Matthew BaileyGame 8 of the “Bailey Family Summer 2023 Board Game Bonanza” is “Framework,” played by myself, Jack (8.), and Toby (5).
“Framework” is an abstract tile-based board game by German designer Uwe Rosenberg. I am a particular fan of Uwe Rosenberg as he has created many tetromino and tile-laying games, a genre I particularly enjoy.
One of his games that I have played and liked is called “Nova Luna.” Therefore, I was quite surprised when I opened “Framework,” read the rules, and discovered that it is essentially the same game as “Nova Luna,” with a few different scoring conditions and a less exciting way of drafting tiles. In fact, if you look up “Framework” on Board Game Geek, it states that it is a reimplementation of “Nova Luna” (which I was convinced I have already reviewed but can’t seem to find a review anywhere.).
Essentially, the game works by drawing a tile and placing it in front of you. The tile will have coloured numbers and, in most cases, coloured rings of material. Your objective is to connect the number of coloured rings shown on your tiles, and when complete, you may place one of your wooden counters over that number. The game starts off slowly, but as you build up larger groups of tiles and numbers, you start creating chains and situations where you can place a number down and already have it completed. The first person to get rid of all their counters wins. There are a few variations on the scoring, such as a mixture of colours or tiles where one colour must be completed before the second colour.
The slight differences from “Nova Luna,” if you have played it, are that you can create chains of coloured tiles, unlike “Nova Luna” where they must be touching, and there is no Patchwork-style time mechanic when drawing tiles. Instead, each player takes turns drawing one more tile than the number of players from the bag (which is a very nice tote bag, I must say) and then takes turns drawing them.
The component quality is good. The tiles are nice and chunky, and the bag is of good quality. I just wish there was a proper insert inside to hold the wooden tokens, but I guess baggies are fine in this case.
Now, whether this game is good and whether I would recommend it is a bit of an unusual question. Firstly, it is a good game, but “Nova Luna” is also a good game, and to be honest, I am not sure there is a need to own both unless you are a hardcore Uwe Rosenberg fan (looks around the room and covers face). No, I do actually prefer the way the chain system works in this game, but pretty much everything else is better in “Nova Luna.”
Another big downside to “Framework” is that the theme is really, really dull. I mean, the kids will enjoy a game of draughts, which equally doesn’t have amazing thematic awesomeness, but there definitely could have been something here to make it a little bit more appealing. Equally, not to go on about it for the tenth time, but the theme of “Nova Luna” is a lot prettier and more appealing.
So, is it a good game? Yes, it is, but I don’t think I can recommend it unless you really like this type of game and can overlook the dreadfully dull theme.
Jack was enjoying it but Toby requires a theme and sense of achievement to be invested and it was a little bit abstract and unappealing overall for him and he quickly started enquiring about what was for lunch.
Its recommended retail price (RRP) is £30, but you can usually find it for around £20 to £25. If you come across it on sale for less than that, then maybe it might be worth considering.
If you are interested, Nova Luna is actually playable on BGA (link below) or maybe watch a playthrough of “Nova Luna” as well as “Framework” and decide which of the two you prefer, as there are some aspects of “Framework” that are better, but overall, “Nova Luna” is the better package.
In fact… Uwe… can we have the scoring system of this, with the drafting and theme of Nova Luna, please? That would be great.
