How To Play Lost Cities

Lost Cities set collection game. You want to collect the best cards of numbers in five different colors and have the most points after doing that a set number of times. It is possible to play it just once, but most of the time I think that three is what people play.

The turn you take is simple. You play a card from you hand to one of two spots. And then you draw a card to your hand from one of a few spots. You keep on doing this until the deck of cards, one of the spots you draw from, is empty. Then you tally up the points.

Scoring and Playing Cards

The main element of the game to know about is the scoring. In Lost Cities you score points for any of the colors here you play cards at. However, there is a penalty for playing cards at a location. The first card you play down sets that locations value to -20. Though, if you play a number card that negative value is going to be less.

There are two types of card for each number. The first is multiplier cards. These double, triple, or more depending on how many you play, the value of the cards. But it also doubles or triples the value of the negative as well. Then there are number cards. These number cards go from two to ten. And as you play out cards, the multiplier cards need to be played first, and then cards in ascending order. For example, if you play out a four or blue, it is no longer possible for you to play a two of blue or a three of blue.

Discarding and Drawing

So I mentioned that there are multiple places to play to and discard to. Let’s use the example of having a blue two after already playing out a blue four. That card has no value for you. So on your turn you might discard that into the blue pile between the sets you and an opponent are collecting. On the other hand, if your opponent were to discard, for example, a green multiplier and you hadn’t started scoring on green yet, you can draw from there. So you either play to the collection on your side, or the middle for that colors discard. And you either draw from one of those color discard piles or the main deck.

What Doesn’t Work

It’s an abstract game where it is possible to just be dealt a hand that is not great to start out with. It might either be so spread out across all the colors you don’t know what to go for, or it might be so high in numbers that your scoring potential is lower as you don’t want to toss those cards. It isn’t that it doesn’t work, it is just that sometimes you might feel like your starting hand is kind of dead, or you might think, with multiple multiplier cards going into a color is smart idea and then never draw that color.

What Works

Now, that negative I just spoke about, that is also a positive for the game. Lost Cities is all about figuring out when to get into a color so that you don’t end up with negative points. And yes, it is very possible to end up with negative points on a round. Lost Cities reminds me of Hanamikoji in that both of them you work off of imperfect knowledge. And you need to make the best decisions that you can.

Game Speed

I like the speed that the game plays at as well. Now, I say that, I play asynchronously on BGA, so some games do take longer than others. But when the players are on at the same time the turns are simple enough, play and draw, that it moves quickly. So the game speed is good, but to tie it to above, it doesn’t just play itself which means sometimes you end up with a turn that takes a bit longer when you aren’t in the middle of a series of plays.

It is also nice that Lost Cities is played over three rounds. Again, this ties into that negative and why it isn’t much of a negative. When you play Lost Cities over three rounds you get a chance to come back. That allows you to play with a bit more risk sometimes and less other times. But there is almost always the chance to recover.

Meanness and Tightness

Finally, as a two player game this is very back and forth. I know, generally, what you want to get. So that might mean that I hold cards in my hand to try and keep you from scoring as well. There isn’t take that, but I might ruin your plans for a round. But that is also true for what you are doing to me as well. So while the game has elements of being mean, it works, as that sort of thing does better at two players.

But with that comes a fun part of the strategy or something you’ll stumble across. As I play out cards and you collect what I might want, you find that you all of a sudden can get a positive score in that color. So it is possible to pivot in the game like that. But with the deck running out as the timing mechanism you can’t overextend yourself because you might not have enough turns to play everything you need. That challenge and balance works very well.

Who Is Lost Cities For?

Obviously this game is for two people. But I think that this is the sort of game that works well for couples even if both of them maybe don’t love board games. The game is easy enough to learn, there is strategy so it isn’t too light, but it’s simple to play. So it’s a good game for couples and you can play a round in a short time, so it is that evening game as well for when you want to do something and not watch TV.

My Grade and Final Thoughts on Lost Cities

Lost Cities definitely impressed me more than I thought it would. I want to compare it to Hanamikoji because there is that element that I don’t know what is in your hand and you don’t know what is in my hand. It is only based off of what we play that we gather information about the other players hand. And that is true for both of the games, plus the row in the middle, but that is not actually similar in how it is used.

I think that Lost Cities is a game where it is possible to really do poorly at, though. But it is a game that is simple enough to learn. I feel like since I enjoyed the premise at the start it was fine even with my first game going poorly. If I hadn’t, I’m not sure I would have loved it as a concept for a game. Mainly because it is possible to get stomped. So if the puzzle doesn’t draw you in, Lost Cities is unlikely to work. Because the theme is not going to draw you in.

My Grade: B
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: B
Strategy (out of 10): 7
Luck (out of 10): 3

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How to Play Gap

Gap is a simple game where you play down a number and take the matching numbers. With those numbers you create groupings of colors, as each card will have it’s own color. Your goal, and score, is to create the biggest gap between the color you have the most of and the least of.

Like I said, you take the cards of the matching number. But if there are no cards that match your number, you select a card of the adjacent number. And if you don’t have an adjacent number or a matching number, you add a card to the row.

You play Gap over a number of rounds. At the end of each round everyone tallies the biggest gap between a color you have the most of and the least of. And that score is added to the previous score until a point threshold is hit. In the round the point total is met, the player with the most points wins the game.

What Doesn’t Work

This is an interesting game because after several plays, I think there are some elements that don’t work super well. Firstly, at higher player counts, Gap is a game of luck. And I like some luck in a game, but Gap becomes a game purely about luck of what is out there for you to take. There is no strategy to what you are taking, or minimal at best. You might try and set yourself up to get as much blue as possible, but if someone else is taking blue, you might be unlucky when it flips out.

I also think at higher player counts, the game is too long. A short game, I believe, is to 15 points. 15 points is too long at higher player counts because of that randomness. It is common in a lower player count game to score one or two points as the top scorer in a round. And that, shockingly, can make for a long game. I think at five or six players, I would play to a round total, say four rounds, and whoever has the most points then wins. That is an alternative rule that they call out, but I think, generally, that is a better rule

What Works

Turn Speed

Now, I talked about game length being too long at higher player counts. I do think that turn speed is in the favor of this game. Gap is a game where it keeps moving quickly. Your choices are limited to what cards are available to pick up. It’s a group of four cards, or sometimes at the end of the game more, to create that gap from. So even at higher player counts, it is a very quick moving game around the table.

Scoring

Another area where I think it could have gotten bogged down in rules or slowed the game up is that the scoring is simple. You look at the color you have the most of and the color you have the least of, but that you do have. And you must have a color in play in front of you to score it. So that is very simple. And it is set up to keep the game moving. I see worlds where it is the color you have the most and second most of where that would slow the game down more.

In fact, this is a great piece of strategy to the game. You collect as much of all the colors you want, except for one, so you get the biggest gap possible. I like that twist on the game. It reminds me, in some ways, of Parade. The mechanisms are very different but collecting colors and a scoring puzzle or strategy to improve your scoring is clever in Gap as well.

Lower Player Count

Finally, I like Gap probably best at lower player counts. To bring up another game, Ohanami is like this where strategy greatly changes depending on player count. Gap is the same way because at higher player counts it is random, mainly. But at lower player counts, you can interfere with what your opponent is doing. Or you play a more strategic game overall for when you grab colors, and how you play around what is or isn’t on the board. I wish that were the case at higher player counts but understand that a lot of card games are this way with more players, or at lot of games really.

Matching Number of Adjacent Number

With the strategy, I like that you do have a choice as you play down. You either can play down a matching number to take all the matching numbers. Or for an adjacent number. And you don’t need to play down a matching number if you don’t want. So you decide the speed, potentially, that you add cards in front of you for scoring. But, if you can add a card for scoring via a match or adjacency, you must.

Who Is This For?

Gap is one of those games where I feel like it’s a holiday game. It’s the game you take to your grandparents and play with your cousins at Christmas time or whatever holiday. It’s what you take on summer vacation because you want a game but not a big game.

But, because of it’s length, it isn’t a filler game. Maybe at two players it is, but it’s a sit down and play a simple game while you chat over an hour. That is what Gap is to me, and I think that really describes the group and setting that Gap makes the most sense.

Final Thoughts on Gap

This is one that I find interesting. I both enjoy the game and find it to just be okay. I like Gap for what it is. When I describe the situation to play it above, I know exactly who I might play it with. And, actually, I am going to see my parents in under a week, this is a game that I likely will take up with me. It is simple but there is just enough.

It is also a game I wonder about with games like Ohanami and Parade in that same group. Is there room to play Gap over those games? Right now the answer is yes, there is room. It is a new game, but over time, is that going to be the case. I wonder this about a lot of games. For me, it is a bigger question with Gap because, I think I’d want it to be a game that plays well at all player counts. And I think it likely just hits a limited range for players.

Still, the game is fun, and the game knows what it is. It comes in a flashy box that doesn’t pretend to be a big strategic game to play. For that reason, I enjoy Gap quite well.

My Grade: B
Gamer Grade: C
Casual Grade: B+

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How To Play Mesozooic?

Mesozooic is a game that is played over three rounds and two parts. You score at the end of each round, but only your top two rounds score for your final score. That means if you mess up badly, you have a chance to fix it and you might need that in this game.

The first part of a round is drafting cards. You draft parts of dinosaur pens, the monorail pieces, dinosaur enclosures (different from the pens), jeeps, and topiaries. In total you will end up drafting 11 cards. And you want to draft pen pieces that will connect and monorail pieces that can easily connect.

Then comes the real time element to the game. You put out the 11 cards that you drafted in a four wide and three tall grid leaving the bottom right corner open. A timer is flipped and you need to try and arrange your cards in the most optimal way, like a sliding puzzle. So from that bottom right corner sliding the cards around fast and hoping that you don’t manage to mess it up somehow. Once the time is up you score.

What I Don’t Like?

I feel like Mesozooic is kind of a one trick game. The drafting is interesting and there are advanced cards, but it comes down to how well you can do a sliding puzzle. I am pretty good at sliding puzzles. Other people I play with, they are not nearly as good. So inherently people who are good at the sliding puzzle trick are going to do better. Now, doesn’t mean the timer won’t mess you up sometimes as you try and get it perfect.

I also think that the real time aspect to it, not just the sliding puzzle but the real time piece is going to be a lot. The timer is approximately 45 seconds. And I believe that is a good amount of time. If it is shorter no one could do well, it’d just be too fast. If it is longer, then you’d have a lot of players “done”. But those 45 seconds are very hectic. And while I do not mind real time in this because I make the choices in the draft for my puzzle, it is going to be an element people don’t like.

What Do I Like?

I like the artwork on this game. It is cartoony and fun, and there are a lot of different dinosaurs. The production of this game is nice and they kept it simple too. By that I mean, if I need to find a jeep on a card, that is easy to do. Everything you can tell what it is without any troubles. That makes the game easier to play.

I also appreciate how the game scales. I have played at 2, 3, and 6 players and it is fun at all counts. It does something I really like in removing a full set of cards from the draft with player count. Each player picks a director to start and the cards matching the director are shuffled into the deck plus some generic cards. Each director has 11 cards, plus the generic ones means that you can’t know all the cards in the draft.

Another thing I find interesting and enjoy is throwing out your low score. If you look at the negatives, the timed element and the sliding puzzle, though that’s just that some people can be better, it helps to throw out a low score. You might get a set-up that requires you to move buildings from one side to another to score points. Or maybe, no matter what you do, the monorail just won’t line up. But if you do well in the other two rounds, one bad round doesn’t kill you.

Who is It For?

Mesozooic is a good little filler game. At least that is where I really like it. I think a game generally takes 30 minutes, no matter the player count. Teaching will take a bit longer, but that is expected. So I think it is a game that works well for someone who likes to play light fillers, or who needs games like that in their collection.

Mesozooic would work well as a pallet cleanser in between bigger games. It isn’t that it is completely mindless, but with the frenetic element of the sliding puzzle, it just feels different. It is going to give your mind a rest, it is going to get you laughing, and that works well. If someone wants a bigger more serious dinosaur game, Mesozooic isn’t it.

Mesozooic Final Thoughts

This is a fun game for me. I know I mention this at times with game, but I wonder about the staying power of the game. I’ve been wrong on games that I thought would stick for a long time and wrong on light games that I thought I would move on from fast. The reason I wonder about Mesozooic is the one main trick in the game. The drafting is not complex, if I get the right half of a building, next hand I’ll take a left. But will the sliding puzzle stay interesting.

The upside is that I don’t think Mesozooic is a game that will ever be boring or one that I hate. It might just fade faster and more over time. I think it could fall into the category of a game like Splendor, Tsuro, or Second Chance. It is a game that I feel like I’ve played enough but won’t say no to playing again. Right now, though, I am enjoying what this game has to offer. And I do have advanced mode to add if I want more of a challenge.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: C
Casual Grade: C+

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How To Play Air, Land & Sea

Air, Land & Sea is a lane battling game. Basically, two players fight over three theaters of war, air, land, and sea. Players take turns playing down cards that influence how much power they have at the given theaters of war. Cards range from 1 to 6 for each theater. It would be easy to know what the other player has except for the fact you only play with 6 cards each.

The strategy comes into the game around when to play cards. With the exception of the 6, each card has a power that goes along with it. Those manipulate where you can play cards or how cards can be played. And each theater can only have it’s own cards unless something allows you to break the rules with that. Or if you play a card face down, then it is worth two points but doesn’t have any power associated with it.

After a round, you score the battles. Who wins each theater gets 6 points and the first person to 12 wins. However, you can pull out of a theater if you don’t think you can win. The sooner you do that the fewer points your opponent gets. If no one reaches twelve, then the theaters adjust their adjacency to each other and you battle again.

What Doesn’t Work?

The aesthetic of the game is just okay. It is a game that takes itself seriously with how it looks, and that is kind of a negative. This is a very light game, one that is meant to be thinky but light in terms of game play. The artwork doesn’t feel nearly as light as the speed the game plays at. And I think the theme and aesthetic will be off putting to some people.

I also feel like the powers on the cards are not always that interesting. They do cool things, but not that game changing in what they do, at least what is what it feels like. The powers are good, and they add a lot of interest to the game, but with six cards for each player and six not in play, it’s fairly lucky what cards and powers will be in play. I feel like even taking it up to seven cards each and four not in play, you would feel like you could strategize more.

What Works?

The speed the game plays at works really well. This is a fast game and a quick game. I am generally interested in what you are doing and need to know what your powers are. And that is one nice thing about the easier powers, it doesn’t take much time to wrap my head around what your strategy for playing that card is going to be.

I also very much like the pull back mechanic. The fact I can drop troops out of a theater of war and give you fewer points, that is by far the most interesting thing to consider in the game. Mainly because, the longer you wait before you pull back, the more points you are giving your opponent. So, even if you think it might be close in a battle early game, it might make sense to pull back.

Who Is This For?

Firstly, I think it is for people who like that war and battling theme. Because the game definitely leans into the theme with the artwork. I think that if you don’t at least appreciate the theme there are going to be other lane battling games or lane tug of war games that will work better for you.

But I do think that the game difficulty level makes it very accessible. I could see playing Air, Land & Sea with a non-gamer and them being able to understand most of what is going on quickly. And since it’s a fast game anyways, if you need to play a learning game, you can and it won’t be bad to then shuffle up and play it again.

Final Thoughts on Air, Land & Sea

Air, Land & Sea is going to be leaving my collection. Now that doesn’t sound all that positive, and I will say, it is a mixed bag for me. Mainly because I compare it against Hanamikoji which has that same push and pull to it. Air, Land & Sea adds in powers, which seems intriguing, but Hanamikoji’s four actions are much more interesting in terms of a decision making space.

I think a lot of it comes down to that for me, the theme is just okay. I am not that interested in games with a war theme unless you add in something supernatural or fantasy to it. Just a straight up war themed game is not that interesting to me. So with the game leaning so heavily into it and just it not popping on the table aesthetically, I don’t know what I need it. I won’t play it over a number of other two player games.

That isn’t to say that the game won’t be for you. This is a game that I know a lot of people like. For me, I just have other games that I prefer and will want to play instead of it.

My Grade: B-
Gamer Grade: C+
Casual Grade: B

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How to Play Arboretum

Arboretum, when it comes down to it, is a set collection game, but one that has more going on in it. The mechanics of what you do on a turn are pretty simple, you take two cards from the combination of discard piles and the draw pile. You play one and discard one to your own discard pile.

As you play down cards you put them in rows and columns to create groups of trees in ascending order. The only thing that matters with that, is at the end of the game you can create paths that start and end with the same tree. In the middle it doesn’t matter. But if you can make it all of the same type of tree, you score more points.

The twist comes with how it is determined who scores a tree type. You need a card of that tree type in your hand, but not only that, you need the highest combined value of those tree types. So you can block someone from scoring well, or you might need to keep a lot for yourself. At the end, the player who scores the most points wins.

What Doesn’t Work?

The teaching of this game can be a big tricky. You need to know a few things before you get going. And I think with the first game, it is always going to be a bit of a challenge. The whole concept of ascending isn’t difficult, but the strategy of what cards to keep to score, that is trickier. I think some gamers will get it quickly, but I am not sure that most players would.

And while this isn’t a problem for me, I can see some people not liking that this game can be mean. If you build out a nice row of trees, say five of the same type starting with 1 and ending with 8, you might be in line to score a lot of points (13), but if I keep just enough points in that tree to keep you from scoring it, your hard work of building that run of trees is wasted. So, know it can be mean going into the game.

What Works?

I think that the balance of how many of a tree you play down versus you keep in your hand works well. You want to build that really big row of trees to score those 13 points, like in the last example, but also is it better to score fewer and make sure you score? The game is a very good push and pull of what you want to do. And what cards do you leave in your hand that an opponent might want?

I also like that you don’t need only one type of tree to score. I could go from an oak to a spruce to a maple and end on an oak. You score fewer points doing that, but it is still points. It can make sense to diversify and score in a number of trees versus a lot in a few. And that variety of strategy works well for me.

Then there is a game length and decision space. Not long ago I wrote about quick vs fast in board games. Read that here. The idea is the game turns don’t take too long and the game always keeps you engaged. This is a quick and fast game. Game play doesn’t take too long, and I need to know what you are doing.

Who Is This For?

I think this is a great game for people getting into the world of hobby board games. A lot of board games that you play growing up, chess or Stratego for example, give you an abstract game to figure out and a way to go up against an opponent. Arboretum isn’t as confrontational, but it feels in the same realm, just more of a gamers game.

But with that, it is not a game that is too easy for gamers. The decision space is well made for the game. And it feels like there can be different strategies. Plus, with different players, that will change up how you want to play the game as you go.

Arboretum Final Thoughts

This is a very good game. And one that I think is small enough that for a lot of gamers, it probably should be in their collection. Mainly because you can pull it off the shelf and play it with anyone. And I don’t see this being a game that can be solved. Which I think is important for these games that feel like a bit of a puzzle. There is just enough interaction that happens to keep it fresh.

And for me, the speed that the game plays at really sells it. I like being engaged. I like that I make meaningful decisions. And I like that this is a game I can play with basically anyone. I can see this becoming a staple filler type game for me. And it isn’t a mindless filler which is very important.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: B

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How To Play Village Green

In Village Green, you are trying to score in both rows and columns, getting your perfect layout. To set-up the game, you get your village as well as scoring cards for the columns. On your turn you can draft a green card and play one down, if you want. Or you draft a scoring card and play one down. Ideally, you end with a full green, 3×3 grid, and six scoring cards.

When you put down a green card, it needs to be adjacent to another green card. And the flower type or the color of the flower must match. This locks you into what you can play sometimes. There are some plain cards with no flowers, and you can put those down adjacent to anything. That allows you to connect anything to that card.

The scoring cards are basically as easy as well. You either put it on the edge of a row or a column. You can have a max of six, and you cover a previous scoring card. Maybe it is that you need yellow tulips in the column, but you draft a scoring card for red flowers in a row. Now you could cover up either of them later to make them work together better.

The game ends when one person fills their green. Then the round finishes and scores are totaled. The player with the most points wins.

What Doesn’t Work?

The solo mode is just okay. Mainly because the cards don’t swap around as much. I feel like I would want to be able to wipe those cards every round or remove the left most and put a new one down, something like that. Basically, since you see so few cards, that can determine your score. On the upside, the game plays fast.

What Works?

Multiplayer is much better. Even at two there is enough change that can happen throughout the game. If I take a card for my green, you’ll see a new card. If I take a scoring, you see a new card. I can imagine that it’d be even more of that with three or four, actually, it has to be. Though, I wonder with all the turnover in a four player game if it might be more random.

That said, the fact you can’t cover up green cards, but can cover up scoring cards, that is really good. I like that you can adjust your strategy mid game if you wanted by swapping out scoring. So scoring is a little bit more free to pick, but when you play down a card to your green, that one is going to be there. And that decision matters a lot. But you also play nine versus only needing to play three scoring cards.

The game also plays fast, but plays fast while giving you good thinky decisions. You try and figure out ways to optimize your points. But your choices are really simple. You either take a card for your green or a scoring card. And then play a card down. And with most likely 15 cards total played, the decision space is a very good size.

Who Would I Recommend It To?

I would say almost anyone. The game play is simple enough. The thinking of scoring for both rows and columns might fluster some people. But the game play itself is simple. So they can just focus on rows or columns. To optimize what you are doing you’ll need to pay more attention.

So my only time I’d not recommend it to people is if they play with Analysis Paralysis prone people. I think one AP player, if you know they are, it won’t be bad. But two would take a fast game to a much longer game. And I’m not sure that the depth of game play warrants a long play lenght.

Village Green – Final Thoughts

I was hoping that the solo play in this game would be better. It comes in a small box so one that is easier to take places and just play. But while it is a bit more random that way, it isn’t horrible. And the multiplayer is very good. Overall I enjoyed my plays of it a lot thus far, and I want to introduce it to more people.

And I think that’s the charm of this game. Like something like Ohanami or Floriforous, this is a pretty looking game that is going to charm most people. The artwork is nice, and even with it being a thinky game, it feels relaxing to play. And I like it when a game does that. That’s what makes me like Ohanami, A Gentle Rain, and Orchard so much, they are relaxing. And this is the one that makes you think more than any of the others.

Have you played Village Green? Do you like it, do you want to play it?

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: B

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My Farm Shop

Let’s just start out by saying that this game compares to Machi Koro, if you’re familiar with that game it’ll help with some of the mechanics. In My Farm Shop you are getting goods to then sell for coins, which are your victory points. You have 10 different areas on your board all which correspond to numbers, 2 through 12 actually with 2 and 12 sharing the same space. These are your farm plots where you can grow things, or where you get your yarn, honey, milk, or eggs. You trade in those goods to get coins, which are your points. But how it works is interesting.

On your turn you roll three dice. You use one of those dice to get a new field. These are the spots where you get your goods or coins. So you can upgrade a spot which gives you an egg to give you two balls of yarn instead. And then the other two dice will activate one of those fields, hence the 2 through 12. There are a set number of cards that go onto the board and as you finish off that pile the game ends. The player with the most points wins.

What Didn’t Work

This game generally works. There isn’t that much randomness to it really for a dice game. And while some people can have better luck, there are ways to mitigate that luck if you want to, which I’ll talk about in what I like. I do think that this game might be too simple for a lot of gamers. I’d put this at a complexity level with something like Splendor. And Splendor is a game that is still in my collection and I’ll play, but has run it’s course for me.

There is more decision space, I think, with how you build your engine up, but it’s not that much more than with Splendor. The choice you make is generally pretty obvious, which is fine. It falls into that category of a nice welcoming game, but one that might have a limited shelf life for a lot of gamers.

What Works

Let’s start with the one thing I teased, the die mitigation. I didn’t talk about it, but there are burlap sacks in the game. Another resource you can get. They are used to modify the dice just for you. So you want card #4 for your engine, but you don’t roll a four, you can reduce a five to a four or a three up to a four. Or a nine is getting activated but you really need to activate eight, so you can spend a burlap sack adjust down to an eight. It makes the burlap sacks important.

I also like that early in the game you can always activate everything. At the end you might have a dead turn, but for the most part what you start with just gives you stuff. Even later in the game, you need to decide how to spend those burlap sacks to try and optimize your engine. So you are always paying attention. If you aren’t rolling the dice, those other two dice still do activate what you have.

The game speed is also very nice. Now, I’ve only played this at two players, it will be longer with more people, but I don’t know it’ll be that much longer. Plus since you are always engaged it makes the game more interesting. And with more people points will be higher because you’ll activate more things, which will be satisfying because it’ll push the points higher. I like it when a game might be longer but rewards you by allowing you to do more.

Final Thoughts on My Farm Shop

This game isn’t going to be for everyone. When I say that it is light, it is a very light game. This is one that I think my wife will like, I think I can play with my parents, and it’ll go over well. The game is easy to teach and easy to play. That said, for heavier gamers, this game is going to be too light. For me, I can see this one getting played with the right groups. It’s also a nice filler sort of game when you don’t want too simple a filler.

Overall, it is a good game. It is also a good game at a good price. There are a fair amount of pieces in the box without it having a $50 price tag, which you’d expect for a box that size. I think that for a casual game night this will be a hit.

My Grade: B-
Gamer Grade: D
Casual Grade: A+

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There are a contingent of people who believe unless you’ve played the whole game, especially for campaign games, you haven’t played it enough to review it. I clearly am not in that camp. That said, I do want to come back and talk about this game because it is a big campaign game. And one that was successful on Kickstarter. So when people do complete the game, it might show up on the second hand market.

Who Is Tainted Grail For?

I feel like I haven’t covered this too much. Tainted Grail is a massive exploration and survival game. It is a game rich with story but also full of things that are ready to kill you at a moments notice. And that works for me. There is a story mode that helps make the game easier just with two simple tweaks. I’ve played the game on both regular and story mode and both work.

Theme

Why start with all of that, well, because you need some framework on the game. But Tainted Grail is an adult themed, meaning intense situations, descriptions and narrations. So this is not a game for kids. It isn’t adult themed like late night cable but it will get intense.

Story Progression

It’s also not a game for people who are going to get frustrated by running around the map. I call it story progression because I don’t have a better way to say it. But you will go from north to south to east to west and back again during the campaign. You might do that during a single chapter of the game. You see places that you’ve been before. And you’ll do that a number of times lighting the Menhir as you go. So it won’t work for some people retreading ground they’ve already seen.

Survival

Tainted Grail is a survival game. As much as there is story in the game, and there is a lot of great story, there is also a lot of survival. You need to keep the Menhir lit – they basically drive back the wyrdness. You need to fight monsters. The villages aren’t friendly to you. The game, and the world, are trying to kill you. And you always need more. More food, more money, more diplomacy, more combat, better reputation and more magic.

The game is really meant to be difficult. It is meant to make you feel like you need to scrape to survive. The story mode does help mitigate this. That said, if you are the type of player who doesn’t want to worry about that, this game probably won’t work for you.

Being the Heroes

In a lot of board games, you are the heroes. You rush into a room and do better than everyone else. The townsfolk can’t save themselves, but you can save them. Tainted Grail is not that kind of game. From your village, in the game, others left already to try and save you. They are missing. You leave as the B Team to find them. Can you fight, yes. Can you explore, yes. Are you the saviors of the land, maybe?

If you want to be heroic, this game does give you moments. If you want to be the heroes, you might be at times. But this is a grim dark fantasy setting. The amount you are a hero is dulled by the fact no one can truly be. It goes back to the theme, this is a world with dark things happening. But, I like that about the game. You don’t need to be the heroes, you need to help and hopefully survive.

Does The Story Pay Off?

I write this question because for my 2020 and 2019 #1 game of all time, Gloomhaven, the story kind of pays off. It’s a situation where, yes, it pays off, it has an end. But it isn’t the best story out there. For some people, how it pays off is going to be disappointing. Does Tainted Grail follow that game or have a good ending?

Tainted Grail, I feel, gives you a better end to the campaign. The story has an ending point and has a few spots you can end it. Gloomhaven will give you one ending, Tainted Grail will give you several. And the one I have seen was enjoyable. It made sense for what we did with how it ended. And there is a lot of story to be uncovered still and I am curious to find out more.

Would I Play It Again?

Probably, I debated last night if I would. When we had wrapped up the campaign and I was getting ready for bed, I wasn’t sure that I would. But, I do think that I would. I think that I’d tweak the game slightly to play it again.

Now, that might sound surprising, I’d change up a game that I love. I might do that, why, because I want to see more story. We didn’t play with Ailei so I’d likely play her deck. But we also didn’t play with Maggot. So I would play on story mode, I would play true solo, but, I’d play as if I was the whole party. That is just so I can explore more of the story. Or maybe I’d build out each character and swap between them.

If you are concerned that Tainted Grail might not be replayable, don’t be. First, there is a ton of content just in one play through. Probably 50+ hours for just Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon and that might be enough time for you. So the value is there. But if you want to play it again, you can. We have a lot of statuses that we didn’t get, that I would love to find.

Final Thoughts on Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

This is up there with some of the best gaming experiences that I’ve had. The story immerses you in the world and you feel the weight of the burden that you carry. That might not be the experience that everyone wants. That might be hard to separate from reality for some people. For me, games give me worlds to explore that I know aren’t my own that I know are a story.

I won’t say where this one ends up on my Top 100 List, it was there last year and I’m going through and doing my list again now. I’ll just say that if you are looking for a very immersive game, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is among the best I’ve ever played.

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The Game

As you play this game, you are flipping over cards and filling them in on a bus line/subway line. For example, I flip a five and decide to fill in five spots on the blue line. I cross out that many spots and put the number five in the first open spot on the bus for green. This shows that I’ve filled in something on the green line once. I flip another card, it’s a four, I could fill that in on the purple line, but purple shares a station with green four spots out, and I already filled in that station, so I’d be wasting one if I filled in purple. So I put it in blue, and you do this until you have every spot on the buses filled in. There are some special cards as well, there’s a free space that allows you to fill in a spot, and there’s a transfer which scores you points for how many different lines come into that station. You get points for completed lines and for transfers, but you lose points if you have too many stations not filled in.

The Breakdown

The game does one thing that I really want my roll and write games to do, and that is that everyone plays at once. I flip a card and everyone picks and fills in on their own sheet a line. Theoretically that could mean that everyone would make it identical, but the odds of that are extremely low. But I generally want my light games like this one to have little to no downtime.

Saying that, though, I do think you have some interesting decisions to make. Odds are you won’t fill in every station or get every route, so you need to play where and when you are placing on lines so that you aren’t cutting yourself short. I did not mention one type of card when I was talking about that, and that is the skip card. It allows you to start in the first available spot on the line, and then skip over a group of filled in ones to continue filling it. So you have decisions when you get that to see how much you can fill up, because the more you put in, the more lines cross, and the more likely you are to not be able to fill in the full number on the card flipped, hence wasting some.

Components

I also want to point out the components for the game. They are really nice. It comes with dry erase markers which are nice, which of course means it comes with laminated or dry erase boards, so you don’t have to do that yourself. Or, you won’t run out of sheets as well if you don’t laminate. It also has an insert to keep everything sitting nicely, which it does. Overall, just well designed components for the game. The box might be a little bit large, but because of the insert, nothing rattles around.

Final Thoughts

Metro X is a very solid game. While I do think that there can be some interesting decisions in the game, it isn’t too difficult to teach or play. I think that will make some people believe that it doesn’t have decisions or that many hard decisions, but there are definitely a number in the game that I would consider tough as you try and optimize the puzzle, and I like that aspect of it and that aspect generally in games, easy enough to learn but interesting decisions.

Overall, I think that this game won’t be quite enough for some players, but a lot of people will enjoy it for how simple it is but for making them think. I like it well enough for that, and I’m definitely glad that I picked it up. The game looks nice, plays nicely, and is easy enough to learn and teach, and I think you need some games like that in most collections.

Grade

Overall Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: C+
Casual Grade: A

Have you played this roll and write game? What do you think of it?

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In Dominion, you are building your deck up to be able to buy as many victory points as possible. The downside is that those victory points clog up your deck. On your turn you are playing down cards that give you additional actions, card draw, number of cards you can buy, and money. At the end of your turn, you draw up a new hand of cards and you repeat the process. Doing this, you are getting cards like Marketplace, Council Room, Estates, or cards like Copper, Gold, and Silver that give you money.

In terms of a pure deck building game, Dominion is a pretty good game. The issue is that it had a dull theme on it. It looks like it’s a trading in the Mediterranean game with poor artwork and a dated looking card design. And with Dominion, that theme “works” because the game itself has nothing to do with the theme. Why the Council Room gives you draw of 4 cards and an extra buy action and the Festival gives you 2 coins, 2 more actions and another buy action, who knows. And really who cares, you are just trying to build an engine of cards to be able to buy estates as quickly as possible.

But, like most deck building games, you are really looking for a very small combo. You are looking for ways to get as much money into your hand as consistently as possible while avoiding getting dead cards. There is a strategy to the game, but with a bit of luck of the draw when you start the game, one person is going to be down the path to victory faster than everyone else, and there are going to be no catch-up mechanisms. Now, a good strategy game, that’s fine, but there’s enough luck with the shuffle of the deck that now it doesn’t matter that you figured out the strategy, someone was able to get the combo going a turn faster than you, you won’t win. And if you don’t notice the strategy, you can figure out half way through the game who is going to win because they figured out the right combo of the cards. Now, again, Dominion is an abstract deck builder with a pasted on artwork and theme that aren’t needed, so if you want that puzzle and hope that you can get your engine rolling faster with a little luck in the card draw, Dominion is a great game for that. It’s meant for you to min-max your cards and find the ways to empty out your deck to just have what you need, more power to you.

For me, I’ve gotten rid of Dominion though. I think that there are other deck builders like Clank! In! Space! or Xenoshyft: Onslaught that I have on my shelf that are a lot better. Now, there’s a bit more going on in those games, so it’s probably not as good for teaching deck building, but I’m not teaching deck building too often. And I think some of what bugged me about Dominion was that there are a plethora of expansions for the game, but they really don’t add that much new, and the new and additional rules that they add, they aren’t thematic, or are they used all that often, because they add to the complexity of Dominion. Dominion being more complex pushes it away from being that introductory deck building game, which means that unless you have people who live and breath Dominion, there are those people out there, I know one of them, and always want to play it and play it with other people who love it, those cards and rules aren’t going to be needed.

Dominion is significant to the hobby, and I recognize that. It really helped create deck builders, and without it, games like Xenoshyft: Onslaught or Clank! In! Space! might not exist. And Dominion has helped get people into the hobby, but some of the love for it that it’s gotten over the years, it just doesn’t resonate with me. That might just be my taste in games coming through, but I think that there are plenty of better deck building games out there, and while Dominion might have been a good introductory deck building game to teach the concept, I think that there are better ones out there, and an early year of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is going to be just as good for deck building if not better. Or even something that’s definitely more complex like Xenoshyft: Onslaught, because it’s cooperative, could work decently well in that teaching role. And with both of those games, they feel like they have more theme and that you are doing something more. The veneer on Dominion has now become too thin when it comes to theme.

Overall Grade: C-
Gamer Grade: D
Casual Grade: B

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