I'm a picky gamer so it takes a lot to get me excited about a new game. Every now and again one comes down the pike that makes me eager for the next session. I think the last game that got me this excited to play again was probably Panamax. So let's dive in..
1) Disclaimer: I need to make two disclaimers. The first is that I only have a single play under my belt. The second is that I played Teotihuacan using a mod on Tabletop Simulator, with a downloaded copy of the rule book from BGG. As a note to the designers (and designers everywhere), immediately after finishing the game, I hopped on Amazon and pre-ordered a copy. Online play remains my favorite way to learn new games and the most likely way for me to purchase a physical copy.
2) Components: Since I've only played it online, I can't comment on the quality of the components. However, TTS uses scanned images of the actual graphics, and I can say they are gorgeous, easy on the eyes, well laid out, and have moderately easy to grok iconography. There are no language dependent cards for those playing in a multilingual group.
3) Rules: The rule book is well written with no glaring ambiguities. I have a few lingering questions about tile interactions that I've posted in the rules forum, but over all learning the game from the book was not a chore.
4) Mechanics: For long time gamers, the mechanics of Teotihuacan will feel comfortably familiar, but also fresh enough to justify being a new game. 386
This to me is a perfect combination because it makes a game that has a decent amount of heft and complexity relatively easy to learn and teach.
The heart of the game involves moving workers (in the form of dice) up to three action spaces per turn. The cost of taking an action goes up depending on how many other players already have dice there, and the power of the action goes up if you already have your own dice there. Timing your actions to save money (in the form of cocoa) adds one layer that makes every decision more consequential, and thus more interesting. Timing your actions to focus your workers on the same action adds another.
This is a point salad game, with multiple paths to victory. The most obvious involves contributing to the building of the Pyramid of the Sun, but there are many other strategic paths you can take as well.
In the process you'll have to manage your resources - wood, stone, gold, and cocoa, along with the most precious resource of them all - time. Periodically the game is interrupted by a solar eclipse which triggers a scoring round. There is some variability in the timing of the eclipses, but you'll have plenty of notice. After the 3rd eclipse (or when the pyramid is completed) there is a final scoring round and the game ends.
5) Pacing: Turns consist of "pick a die, move it, take an action, next!" Pacing is fairly quick with not a lot of downtime in between turns (another important consideration for me). Each round the game moves one step closer to the inevitable eclipse, creating a maximum turn length, but player actions can also hasten the process so there is some player control over game length as well.
6) Theme: For the most part, the theme felt organic. I understand that early on in the development process there were some questionable marketing choices but those seem to have been corrected. There is one aspect of building the pyramid that seems a bit pasted on, but creates interesting game play decisions and wasn't so far removed from the game as to be immersion breaking for me. 629