2024 is over and my blogging backlog has not decreased. 2024 was a big in terms of playing board games - more games were played if my counting is correct. 2024 Number of different games played: 178. Of which were new (To me.): 78. Total number of gaming sessions: 704. Compared to '23 2023 Number of different games played: 158. Of which were new (To me.): 77. Total number of gaming sessions: 577. The number of games played were up by 20 which is nearly 2 a month. New games to me were 78 which interestingly is almost identical to '23. Sessions though, is up by nearly 130! This is quite a lot, it means nearly 5 extra game sessions occurred every week! How did that happen? The top 5 games I played in 2024 were:
50 sessions of Tranquility, nearly once a week! It's easy to understand why; Tranquility is a pleasant, slightly undemanding cooperative experience that we frequently play as a palate cleanser after something more high-intensity. We tend to win Tranquility when we play it but occasionally, it throws a curve ball! Just one remains popular with us, it's joined by Splendor and somewhat surprisingly (Considering it's disliked by 'someone' we play it with!) by Railroad Ink. The list is rounded off by Can't Stop, Roll'n Bump & Sushi Go!, all perennial favourites that are played as fillers or enders. OK, now on to what's really important - The 'industry defining' 'prestigious' 3 Spellcasters and a Dwarf annual gaming awards.
Game of the year: Daybreak Sometimes a game comes along that immediately announces its quality and in this instance it's Daybreak, a game about saving the environment. From the packaging and components, to mechanics and theme and even small details like putting QR codes on cards to provide extra info, Daybreak is something noteworthy. More than that; it's presentation highlights some of the stark obstacles we will all face in the future. Disappointment of the year: Horrified: Greek Monsters The excellent formula that powers the original Horrified just doesn't quite work in this iteration. I've played 4 different versions of Horrified and this is easily thematically the weakest. I never felt I was battling against the monsters of Greek mythology. It felt like what it seems to be; a reskin with slightly different monster mechanics. Surprise of the year: Sky Team I'm always a bit wary of 2-player only games, they often seem to resort to direct competition with your opponent. I'm happy to say that with regards to Sky Team, I'm wrong. Sky Team is cooperative dice-placement game where the 2 players take the asymmetrical roles of pilot and co-pilot. It has fantastic presentation with mechanics that fit it's theme. Honourable mention: Things in Rings Things in Rings is a wacky kind of party game about deductive logic and trying to discover the hidden phrases on 3 cards. It's a brilliant lightweight game, however, for me it's a semantic nightmare that drives me crazy and is unlike anything else I've played. it means I have to get a copy.
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My backlog of games to blog about has not lessened over 2023 - which is not a good thing! This was also a big year for playing games. Breakdown follows as: 2023 Number of different games played: 158. Of which were new (To me.): 77. Total number of gaming sessions: 577. 2022 Number of different games played: 139. Of which were new (To me.): 68. Total number of gaming sessions: 541. All the numbers are slightly up on '22, looks like I'm hitting peak playing! Most played games of 2023
Anyway - enough of that, I know the real reason you're here; for the influential, industry defining 3 Spellcaster & A Dwarf annual game awards!
Game of the year: Heat: Pedal to the Metal It wasn't a hard choice, when thinking about game of the year, this always immediately came to mind. This 50's/60's themed F1 game manages to provide players with some tricky decisions and risks to take using an elegant implementation of hand management mechanics. I'm a big fan of a certain other F1 game that's been around in some form or other for years and it seems blasphemous to think it but Heat: Pedal to the Metal is as good as Formula De/Formula D! There, I've said it! Disappointment of the year: Sushi Go!: Spin Some for Dim Sum It's not that this game is bad per se, it's just that it does not deliver any particularly new gameplay or as good a experience as its previous 2 iterations. Hard to believe, but it's just a bit meh considering the pedigree it originates from. It doesn't help that it's central premise (Or gimmick if you're less kind!) also makes the game a bit fiddly to setup, teardown and sometimes play. Surprise of the year: Bandido There's a heavy dose of luck that can apply to Bandido and I'm not sure if ultimately it's a good game or not. Even so, Bandido distils a cooperative gameplay experience into a single deck of strangely oblong cards in a package so small it easily fits in a pocket. With rules so simple and intuitive that anyone can immediately grasp play. I play games with people who have varying levels experience in table top gaming and this has been a big hit with a couple of them, which is why we've played it so much in 2023. Honourable mention: Joraku Deluxe Set in Feudal Japan, Joraku is typically what you'd expect it to be; a game amount warring factions vying for influence and control. However, all of this is achieved with abstract, almost minimalist trick taking rules and delivered in a fantastic looking package. 25th April 2023 Tuesday is here again and we're with the Woking Gaming Club and The Sovereigns for a evening of gaming goodness. Pirates; - they're known for spending their time burying treasure and going arrr! Skull King is a trick-taking game all about finding that treasure and going ahhh! What's in a game?
The quality of the cards is exactly the kind of quality you'd expect from a modern game - so pretty good, fairly sturdy cards that look laminated. There's lots of nice pirate themed artwork in Skull King. Most of it is bright and colourful with good quality illustrations. Importantly, the 4 suits all look distinct from one another as do the special/character cards. The 4 suits are easily recognised by theme and colours. The special cards are also easily recognisable. How's it play? Setup
On to play Skull King is played over 10 rounds with players having increasingly larger hands of cards as rounds progress. Furthermore, as the game progresses, players will play more and more tricks. Whoever wins each trick will earn the cards used in that trick - which will equate to points at the end of the round. Skull King is a pretty traditional trick-taking game which uses a traditional turn order with the active player acting before play progresses to the player on their left.
Endgame Once the 10th round has concluded and the VPs for that round calculated, the game is finally at an end and goes to end scoring. Points are tallied, highest score wins. Overall
Despite being a bit of a stretch to fit, Skull King's pirate theme is fairly amusing with evocative artwork to match. It's a good looking game. Mechanically, the game is for the most part a straightforward, familiar trick-taking card game, albeit with a handful of special cards that change things up a little. What makes Skull King standout are the scoring mechanics and in particular the bidding mechanic. Players are forced to make a decision based on contextual information such as what is the current round and what cards they currently have in their hand. Then they'll need to try and gauge how many wins and losses they can get from their hand and plan accordingly. Sometimes this will be simple, in the 1st round with only 1 trick being played, it's fairly safe to bid on winning 0 tricks, especially if a player only has a escape card in their hand! As the game progresses though, these decisions will get harder and harder as more and more cards, special and otherwise come into play, making longer rounds a bit more unpredictable. Additionally, the scoring system for bids rewards players who bid high (And manage to achieve it!) while it increases the price for failing big. A genuine risk and reward mechanic. Finally, the bidding mechanic also introduces asymmetrical objective for players, some will be looking win tricks when others are trying lose them. There's also a higher level of play here that involves paying attention to other players' bids. E.g., if an opponent has won all the tricks they bid for and the round isn't over, making them win a trick will scupper the points they get from their bid. However, I'm not so sure how I feel about the bidding mechanic, it definitely adds an extra layer to the gameplay but it's also kind of swingy, hitting a bid can earn a lot of VPs while missing it can lose a not insignificant number of VPs and sometimes this will be very much out a players control. Additionally. the scoring rules feel a bit overly complex and fiddly, this compounded by how the game is played over 10 rounds and needs to be scored 10 times. This brings to my other criticism which is the game feels too long: By my calculations, a total of 55 tricks will be played over the 10 rounds which doesn't seem too bad but actually means shuffling and dealing 10 times as well as scoring 10 times and that all adds up to make the game feel a bit overlong and also finicky. Skull Kings is a (Completely acceptable.) average trick-taking experience that is enjoyable enough but is mired down by excess bookkeeping for a card game. It's not a bad choice for a game I feel its unique elements don't do enough to make the game differentiate itself from the crowd. The pirate theme will appeal to some but wouldn't be my first choice for a trick-taking game. 16th April 2023 It's a Sunday and we're logged into Board Game Arena for more gaming fun. Take on the role of Perseus, Jason or Hercules. Battle The Hydra, vanquish The Gorgon and defeat Cerberus in Legends of Hellas, a cooperative card game of Greek heroes and Greek mythology. Caveat: We've only ever played this game digitally. What's in a game?
With a chunky, cartoony style, Legends of Hellas is a bright and colourful looking game. It's crisp, clear artwork and the monsters on the monster cards are all instantly recognisable. I think it looks great. There's half a dozen icons in the game and they're only used in reference between action and monster cards. Players should have no problems here. How's it play? Setup Legends of Hellas presents players with 12 different missions to undertake which may have some varying setup and game rules. However, broadly speaking, they share a common theme - which defeating monsters until the boss monster 'the chimera' appears then defeating it.
On to play Players in Legends of Hellas are cooperatively attempting to defeat a number of monsters inspired by Greek mythology. This is done by playing cards but players will also need to perform other actions to facilitate this. Legends of Hellas uses a traditional turn order with active player completing their action before play progresses to the next player.
Endgame If the players manage to defeat the Chimera once it has appeared, then they collectively win the game! If however, at any time a player needs to draw cards and there are none left in the action deck, then the players collectively lose the game. Overall
Between it's bold colourful presentation of Greek mythology and card mechanics which will have heroes travelling about to battle monsters using their guile, strength and so on; Legends of Hellas is pretty strong thematically. I personally like how The Chimera will be a random amalgam of 2 other monsters. Mechanically, on the surface it's a pretty straightforward game - play cards with symbols matching symbols on monster cards to defeat them but in practice, Legends of Hellas is quite unforgiving. This is because players aren't really battling the monsters, they're battling the action deck - or more precisely, fighting to stop the deck running out and luck can play a very big part here. Every choice and action a player takes - not just attacking monsters - will cost a card. Draw cards - one of them must be discarded. Give cards to an alley - one must be discarded. Move or view the deck - you get the idea. Even deciding which cards to discard is also an important decision. I.e., if none of the current monsters require a certain type of card, is that type safe to discard? A monster requiring it might turn up later Consequently it can be very easy to run out of cards, players will need to try and play as efficiently as possible with minimal squandering and no frivolous moves. Judicious use of divine interventions can be critical here, playing one at the right time can defeat a monster with only 3 cards instead of 5. It might not seem like a saving of many cards but it can be. While players can not explicitly discuss the cards in their hand, they will need to coordinate actions, especially actions such as passing cards to each other and viewing the deck. Being a cooperative game, there's also a degree of luck in Legends of Hellas, perhaps a little too much like for my liking. Sometimes players will draw a hand of cards they just can't use and will have to find a way to adapt. Conversely, sometimes luck will deliver the exact cards you will need which will make it easier and maybe a little unsatisfying. It also means that sometimes it felt like my decisions had been taken out my hands by chance and sometimes it felt like any strategy I had was was reduced to simply 'play what you have' and adapt to 'what you get'. Despite this I found Legends of Hellas to be a fairly enjoyable experience mixed with dollop of frustration from the luck which strangely, could go 2 ways; too much bad luck or too much good luck! With it's cartoonish art style and somewhat lightweight rules, Legends of Hellas would appear to be aimed at a family audience but we found it actually quite a tricky game, I'm not sure younger players will have a easy time. however a bit of adult/parent contribution would make a difference, I guess that's what makes it a family game. If you want a ancient Greece themed cooperative game or in fact any kind of low maintenance cooperative game, Legends of Hellas might fill the bill. 9th April 2023 Sunday night on Board Game Arena means gaming goodness. Ruffle your feathers, flap you wings and squawk for this err... bird and fruit themed set collecting card game. Caveat: We've only played this game digitally. What's in a game? Cards: Toucan consists of a deck of 70 cards, broken down into 3 types.
Tucano features colourful and bright cartoony illustrations throughout. It's a nice art style that works well with cheerfully anthropomorphic fruit and stylised birds that suits the game's lightweight nature. The game's only iconography are the 3 symbols found on the toucan cards and icons used for set collecting scoring on fruit cards. All of these are easily and quickly explained and understood. How's it play? Setup
On to play. In Tucano, players will drafting cards from a column in the central area and add to their personal area with the aim of collecting sets which will in turn score them maximum victory points (VPs). Tucano uses a traditional turn order with the active player resolving their turn before play moves on to the player on their left. The active player will perform the following.
Endgame Play continues until the deck has been depleted and there's only 1 column of cards left in the central area. At this point, any players with a joker card may choose which set to add it to. Sets are then scored. Most sets will score according to how many cards a player has collected of that set. However, some sets score based on how many cards a player has collected in relation to other players. In this case whoever has the most cards will score the larger amount and all other players with cards in that set will score the lesser amount. It is possible in some circumstances for sets to lose players VPs! Points are tallied, highest score wins. Overall
I guess toucans collecting fruit is a good a theme for a set collecting game as any! When playing, players are broadly speaking, faced with 3 choices during their turn which on the surface is not a lot. However, Tucano does a clever thing is by having some sets earning increasing VPs, some sets intermittently scoring VPs and some losing them - and then having columns that get longer. Invariably, when a column contains a card that loses VPs; players will initially ignore that column, this means that over the rounds more cards will be added to that column, making it more appealing to draft. As a result; sometimes players will have no-brainers on what to draft but sometimes they will have to choose between columns which will add negative cards to their collections. They'll be looking to minimise the negatives and hoping to get rid of them at some later point. Which brings me to the toucan cards, these wisely appear in the latter part of the game - where they'll have the most impact. The right use of toucan cards when they appear can be a real game changer (And also frustrating!), particularly when giving cards to other players: In the right circumstances a player can remove a negative from one of their collections and add it to an opponent's! There's not more to add. Tucano is a pared down, fairly simple set collecting game and I'm pretty certain I'm not the target audience here. Even as a filler or short game, I'm unsure it offers enough depth for seasoned players. Personally I found it a fairly shallow experience and the mechanics of the toucan cards a little frustrating. Conversely though, just from the appealing, colourful art, it apparent Tucano is squarely aimed at younger players. Its simplicity makes for a accessible game and a great way to introduce set collecting mechanics to budding future gamers and for family gaming. 9th April 2023 Sunday is here again and we're logged into Board Game Arena for some gaming fun. 'Triiiiooo, triiiio I want a trio, And I want now.' I'm showing my age here, but this is not a game about a chocolatey biscuit, instead it's a set collecting card game. Furthermore, Trio is apparently a reskin of a game called Nana, which disappointingly, is not about collecting grannies. Caveat: We have only ever played this game digitally. What's in a game?
Trio features cards decorated with quirky little monochrome illustrations with what appears to be a Mexican day of the dead theme? These illustrations are set against colourful backgrounds which are associated with each of the 12 differently valued cards. I'm not sure how the them ties with the game but the cards definitely look colourful, dynamic and eye catching. Cards are numbered 1-12, there's no other iconography. This is all very easily understood. How's it play? Setup
On to play There are three ways (A trio!) (SIC) to win Trio. Each involves revealing cards to collect sets of identical values. Trio follows the typical turn order with the active player taking their turn before play progress to the player on their left. During their turn, the active player may reveal up to 3 cards by performing the following actions.
Endgame There are 3 ways a player may Trio.
Overall
Trio's has a fairly abstract theme but to be fair I don't it detracts from what is a fairly accessible game. In fact, Trio is such a straightforward game that almost has nothing to write about. It mixes simple deduction and memory mechanics. Players will want to remember what cards are revealed and where they are revealed from, allowing them to create sets of 3. Players can also glean information from what their opponents reveal, either from their own questions of those of others. E.g., if someone is asked to reveal their highest card and it's an 8, then it's obvious they wont have cards of higher values. This is useful when deciding which sets to try and work towards. There's also something mechanically interesting going on with the game's probabilities. Generally, players should look to collect sets of either the highest or lowest value sets - simply by virtue of being able to only reveal the highest and lowest value cards of opponents. This is why collecting the 7's insta-wins the game, because the 7's will likely be in the middle of players' hands and will be harder to collect This becomes even more likely in games with lower player counts as each player will have bigger hand sizes. Conversely the distribution of cards will be less even in games with a higher player count, making it a little more unpredictable. Talking of player count, we played with 3 players and I felt it was a little underwhelming. Trio can play with up to 6, I think the game improves with more players and the greater unpredictability adds to the experience. We also played online which I feel detracts from a game like this which benefits from interaction between players. Trio is obviously a lightweight game and will have crossover appeal to families and more casual gamers, it's set collecting, memory-based gameplay is something most people will be familiar with to some degree or other. I that's something that might appeal, them Trio is worth a look. I would say it might be a bit too simple for seasoned games but truthfully, I think can serve as a filler game or an ender for the night. It's something I would like to try with the physical version at a higher player count. 2nd April 2023 Sunday is here again and we're logged into Board Game Arena for some gaming fun. 'Goa is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region' according to Wikipedia. If you've ever fancied a holiday to that region of India, now's your chance to game it, visit beaches, historical sites, forts and more in... Go Goa. Caveat: We have only ever played this game digitally. What's in a game?
Go Goa has a nice art style to it. Much of it has a sort of simplistic cartoony nature which is colourful, cheerful and bright that I think fits the game's holiday theme quite nicely. The illustrations on the tour plan cards look more 'realistic' but equally bright and have a postcard quality to them. They seem to depict various locations and I'm sure that they're referenced or based on locations in Goa. A few icon/colour combinations are used to represent destinations and scoring opportunities throughout the game. Fortunately, everything they reference can be found on the sheets, for the most part it's all readily apparent and shouldn't represent a problem. How's it play? Setup
On to play In Go Goa, players are attempting travel to as many destinations on the hex map over 12 rounds which will earn them VPs. This is done by using the result of dice rolls which will determine their direction, distance and err uhh deviation! There's no typical turn order in Go Goa, instead all players play out their turn simultaneously.
Endgame Once the 12th round is completed, the game is over and goes to scoring. Players can acquire VPs from several sources in Go Goa.
Points are tallied, highest score wins. Overall
Go Goa's theme is kind of crazy and has players essentially randomly travelling throughout the titular state looking to find various holiday destinations in what would be a fairly chaotic holiday. I imagine this to be the opposite to what most people want actually on their vacation. Having said that... choosing your holiday itinerary based off off some dice rolls might have some appeal but I digress. Mechanically, Go Goa is straightforward. Firstly, players need to pay attention to the tour plan cards they receive and if possible select cards which work well together, that is potentially have their destinations close to each other. I like how the cards provide players will asymmetrical objectives. After that; the game's central mechanic will have players assigning to dice in order to try and move to their selected locations. 'Try' is the operative word here, at times randomness will scupper a player's plan, it means they must spend a fair amount of time adapting to the options presented to them by the dice. This might involve going to alternate destinations or trying to reach objectives in a different order and so on. This provides players with somewhat meaningful decisions when selecting their dice but makes future planning a little futile. YMMV on whether you find this frustrating or not. It's also interesting that the game forces some asymmetrical decision making on players in the form of the rule whereupon the first player will have different destination die to their opponents. There is some flexibility in assigning dice though and also how to score destinations on the tourist destinations sheet (Which is welcome.) but even so, Go Goa is fairly harsh in this respect. Players only have 12 turns and thus only 12 opportunities to reach destinations, each time a player stops in a blank space, they'll drop at least 10 VPs . I should add that this is also a game with no interaction between players, who will be acting simultaneous but whose decisions will have no impact their opponents. This makes Go Goa all about players optimising their moves to reach as many destinations as possible. More casual gamers might find the unusual rules a little obtuse but I think they would learn them quick enough. Additionally, the theme gels with the mechanics well. Everyone should understand the concept of visiting tourist spots while on holiday. But for seasoned gamers I'm not convinced they'll find Go Goa engaging. While Go Goa is easy to pick up but it comes at the cost of being perhaps a bit too simplistic for my liking, I also feel that luck plays too big a part in the game and a lot of my decisions felt out of my control. All of this contributed to make the game a little frustrating. If you're looking a lightweight, roll-and-write game with a strong theme and a fair amount of randomness, then maybe Go Goa is worth a look. I'm not sure it's one for me though. 2nd April 2023 Sunday afternoon is here and we're in Basingstoke for some gaming fun. Hiiighhhwaaaay to the danger zone. Riiiiddddee into the danger zone. What happens when Supermarionation meets Top Gun? Well I have no idea to be honest. That brings me to Thunderbirds Danger Zone: The Game, a cooperative card game about saving the day as International Rescue and foiling the schemes of The Thunderbirds' nefarious nemesis; 'The Hood'! What's in a game?
The component quality throughout Thunderbirds Danger Zone is average, that is to say it is the quality we've come to accept from modern games which means pretty good. The cards feel OK and the tokens seem sturdy enough. Nothing bad here. For its art, the game sources what seem to be stock photos and stills from the TV episodes that inspired the mission cards. It's usually at this point I would accuse the game of looking cheap for using photos instead of producing actual art. However, this style works for Thunderbirds Danger Zone and I think it looks completely acceptable. Partially because marionettes and models look different enough from bland photos to look good and partially because those marionettes and models were part of the TV show's unique aesthetic and what people would expect from a licensed game. The only icons used in the game are for the 4 resources, they will be easily learnt and each one looks distinct in shape and fits its theme, a cannister for fuel, a computer terminal for knowledge and so on. Except for tech; no matter what anyone says, the icon for tech just looks like a drain to me! How's it play? Note: The setup and rules description below are for games with 3+ players. Additionally, the setup and rules are for the beginner mission - End of The Road. Later missions introduce more cards and more rules. Setup
On to play Thunderbirds Danger Zone is a cooperative card game where players are attempting to collaboratively play an exact amount of one of the game's 4 resources. Doing this correctly will complete an objective and move the players closer to succeeding at the mission. There are however, some twists and complexities to doing this. The game does not use a typical turn order, instead, during a round, all participants more or less act simultaneously.
There are some other rules regarding the use of character tokens which have special abilities that can come into play but that's the basic's of the rules. Other missions also include equipment and 'pod' cards. There are also rules specific to 2 player. Endgame If the countdown timer reaches 0, time has run out! The players collectively lose! If the players manage to flip over all 3 danger zone cards, then they are triumphant and collectively win! Overall
I know why resource values have to be matched exactly mechanically - otherwise it would be too easy a game. Thematically though, it feels a bit strange that players might have too much team spirit or knowledge. Other than that, Thunderbirds Danger Zone feels quite strong thematically. I like how the game sends specific characters to deal with specific danger zone cards which I imagine mirrors what occurs in that episode. I like the that idea characters can also provide some assistance. The art direction also makes it feel quite like playing a Thunderbirds episode which is exactly what you'd want from the game. Mechanically, I feel Thunderbirds Danger Zone is a bit of a mixed bag. This is particularly true of the slight asymmetrical gameplay. The Jeff player is faced with a somewhat meaningful decision when choosing which objective to target. They'll want to pick one which they have the most options and flexibility in modifying if required. Luck will also play a part in the Jeff player's role when they pick 2 cards to flip, frequently they will need to adapt to what is revealed. For the non Jeff players it will feel less meaningful. Basically; if the objective has a low value, players will want to play cards with a low value in the required resource and vice versa if the objective resource has a high value. Since players will not know what other participants will be playing, luck will play a not insignificant part in this. To be fair, there is a bit of higher level play in remembering the resource value on a journey card that the Jeff player picks up in a swap and such knowledge can prove advantageous in later rounds. I will add that this kind of luck particularly bad luck is fairly typical in cooperative games to keep them challenging. Luckily (SIC), the game provides the Jeff player will some tools to mitigate bad luck when it occurs. Thunderbirds Danger Zone is straightforward for a cooperative game which is a advantage. Many games of this type of game tend to have fairly elaborate rules to manage the boards turn, there's none of that here. Although that does bring me to complexity/difficulty. Thunderbirds Danger Zone sits in a bit of nebulous middle space here. The game clearly has some scope as a family game but can be a bit overly complex and challenging for beginners or casual players. Conversely, I found the sometimes lack of meaningful decisions and swingy luck a bit frustrating and engaging, I also feel that most seasoned gamers would find this to also be the case. If you're a fan of Thunderbirds and are in the market for a licensed cooperative game, this may float your boat, or if you're looking a more approachable cooperative game to play with more causal players or the family, it's also worth a look. Not one for me though. 1st April 2023
We're no April's fools, we're at Wogglecon 7! For a day of gaming fun. I played the following games at Wogglecon7. Akropolis Sushi Roll Just One Sagrada - First Play! Pan Am 1st April 2023 We're at Wogglecon 7 for a day of gaming fun. Second game of the day was Sagrada which means 'sacred' in Spanish. Gaming and Wogglecon are definitely sacred but is Sagrada all about creating stained glass windows through the medium of dice-placement, albeit with dice that look quite glassy! Note: I think for this particular game of Sagrada shown in the photos an expansion was also used which added the grey dice amongst other things. What's in a game?
The most noticeable component of Sagrada are the bright colourful dice. They are well made, rounded and translucent with a 'gem' type finish. Usually I have a preference for wooden dice but can see why the game uses this type as it's a great fit the stained glass window theme. The player board with it's recessed grid works well when used with the window pattern cards which slide smoothly into place and dice which happily set in their spots. The cards are the standard you'd expect off of a modern game and the inclusion of glass beads is a nice touch. The game's art direction continues the theme of stained glass windows. There's lots of brightly coloured glass panes shown on the player boards and round tracker. White much of it is just abstract shapes, it's very colourful without obscuring important detail. It also lends the game a eye catching quality all of which I like. For the most part, the game's iconography is easily understood. Some of the objective cards and tool cards might require explanation or looking up in the manual but this doesn't really affect the flow of play and isn't an issue. How's it play? Setup
On to play In Sagrada, players will be placing dice on to their player board in an attempt to match the criteria on the public/private scoring cards while also meeting the requirements dictated by the pattern cards. The game utilises something of a typical turn order but during each round every player will have the opportunity to draft 2 dice; although only 1 at a time.
Endgame Play continues for 10 rounds whereupon the game ends and goes to scoring. VPs can be accumulated from several sources.
Points are tallied, highest score wins. Overall
Using translucent, glass-like dice to represent details of a stained glass window is a cool nice idea that fits thematically. It doesn't hurt that it all looks quite pretty when finished. Mechanically, Sagrada is straightforward - drafting and placing dice to try and match objectives. The challenge facing players however, comes from managing the obstacles that will impede them. Players will have to take into account both the requirements of their pattern board when placing dice and the placement rules and how they interact with each other. E.g., placing a red die on a blank space orthogonally adjacent to a red space on their pattern board will mean now that no die can be placed on the red space - because it will be adjacent to the already placed red die. Leaving spaces empty like this will cost players VPs. It means players will need to anticipate which dice they place to avoid pitfalls such as this. They will need to pay attention to not only which dice they draft but since they draft 2 dice per round, the order in which they are drafted. Additionally, players will need to manage having to draft dice they might not want at that time. This can be difficult because of the rule's placement restrictions. There's also definitely a higher lever of play here that comes from seeing what dice other players will need and trying to gauge which opponents will take which dice and react appropriately. There's not much more to say about Sagrada. I guess some people may not like the low amount of interaction between players which only occurs when drafting dice but I don't have an issue with it. I will add that Sagrada sort of feels a little like a puzzle to solve than a game in itself and some people may not like this aspect. Again, it doesn't bother me. Sagrada is easy to understand with its 'draft and place' mechanics but presents players with a not insignificant challenge: Since the game is played over 10 rounds and players can get 2 dice per round, it is possible to entirely fill a window but I don't think that is a simple proposition. It feels kind of unremarkable as a game because it is so straightforward without bells and whistles or any gimmicks but in practice provides a solid, enjoyable gameplay experience which taxes the braincells a little and pushes players to make tricky decisions. |
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