Publisher: Seajay Games
Player Count: 3-5 Players
Game Length: 120 Minutes
Kickstarter: September 30-October 30

Click here to see the Kickstarter campaign

Era of Atlantis is a worker placement and area-control board game by Seajay Games set in a distant mythical-scifi past.

The unique twist about this game is that you control two nations at the same time and share each one with another player! The lesser valued one at game end determines your score.

You are playing a secret society seeking to expand the two powerful nations you control during the mythical antediluvian age, 12000 years ago. This includes legendary civilizations such as Atlantis, Lemuria and Hyperborea.

Cooperate and compete with your rivals to become the most successful one before the Era of Atlantis ends either in glory or in cataclysm!

In Era of Atlantis, you are a secret society seeking to expand the powerful nations you control during the mythical antediluvian age, 12000 years ago. You have two of these under your control and share each one with a rival. You also have a secondary goal trying to bring “light” or “darkness” to the world. Working with and against your rivals you must prove to be the most powerful secret society in the world before the Era of Atlantis ends either in glory or in cataclysm.

This is an area-control and worker placement game with a unique twist. You control two nations with the lower-valued one counting for your score at game end. This means you will usually try to balance the two. You also share control of each one with another player, who has the same interest in the success of that nation as you do. Switching control of a nation is also possible, but difficult.

There are ways to score a few additional points for yourself only, such as with your remaining mystical energy or by fulfilling secret objectives.

The game is played over a variable number of rounds, with each player taking a turn per round. There are two main ways to gain new areas for your nation: militarily or politically. You can also expand your abilities by constructing buildings or acquiring powerful special actions. A nation will grow more successfully the better its two controlling players can cooperate.

Era of Atlantis is the successor game to Galactic Era and plays in the same universe (chronologically the prelude). There is also a campaign game mode where you can play both games together.

Publisher: Hobby World
Player Count: 2-4 Players
Game Length: 120-180 Minutes
Complexity 3/5

Ivan IV Vasilyevich, came to power as the Grand Prince of Moscow and later, the first Tsar and Grand Prince over all of Russia. Despite a relatively short life, Ivan the Terrible saw Russia move from a medieval state to a modern empire, introducing new technology, encouraging trade routes and triggering wars which both evolved and took a toll on its population. In The First Tsar, players lead boyar families as they compete for prestige and favor as you work to fortify cities and build your personal empire by any means necessary. Bribe and outwit your opponents in pursuit of the Tsar’s favor and possibly the throne. 

Played over 4 turns or decades, players will gather each round at the Kremlin to choose actions for that decade. Grow your influence over the Russian state, gather resources, trade in foreign goods, acquire new titles and estates, fortify your presence with construction projects or seek fame on the military front lines. The Tsar’s favor isn’t just a turn mechanic, but a pivotal feature essential to gaining an advantage over your opponents. But just as Ivan was prone to mood swings and bouts of anger, aggressive families can force the Tsar’s preference at any point.

Set as a sequel to Rurik: Dawn of Kiev, The First Tsar embraces tight turns, cutthroat actions and multiple paths to victory. As a fan of designer Stan Kordonskiy (Dice Hospital, Endless Winter, Nova Roma), it’s safe to say this is clearly his most mature design to date. In this review, I’ll break down the mechanics, the production and share my final thoughts to help you determine if The First Tsar: Ivan the Terrible should be your next euro game purchase.

ON YOUR TURN

The game takes place over the 4 decades of Ivan the Terrible’s reign as Tsar. Each decade, you’ll send 3 boyars, representing your family to the Kremlin where you’ll choose from 5 available actions. While any player can take any of the individual actions, this part of the game promotes tense player interaction thanks to a bidding system where boyars can “bribe” officials to gain additional actions often pivotal to your success. Committing a one-time, open bid with your boyar allows all other players who haven’t played in the space a chance to trump your bid – so bidder beware. A glaring theme throughout the game is the Tsar’s favor, an instrument to determine turn order, but even more critical, a tool to break ties throughout the entire experience. In this initial phase, players with the Tsar’s favor break bidding ties.

In turn order, players resolve their boyar actions one at a time and can only commit to grabbing the action bonus twice, so even if you have the means, you’re going to be limited, creating some very interesting decisions.

The game’s map is broken up into 5 separate regions, not including the military front, where influence will provide resource production as well as end of round control bonuses. These areas are activated by boyar actions either adding warriors to the board or producing in those areas. The trade action allows you to exchange resources for foreign goods which are critical to meeting assignment card goals. Players may also use actions to draft title and estate cards earning you ongoing bonuses and end game scoring respectively or drafting and/or completing assignment cards.

I don’t want to linger too long on the planning phase, but it’s so critical as you play a sort of cat-and-mouse game with your opponents through bidding and planning. The entire game plays very tight, but missteps in this phase can easily lead to your downfall. Not to diminish the following action phase where you execute these actions one at a time. Paired hand-in-hand with your planning, the order in which you activate boyar actions can help you get the jump on an opponent, ensure a greater resource return, grab a more enticing assignment, title or estate card… or even fumble by showing too much of your strategy at the wrong time. It all plays out under the oversight of the Tsar’s favor, which can fluidly trade hands through a variety of different actions and abilities interwoven throughout all the phases of the game. You might think you have an advantage to deploy more warriors on the board with the action bonus, but the Tsar’s favor may change hands prior to your action and a tie may overturn what you thought was a lucrative bribe.

Players can’t even relax during the end of round phase. As you resolve influence in the regions, rewards earned can alter the outcome of future region resolutions. Once again, the Tsar’s favor plays a part in breaking ties, but can shift through the collecting of rewards. These are all things you have to take into consideration from the very beginning of each turn as you plan your strategy. While it’s not a game that’s complex mechanically, every choice you make feels heavy and important. You really see the fruit of your decisions for better or for worse. Mistakes can be punishing, but it’s not a game where you can’t recover either… just don’t make too many of them as you only have 12 actions.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

Overall, the production is solid, but not spectacular. Artwork and graphic design across the board gives off that old-school euro feel, but is paired with more rich and decadent illustrations. The quality of the cardboard and pieces are fine and get the job done. The wooden resources are a nice touch, but the flimsy individual player boards feel like a miss.

PROS & CONS

Deep planning and tough choices present a rich experience

Interaction produces an almost paranoid state keeping you on your toes

Simple gameplay makes way for tough strategic turns

In a lesser game, the Tsar’s favor would simply be a turn order mechanic, but here, it’s thoroughly routed in every facet of the game.

Victories during play or in the end are extremely satisfying, giving you a sense of accomplishment.

Due to the nature of the game, turns are prone to some serious analysis paralysis.

Setup is a bit of chore

While game length isn’t a negative (time to value ratio is solid), the general time investment (2-3 hours) will turn some people off.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

While not complex mechanically, The First Tsar delivers a nail-biting experience full of heavy decisions and game altering consequences. This is great for fans of tight, classic euros who enjoy delving deeply and extolling over strategic decisions. There are some modern twists and fans of the genre will find the interaction and tension anything but dry.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THE GAME?

The Tsar’s favor really takes the cake. In a game of limited resources and tough decisions, having authority over an opponent can either break a tie or cause them to turn in fear. Of course it’s something you need to protect as it’s continually in the back of everyone’s mind. This is such an excellent tool that’s both mechanically and thematically outstanding.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The First Tsar: Ivan the Terrible has been a major surprise. It’s thoroughly captivating and exciting from a thinking, euro gamer’s perspective. It vents those old-school, euro vibes where play is tight and choices can be a struggle. Your limited actions heighten the fact that every turn counts for something and will have an impact on the overall game.

The game’s overall tension really stands out. Meticulous planning is key, but also being able to pivot when necessary stirs a truly engaging experience. Pressure from your opponents will regularly make you question your plans and there is little reprieve throughout any of the game’s stages. Fulfilling assignments efficiently feels validating, but celebrations are brief as you quickly shift to rewards in the next phase.

Game length may turn some players off, but this is the kind of game you’ll want to make time for. Played with the right group of gamers, this is one of those satisfying experiences that you’ll come back to again and again. I’ve really enjoyed those moments when opponents realize the impact of the Tsar’s favor revealing the depth of the game – that nothing is certain and you’ll have to fight for everything you get.

The Last Tsar is a game that will absolutely engage the more strategic thinker and demand your attention.

Publisher: CMYK Games
Player Count: 2  Players
Game Length: 15 Minutes
Complexity 1.5/5

The definition of Lacuna means a gap between two things and is from the latin lacus, meaning “lake or “pool.” That cleverly defines this quirky, abstract game that likely doesn’t play like any game in your collection. In this gentle, 2-player game, players are collecting different colored flowers resting on a pond. It’s a spatial puzzle where you’re measuring between objects to collect while simultaneously planning for the future. It takes just a few minutes to explain, can be grasped by kids of all ages yet still has the potential to stir your strategic hankerings. Let’s briefly dive into the tranquil pond of Lacuna and see if this strange game is right for your home.

ON YOUR TURN

Packed in a cylinder shaped container, you can tell from the start this is going to be a bit of a different gaming experience. The game itself takes place on a square piece of fabric representing a night pond. Using the container as a pitcher, you pour out the 49 colored flower tokens randomly across the space and you’re ready to play.

The game takes place over 2 distinct phases followed by scoring. It’s a quick game, but the nature of it will allow you to analyze and process the board to your heart’s content.

During the first phase, players will take turns placing their own player pawns onto the pond between two unobstructed flower tokens of the same color. These pawns can be placed anywhere between the two tokens (which is critical to the next phase), but there cannot be any additional tokens or player pawns between the two.

Once players have placed their 6 pawns, play moves to the second phase. During this phase, each remaining token will be evaluated and given to the player with the closest player pawn. The game comes with a ruler to ensure no funny business. Players divide their tokens into sets based on the 7 different token types and point is awarded to the player with the most of each type. The player with the most points at the end wins.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

The art direction does a nice job of complimenting the game experience. Simplified, colorful flowers dance across the packaging highlighted with gold flecks of foil spot colors embracing the abstract nature of the game, but this is a game primarily driven by the components. The wooden flower tokens and metal player pawns contrast each other and are distinct on the fabric pond player board without feeling disconnected.

Everything in the game fits in this unique cylinder container. This may excite you or it may not. I personally love the choice, but I can see it causing some trouble for certain gaming shelves. All-in-all, Lacuna looks as different as it plays and will definitely be an eye catcher at your next game night.

PROS & CONS

Gameplay will challenge players with a unique spatial puzzle not common in standard strategic, modern games

Simple ruleset can be taught in a matter of minutes and setup and clean up are a breeze

This is truly a game for all ages. Anyone can play and players can bring their own level of engagement

The game’s quick play time will have you playing multiple games at each sitting

Fun components create a unique, tactile experience

Portable container great for travel

Highly replay ability

 The game plays at a slower pace. I attribute that to the game’s old school approach

The container may not fit conveniently on all gamer’s shelves

Because it’s a spatial game where you’re measuring, it can possibly be a challenge to truly measure between objects.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

I really want to define this more clearly, but Lacuna is a game when you’re in the mood for “something different.” It’s a bit of a conundrum since it’s a family game that only plays with 2 players. It’s light hearted and simple. It knows who it is and doesn’t try to be anything more. The choices are satisfying, challenging and relaxing all at the same time. It plays quickly and is a breeze to set up, making it a perfect filler or weekday evening right before bed.

WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing about this game is how easy it is to get into. While most games can take a couple plays to feel comfortable, Lacuna takes a couple turns. The entire experience is simple, clean and satisfying.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Lacuna is the type of game that can win over the harshest cynic. It’s straightforward and accessible, while still being engaging and a little mysterious. It sits in that sweet spot offering simple mechanics and decently challenging choices, but it does it in a completely refreshing way.

Its abstract nature isn’t going to sit well with everyone, but it tends to cross boundaries with a satisfying level of strategy that naturally adjusts to the player’s skill level. The spatial element is a nice change of pace for someone like me who typically plays more linear, traditional board games.

Replay ability is another major positive here. The quick setup and tear down make it a breeze to get to the table or layout on the floor and the short playtime guarantees it doesn’t have to wear out its welcome. Additionally, it wasn’t rare to play 2, 3 or 4 games in a row. My kids enjoyed this just as much as my (hardcore) gaming group proving it’s perfect for any sort of family.

Lacuna is a bit more “mass-market, retail game” than hobby game, but its quirkiness will still have you talking about it and bringing it regularly to game nights, road trips and parties.

Publisher: WizKids Games
Player Count: 2-5  Players
Game Length: 75-100 Minutes
Complexity 3/5

As the head of a Renaissance-era, Italian, aristocratic family, supporting the artists, builders and scholars of the day is essential for cultivating fame and prestige. Build your reputation as patrons seeking out worthy artisans, develop your own principalities and become the princes of Florence.

In this tile-laying, contract fulfillment and bidding game, players will bid against each other to help local artisan’s fulfill their creative pursuits. Resources will be tight and savvy bidders will know when to strike in an effort to maximize their returns over 7 rounds where tension continues to escalate and both long term and short-term planning are critical for victory. Are you ready to become a prince of Florence? Find out in the review below:

ON YOUR TURN

The Princes of Florence was originally published in 2000 from the designers behind classic titles such as El Grande, Tikal and Colosseum and more recently, Downforce. In this revised edition, the artwork and components have received a major upgrade to bring this traditional euro into the new era of board gaming.

The game takes place over 7 rounds with each round divided into 2 distinct phases. Players will earn prestige points through a variety of ways and in the end, the player with the most prestige is the winner.

One of the central objectives of the game is to gather professional cards and meet as many of the requirements listed on each card as possible. These cards represent artisans of art, architecture and scholastic pursuits. Each artisan is influenced and inspired in different ways and it’s up to you to cultivate your resources to meet these needs.

Each round begins with an auction phase where players bid on 1 of 6 available objects. These objects carry a variety of benefits that may serve your available artisans. The active player selects one of the objects and all players bid. You can only win 1 object per round and once you’ve acquired an object, you can no longer participate in that round’s auctions. Once a specific type of object has been bought, no one else can buy that object for the remainder of the round. The objects feature landscape tiles that will later be added to your principality board, prestige and recruiting cards that provide endgame objectives and the ability to steal professional cards from other players respectively and builder and jester tokens that provide price and scoring benefits.

Once all players have completed the auction phase they move onto the action phase. During the action phase, players will be able to perform 2 actions from a selection of 5 choices.

Among other things, this is where you cash in your professional cards. Each professional card earns points for meeting certain point-scoring objectives. You don’t have to meet them all, but each round has point requirements for cashing in cards that must be met if you choose to cash in a card, so the later you wait, the more you need to earn. Your professional cards earn points for having certain landscape tiles or buildings in your principality (which can be purchased during the action phase) as well as holding certain cards in your hand as well as owning other objects.

Just from a setup perspective, the principality board plays a fairly prominent role in the game’s presentation. This gridded board allows you to place purchased landscape and building tiles throughout. These polynomial shaped tiles need to fit together in the grid and will benefit you when you cash in artisans. This provides an additional puzzle to consider when executing your strategy.

Having finished the action phase, players can choose to take money earned into your hand for future rounds or use it to purchase prestige points. The player with the most money earned during the round receives a bonus. This continues for the 7 phases and a winner is finally declared.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

I am a huge fan of the artwork in Princes. The characters are colorful, credible and full of personality. It’s full of style and nothing is overly silly or cartoony which is a great tone for the game.  The game’s components are good and the overall production has a fairly classy feel to it. The game’s wooden token paws used to track points aren’t amazing. I would have liked to see a more custom shape than the traditional chess pawn, but they do get the job done.

The rulebook is fairly clear and easy to understand. I was able to jump quickly into both the base game and the solo mode without too much trouble.

PROS & CONS

 The bidding feels very tight and gaining those initial auction items is a real challenge

 Many paths to victory, but you have to be very intentional about your goals

 Great artwork and production

 Cool points/money split mechanic at the end of each action phase. This could be your key to victory, but you feel the tension in your choices.

 Overall set collection feels really cutthroat in a good, challenging way

 The game plays at a slower pace. I attribute that to the game’s old school approach

 This isn’t a crowd pleaser. It’s certainly for a niche audience.

 A bit rules-y and that can slow down gameplay

NEUTRAL You have to be very particular about your choices. Failing to grab a needed object can disrupt your pursuits and cost you big time.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

Fans of classic bidding and euro games are going to enjoy the old school feel. This is a tight, cutthroat game and it can get pretty competitive. There is plenty of interaction in the bidding phase and it can get a little nasty with the right group. It has a little Use Rosenberg with the tile laying and there are plenty of choices and paths to victory for fans of that sort of thing.

WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

This is both the best and the worst thing about the game: The auction phase can be brutal. Sometimes you really need to overpay to guarantee the right piece. It can be incredibly irritating when your opponents start driving up the prices, but it’s also super satisfying to pull one over on them. I’m a fan of bidding games and the tight choices really elevate the bidding process here.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I wasn’t sure how Princes of Florence would translate 20 years after it was first released. It definitely has an old school euro feel, but there is still plenty of personality in the mechanics that make for a fun, engaging experience.

The pacing of the game is where it does feel a bit dated for me. I think we’ve come a long way when it comes to pacing in modern games and Princes shows a little wear in this area. Perhaps there is a way to condense some of the actions, but it is what is and while the pacing felt off it certainly wasn’t a deal breaker for me.

This is a set collecting game, but the path to get there is what really makes it interesting. The bidding and tile laying aren’t anything revolutionary, but it’s the limited choices that make them engaging. Grabbing objects (or resources if you prefer) is super tight here. This all starts with the bidding phase and how only 1 object of each type can even be drafted that round and each player leaves the phase with only 1 object. The choices are solid as well. Should I grab a jester that’s going to earn me additional points with each professional card I cash in or go with the builder who is going to decrease the cost of buildings later on? Maybe it would be smarter to grab a prestige card to provide an additional end scoring goal to pursue? Don’t forget Landscapes or Recruiting cards! It all comes down to your own strategy and how that conflicts with the other players as the bidding commences.

The principality/polyomino mini game follows in a similar fashion. The space is limited and makes choices more of a challenge. Buildings can’t be adjacent to other buildings early on and this creates a bigger spacial puzzle that needs to be planned for and solved.

The key to your engine is the end of round scoring choices. After players cash in professional cards they can either take the money or trade it in for prestige points. Obviously the player with the most prestige is the winner, but you’re going to need money to outbid your opponents and purchase objects during the action phase. I doubt this is the only game to employ this technique, but it’s brilliant and needs to exist in more games. This mechanic GUARANTEES at least one really interesting decision EACH round.

Princes of Florence is an unforgiving game. Making the wrong choice or bidding too much for something can completely derail your game. Resources are tight and the 7 rounds feel not nearly long enough to accomplish all your goals. When you’ve finally finished fighting the other bidders, you then turn around and realize you have to start fighting the game with its tough resource stipulations and limited actions.

If it’s not clear by now, this isn’t a game for everyone. It can sludge along with the wrong players and be a bit frustrating at times. But, for players looking for a cutthroat game with really tight and challenging choices, Princes of Florence may be for you. I think fans of old school euros are going to find a lot to like here, but there are some progressive ideas that play well in today’s gaming landscape. I found the game also gets better and better with each play and that’s a huge plus for me. I think if you find the right group that embraces a more challenging, interactive and cutthroat game, this can be a real gem that begs for repeat plays.

Publisher: WizKids
Player Count: 2-5 Players
Dedicated Solo mode: No
Game Length: 20 Minutes
Complexity 2/5

In the distant future the sport of mech battles has swept the nation. But not just any mechs, these are monstrous, mile-high mechs and the battles rage over multiple city blocks. While the sport has captured the imagination, the chance to bet on the outcome and earn big bucks has taken it to a new level. Now it’s your chance to get in on the fun. Choose the winning teams, the surviving mechs and even participate to manipulate the outcome. Place your bets, enforce your will over your opponents and seek to have the most success betting card. 

In this fast-paced betting game, players will pick winners in multiple categories. Taking turns, players will then strategically slide the mech tiles across the playing grid, interacting with other mechs and seeking to achieve their end game betting goals.

PLAYING A TURN

For some reason I love betting games. I like the opportunity to push your luck, weigh the odds and turn my resources into a profit… as long as it doesn’t involve money from my own wallet.

Atlantic Robot League is a betting game where you forecast the winners of this Royal Rumble-type mech battle. Each player receives a betting card and chooses winners in 4 categories.

There are a total of 24 mechs tiles, all with individual identities and divided into 5 distinct teams. At the start of the game they are randomly placed on a 5×5 grid leaving 1 empty space.

On a typical turn, players will be able to slide a single tile to an adjacent space given that one is available. As the mech tiles are moved, they then have the ability to interact with specific mech teams. So a green mech might have the ability to eliminate a red or yellow mech. If that mech is moved into a position adjacent to one of those colors, the player then can eliminate one of those tiles from the game.

Each player starts with money and can gain additional coins by eliminating tiles on specific locations on the board. This money can be used to purchase scheme cards that allow you move in ways that break the standard ruleset. For example, a scheme card may allow a tile to leap over another tile or move additional tiles. As this resolves, players keep track of their personal bids. Tiles are eliminated until there are 5 or fewer remaining.

The bid card allows you to choose 3 team categories: Heroes (team with the most survivors), Has-Beens (first team to be eliminated) and Brawlers (team with the most knockouts). Players also have the opportunity to choose 5 individual mechs they believe will survive until the end.

The game takes place over 3 rounds where the game is reset prior to the round. The player with the most points at the end is the winner.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

The art in Atlantic Robot League is colorful and almost comic book like. This makes sense since the game is about mile high mechs doing battle… you can only imagine who the target audience is. It’s not the greatest artwork ever, but it really seems to fit the theme well. The game board is kinda trashy in the best way. The mech illustrations are all unique and are fine-on par with the rest of the game’s visuals. Each team has it’s own logo and they feel very e-sport-y and a bit disconnected from the game.

The game board, tiles, cards and coin tokens are all of good quality. The betting boards are made to be erased and they seem like they’ll last.

Overall, the look and feel of the game doesn’t really stand out, but it seems to fit the theme well.

PROS & CONS

Easy to teach & play

Fun and simple actions

Fair amount of strategy

If you’re not into betting games this isn’t for you

Theme will turn some off

Special action cards aren’t always relevant

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

If you like betting games, Atlantic Robot League is easy to engage and strategize with little experience. The actions are simple, but there is still a layer of strategy to force you to think through your actions each turn to maximize your money.

THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME

The best thing is the simple game actions. There are just enough choices to keep the game interesting while still being light and fun to a general audience.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Atlantic Robot League isn’t going to win any awards, but as a fan of betting games, I had fun with this easy, breezy, large-that-life-themed, game geared toward overgrown adolescents.

I enjoyed that I could formulate a plan of attack from the get go—analyzing the board layout to help me determine my betting goals—in a matter of minutes. The game never takes itself too seriously and choosing the winners and losers of the battle prior to gameplay is strangely engaging.

The actions are incredibly simple, yet there is just enough strategy and gamesmanship to keep things interesting. I would have liked the scheme cards, which provide special actions, to be more relevant. The available actions didn’t always apply to the current state of the board or wouldn’t affect play in a meaningful way at that time. That being said, players have a fair amount of control over the outcome making the pursuit of your betting goals more exciting.

I remember playing a similar game recently from a large publisher who went for an over produced approach with miniatures, big name artists and bloated actions. I couldn’t help comparing the two and think how Atlantic Robot League’s slimmed down approach was much more successful making the choices easier yet not a bit less meaningful.

Overall, I think Atlantic Coast League is a fun, light-hearted betting game. It’s super accessible and still manages to incorporate a fair amount of strategy. The theme has the potential to be a little divisive—only because mile-high mech robots aren’t for everyone. If you have the chance, give Atlantic Coast League a try.

Publisher: Eagle Gryphon Games
Player Count: 3-6 Players
Solo mode: No
Game Length: 30+ Minutes
Complexity 2/5

For Sale: Autorama is a reimplementation of the classic game, For Sale. Instead of homes, players are buying and selling vehicles in hopes of making the largest profit. This time around you’ll also be hiring advisors who bring special abilities as well as buying influence to your business.

A classic among classics: For Sale is the quintessential bidding game. In Autorama, the game introduces a new phase to the standard play that brings a decent amount of new strategy options.

Published by Boardgametables.com
Designed by Taiki Shinzawa | Art by Maria Surducan
3-4 Players  |  45 Minutes

I imagine if Charles Dickens was into card games, Ghosts of Christmas would be right up his alley. Themed to honor his classic Christmas story: A Christmas Carol, players will be competing to earn tricks across the Past, Present & Future in this quick moving, family friendly game.

HOW DOES IT PLAY?

To begin, players are each dealt 12 cards from a deck featuring 4 different colored suits, each ranging in value from 1 to 12.

A small scoring board sits in the middle of play along with 3 Era Dials. Players each have 3 ghost tiles representing the ghosts in the Christmas Carol story. Additionally, players have access to door tokens which will represent their bid for that round.

During a round players take turns playing cards in each of the 3 ghost eras in front of them. The first player to play in an era gets to define that era’s card color for the remainder of the round by adjusting that ghost’s Era Dial to that suit. Players will then either follow suit by playing that suit in that era or define a color for another unclaimed era.

The goal is to not just to play the highest cards and win tricks, but to achieve the bid you placed prior to the round. There are 2 ways to bid: The first is to play a number of purple door tokens which will earn the player 2 points for each bid met, but will require you to achieve that exact number of bids. The other option is to include a red door in addition to the purple doors. This allows the player to win the number of purple bids or the purple bids plus the red bid giving you a little more bidding flexibility. The downside is you only earn less per door when the red door is added.

The game comes with yellow, blue, green and red colored cards that all feature light-hearted illustrations from the story. Each color will define a trick, but the red suit also serves as the trump color and can only be played when you don’t have the necessary suit for that era.

A game consists of 3 or 4 hands depending on the number of players. Each hand is composed of 4 rounds and each round has 3 tricks. The player with the most tricks won at the end of the game is declared the winner.

GAME VARIANTS

Ghosts comes with 3 different game variants to fit your personal play style. The standard mode, which has previously been discussed, the Beyond Variant and the Tiny Tim Variant.

The Beyond Variant brings an additional era into the game giving players a chance to bid in 4 locations instead of 3. Once we played this option it just made sense to continue playing it from then on. It doesn’t subtract anything and adds more game to enjoy.

The Tiny Tim Variant removes the bidding aspect and allows players points for each trick they win along with a base number of points and a ceiling to ensure no one runs away with the game. This version works best for young and inexperienced trick takers.

PLAYER COUNTS

Ghost of Christmas has 2 player count options: 3 or 4 players. Both game modes feel very similar with the only difference being 1 more hand in the 4 player game. I think the extra hand is there just to allow players a little more room to separate themselves from their competition. Overall, the game played very similarly at both player counts and I would recommend either one.

COMPONENTS AND ARTWORK

This is a small box game that seeks to pack as much as it can in the box. The card quality and cardboard tiles are just ok, but overall, the components are fine. There isn’t anything here that would detract from you enjoying the game. I would highly recommend the deluxe component option that includes a fun top hat token for the first player and chunky 3-D wreaths to help you mark your tricks. These definitely improve the feel and (dare I say) the overall experience of the game. After a few plays the era dials still seem tight and I don’t foresee any issues with them moving forward.

One area I continued to have problems was the point board. It’s so small that the slightest nudge may knock you off your space leading to endless debates on how many points a player REALLY had. I suppose you could tally your points separate from the board, but I like having it in front of everyone and we were most able to work with it.

The rulebook is very concise, opting for more of a simplified explanation of the game. I could argue that they could have provided a little more explanation, but I think the instructions are adequate and should get you playing the game fairly quickly.

The game’s artwork is colorful, stylish and fun if not a bit minimalistic. It certainly contributes to the overall class of the game and provides a lot more mass appeal. Each color is also paired with symbols for any color challenged players. Overall, I approve of the look and production as a whole.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m a fan of trick taking games in general and anyone familiar with games like Spades are going to feel at home here. Ghost of Christmas does provide some nice twists to keep things fresh, but the game is fairly straightforward and easy to follow.

Being able to play tricks, and define the suit for multiple areas of play in each round definitely increased the level of strategy. While it seems the players with the highest suit numbers will be unstoppable, there are ways to draw those cards/players out and spin a suit in your favor. I often found playing multiple eras with the same colored suit really forced my opponents to pick and choose where to play their strengths and I was able to win a trick or 2 even with a weaker hand.

The components certainly add to the enjoyment of the game. Sure, the dials weren’t 100% necessary, but they help a lot with communication and add a lot of personality. As I mentioned before, the deluxe components really help from a tactile standpoint and do make the game more fun.

I also want to talk briefly about the theme. I have a number of Christmas themed games typically ranging from poor to modest at best, so I’m always up for a new Christmas-themed game in hopes it will turn the tide and give me something to look forward to during the holidays. In this case here, the theme is pretty much painted on. There really isn’t anything thematic in the game play other than the 3 eras that represent the past, present and future. That is… until you add the 4th (Beyond Era) and ruin the facade – which I preferred mechanically anyways. That being said – I’m ok with this. I don’t have to take on the role of Ebenezer Scrooge or Bob Cratchit to enjoy a game set in this literary world. I think it all comes together in a game you’ll feel comfortable with playing in July as much as you’ll enjoy in December.

The final area of the game that really stood out was the bidding. Yes, there are a number of like-games that use similar bidding systems. That doesn’t change the fact that your opportunity for success greatly rises and falls on your ability to properly assess and manage your hand as well as read and outwit your opponents. It can be frustrating when you’re unable to meet that optimistic bid, but I really enjoyed getting creative in an effort to avoid that extra trick that might earn me too many points. The Tiny Tim variant that eliminates this aspect flows a lot smoother, but it’s also a lot more sanitized. The bidding is certainly right for those looking for a little more bite in this game.

DO I RECOMMEND IT?

Ghosts of Christmas is a great family game for players looking for a more traditional card game experience with a fun theme and a few twists thrown in to keep you on your toes. The different game modes allow you to break this out during the holidays with either the in-laws OR the nephews. The learning curve is small – which can be essential when you’re trying to play games with family you only see a couple times a year. There are some more engaging trick taking games out there, but if the theme hits you just right then you really can’t go wrong picking up Ghosts of Christmas from Boardgametables.com.

Published by Naylor Games
Designed by James Naylor | Art by Donal Hegarty, Cze Lee & James Naylor
1-5 Players  |  60-120 Minutes

The city of Humbleburg has had a sleepy history. Home to a few quiet residences, the townspeople have managed to fend off development despite being a convenient drive to the hustle and bustle of the big city. Shockingly, the city council announces an end to all zoning laws, creating a real estate Wild West overnight. Now the race is on to develop the city’s profitable empty lots at any cost – all but guaranteeing insane property values. As any good real estate developer knows: what goes up must come down… and it’s your ominous aim to take advantage of this erupting market before it all comes crashing down. 

In Magnate: The First City, players will be buying property, developing the land into marketable real estate, drawing in tenants and enjoying the financial rewards. Like any true-to-life real estate situation, location is king. As you develop your properties you’ll also benefit from your neighbor’s projects – earning a boost for the surrounding land’s prosperity. As your wallet and the market gets fatter, it’ll be up to you to determine how long you should push your luck by hanging onto your property. Land prices will continue to skyrocket and big money is there for the taking, but if you stay in too long the market may collapse leaving you with peanuts in return. Winning the game is simple: be the most savvy developer and earn the most money in this economic, market-driven game that favors the bold.

HOW IT PLAYS

Players begin by taking on the persona of one of five local real estate companies. In addition you’ll receive some startup cash and a few advertising dollars to play with.

Six random neighborhood boards are chosen and placed surrounding the primary board containing the current residence, and their prior development of the city of Humbleburg.

The game takes place over an undetermined number of rounds. During each round the real estate market grows and evolves through a series of setup actions. Players then have the opportunity to purchase, develop and sell property amongst a number of action options. From there, the players actions render results to the market that not only push the value of the market up, but introduces risks that will eventually have their reckoning.

Each neighborhood features 9 lots. While some of the lots have seen some loose development, most will be available for purchase at some point during the game. Each round, a specific number of lots will become available for sale. The price of these lots is determined based on the current land price track. The land price track will increase as its affected by the player’s actions throughout the game.

In addition to lots for sale, the town also sees an increase in potential tenants represented by tiles.

After bidding for turn order, players take turns attracting new tenants into their previously developed properties and receiving rent from all residents. The quality of the neighboring areas play a big role in attracting new tenants. Living within driving distance to jobs and marketplaces might help bring in higher paying residential guests while industrial projects might turn away potential home-seekers. Players receive a number of dice based on these parameters and then roll to determine who they can attract. These dice rolls can be mitigated by a preemptive advertising campaign allowing you to improve your reach. Other additional dice bonuses come into play such as having a park near a residential property. It’s all very thematic.

After addressing all owned properties each player, in turn order, has the opportunity to purchase new properties, develop their current landholdings, sell or do other real estate-ish things such as consult for cash or gain additional advertising opportunities.

Selling a property is a delicate task as you can potentially earn more money as the neighborhood it belongs to begins to develop. Adjacent tenants often come with selling bonuses. This all represents added value based on your properties location. The formula is a little challenging at first, but you’ll get the hang of it since selling is key to success and waiting for the right moment can really bump up those paychecks.

Once each player has resolved their 3 actions for the round the Property Market phase commences. During this phase players will see land prices increase based on the number of plots sold that round as well as advertising spent. Players will draw risk cards pushing the market closer to a crash based on available tenants and increased land price among other things. Again, it’s all very well thought out and very thematic in how it all unfolds.

Play continues until the market crashes… and the thing is, you never know when that’s going to happen. You might have an idea or get a feeling, but each risk card carries a different crash value – so you never quite know how long you’ve got. Risk cards also determine the final property value after the market crashes. At the end of the game you add up all these negative market values and determine the ending property value each remaining, unsold property is sold for. This might mean a multi-million dollar property sells for a couple hundred-thousand because you couldn’t unload it in time.

In the end, the player with the most money in their wallet is the winner and crowned real estate king of Humbleburg.

PLAYING SOLO

Magnate comes with an AI system that introduces another player into the game. This can serve as a competitor in a 1-player game or another participant in your 2-4 player game. Like most AI players, it’s a little more work than I typically want to put into a solo mode, but it does provide that more flexible game experience. I didn’t use this extensively, but the AI did seem like a stout challenger – very difficult to defeat. I kinda like the idea of introducing him in a 2-player game and then determining the winner from the 2 real-life players.

COMPONENTS

While Magnate might have been successful with tiles featuring each property development, much of this game’s giant box is used to store a series of miniature buildings. These decently-sized models represent each type of land development option in the game. There is a nice, single-family home and giant, sky-rise apartment complex holding up to 5 tenants for residential builds. Commercial offers a standard, small office building capable of holding just 1 tenant and a superior office block with room for 3. Retail and Industrial also offer 2 variants each for their options.

The cardboard for the game boards is a little thin for my tastes. It’s fine in a normal game, but it does provide a bit of a contrast to the amazing building miniatures. The tenant tiles, various other tokens and player cards all get the job done. The game does come with a huge handful of 20 dice.

Normally I wouldn’t mention this, but I know it may potentially rub some people the wrong way. The game comes with paper money. I know, it’s the end of the world. This is clearly done to provide an alternative to a shield that game’s typically use to hide your hand. Instead, you get a “wallet” where the money can slide into. It keeps the money hidden from your opponents and doesn’t require the hassle of a big screen. I probably won’t be able to convince everyone, but it actually works and really didn’t bother me.

ARTWORK

Artwork in Magnate is fairly minimal. The box and neighborhood boards have a strong Sim City vibe that has to resonate with fans of the economic, city building genre. The graphic design on the property market is colorful, but most of all, clearly presented. Each step throughout the game is clearly presented on a player resource card or directly on the property market board.

The rulebook is clean and well laid out. There are lots of visual references and examples to help communicate the game’s ideas. One of the game’s more brilliant moves is a starter deck that carefully walks you through all aspects of playing the game. It’s super easy to follow and serves as an amazing learning tool to help you understand the game’s concepts. I really wish more games would incorporate something like this.

DEEP THOUGHTS

Magnate: The First City was a modest success on Kickstarter, but one that really caught my eye. I’m always up for a good city builder, but Magnate ups the ante by introducing an exceptional economic system that is both thematic and entertaining. Every mechanic in Magnate seems so carefully integrated into the theme that it results in a beautiful, next level experience.

While the concept of a city without zoning laws is a little far fetched, it’s one that really drives the pace of the game. You’re frantically working to build your empire in a short period of time. The market bust is inevitable so tension in the game increasingly builds as the game progresses – especially since you’re not 100% sure when that will happen. Your initial 3 actions on your first round seem plenty, but midway, you’re violently buying and selling land and by the end you are desperately clawing for ways to efficiently maximize every single move to guarantee you get in, build up and get out before the bottom drops out of the market. The tension is real here.

There are a number of standout aspects of Magnate, but the most engaging for me sits at the heart of the game. I love how the value of your property and potential ability to attract tenants rests in the interaction with the surrounding areas. If you build a residential area near a park, near other residential areas and with easy access to office/jobs and shopping you’re going to get a better return than if you’re next to a heavy, unattractive industrial zone. It makes sense, right?

While you’re working to build your own empire this isn’t a solitaire game by any means. Almost everything in the game’s ecosystem is affected by something someone else is doing. Each round begins with players bidding for the first player. I initially played Magnate with 2 players and the bidding didn’t play a huge role, but when I jumped up the player count, the value in winning the bid skyrocketed. If you don’t get first dibs, someone else will likely snag that choice piece of property right out from under you. That’s not to mention they’ll have the first choice in attracting the best tenants.

While you’re working against your opponents, their success can also play a major factor in your own mini-victories. Opponents developing complimentary land projects adjacent to yours and drawing the right tenants can seriously boost the sales price of your own property. This creates a really interesting and fun dynamic between all the players on the board.

Let me talk just briefly about drawing new tenants. This is the only point in the game that plays on luck. Rolling higher pairs of dice will give you the opportunity to draw higher-end tenants. This isn’t an exact science in real life and makes perfect sense that there would be some luck involved for this phase of the game. Magnate, on the other hand, provides ample opportunity to mitigate the dice through advertising and location – again, providing a wonderful mix of thematics to the functionality.

I could go on about the Property Market Phase and how each action has a reaction on the market as a whole. Infusing advertising, leveraging sold property and weighing tenants looking to move into the city all play a direct effect on how quickly the market blows up and the consequences waiting in the shadows when it does pop.

There were only a couple of negative points for me. I didn’t love how the tenant tokens sat on the game boards. You often find yourself having to carefully dig through them to determine your properties sale value or when drawing dice to bring in new tenants. If you’re not careful buildings can get bumped and boards can get moved. It’s not that big of a deal, but it can be annoying for people with sausage-size fingers.

I already addressed the contrast between the board quality and the miniatures. I really wish the player boards were a little thicker. Since the miniature buildings are so great, it really raises the expectations for the rest of the game.

VERDICT

Magnate: The First City is Monopoly if Monopoly was fun. The theme really shines here and it’s clear this was a passion project for designer James Naylor (he even put photos of his family on the money). The game’s miniatures and modular packaging (which help with setup and tear down) definitely contribute overall to a pricer game, but there is a ton of value. If you’re a fan of market-driven, economic games or more complex city builders this is going to hit the spot. The learning curve would be a little steep if it wasn’t for the fantastic starter deck taking you through all the details. Once you’ve got the game down, teaching isn’t too complicated, making this a great entry point for players looking to move into medium weight games. There is plenty of replay-ability and one that I imagine I’ll be playing years down the road. This was easily one of the best games I played in 2021 and I highly recommend it across the board.

Designed by Molly Johnson, Shawn Stankenwich & Robert Melvin
Art by Shawn Stankenwich
Published by Alderac Entertainment Group
1-5 Players  |  15-30 Minutes

This is the place in my reviews where I typically set the stage for the game by delving into the rich theme and lore baked between the confines of this cardboard encased experience. But in the case of TEN there isn’t a backstory full of happy vegetables, brave adventurers or ambitious railroad engineers… It’s just a game with a giant deck of cards individually numbered from 1 to 9… and there are some tokens. Then I noticed the designers are the same team behind Point Salad, the simple, yet hugely successful vegetable drafting game… and I realize there might be something more to TEN than meets the eye.

TEN is a push-your-luck, auction/bidding style game where players risk it all to build runs of 4 different color sets. Drawing more cards can mean bigger points, but your aggressive choices may benefit your opponents while pushing too hard may force you to bust. Despite the generic theme, TEN has everyone engaged on each player’s turn with the opportunity just a card flip away to turn your fortunes around (for better or for worse).

Coozies Games
2-5 Players  |  15 Minutes

You’ve been given the opportunity to compete against up to 5 of your friends for the highest office in the land. Strategically manage your campaign as you work to level the competition and win electoral votes. But keep your corruption and moral ambiguity at home. In Buy the Vote! you’ll be spending your hard-earned fundraising dollars by bidding on states with the winner gaining access to the highest office in the land.

HOW TO PLAY THE GAME

Buy the Vote! boasts an opportunity to run for the presidency in less than 15 minutes! In those 15 minutes, players will go through a series of rounds where they’ll be given the opportunity to campaign in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. by carefully committing their fundraising money to target states of their choice. Unfortunately for you, your rivals have the same aspirations.

To begin the game players will receive the first of 3 fundraising dollar amounts. Initially, each player receives an equal fundraising share, but as the game progresses, the more effective candidate will see the financial benefits of their recent success.