Matthew BaileyAnother UKGE purchase I was excited to finally try. This is for 1-2 players and completely standalonegame from Flamecraft, which I’ve never actually played. Officially it’s for 10+ but I think that’s definitely child dependent and some could manage it earlier.
How to play:
At any given time you have two market cards which have patterns you’re trying to create on the board by manipulating the tokens to earn points. First you taken a dragon token from the bag and place it on the board. You may then choose to activate its power. Each dragon type has a different power. Some allow you to move tokens around, others let you get more tokens from the bag and one let’s you activate a different dragon’s power.
You can then claim any market cards you’ve completed and draw back up to two.
At any time on your turn you can also spend one of your three coins to take two additional market cards before discarding two. This gives you the chance to change the patterns you’re aiming for.
The game ends when you’ve taken the last token. Add up the points on your completed market cards, plus one point per un-used coin.
Components:
I went for the standard version which I think has really nice quality components so I don’t feel the need to upgrade to the deluxe. The dragon tokens are very tactile, like azul tiles. The board is sturdy. The cardboard coins would be nicer as metal ones but you don’t interact with them much anyway.
Verdict:
I really like this game. It sits alongside azul and harmonies for me as ‘just thinky enough for a tired evening’. You can’t really plan ahead very much since your opponent will probably change the board on their turn anyway (a bit like labyrinth). And your options are limited on your turn but there are often clever ways to achieve two market cards at once by making good use of the powers.
I played it with adults first and then we tested out having Hayley (😎 ‘help’ her grandma. That was the first time grandma won so obviously it was Hayley’s help that did it. Hayley then asked to play it with her friend. However, she still needed quite a bit of coaching on how the powers worked and started to lose interest towards the end of the game. So, I wouldn’t assume this will be a hit with all kids that age. Some might struggle to see how they can create the patterns as you have to kind of imagine how it’ll look after you take your action in a 3D way because you can stack tokens on top of each other. Others might just not have the patience since there isn’t much to do when it’s not your turn.
