible and diverse miniature fighting game looks safe, right?

Back in 2020 Kathleen Hartin wrote an article titled ‘Representation in Board Games Matters’. In the article, Kathleen highlighted a lack of representation of women in board gaming, with compelling evidence including poor representation in game covers, rulebooks, designers and reviewers.

It’s nice to think the tabletop world has moved on; whilst not perfect, things are certainly better than they were. At the time of Kathleen’s article, Unmatched felt like a sign of things to come. The then-released sets (Battle of Legends Volume One, Bruce Lee, Robin Hood vs. Bigfoot and Ingen vs. Raptors) drew on Greek, Arabian, British, Asian and North American sources and included 3 female and 5 male hero decks (plus cryptid Bigfoot, whose gender…

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