(This is really a review, not a preview.)
I recently got a chance to play the recently Kickstarted <PERSON> game, Amerigo, with 3 <PERSON> game fans. So, what is it like? Is it good? Should you buy it? I can't tell you whether you should buy the game, but I can tell you what I thought of it.
"A man walks down the street with a box like that, you know he's not afraid of any game."
Talk about first impressions. Wow. That is one impressive box. I don't think I've ever seen a Eurogame in such a large box. Let's remember that Amerigo is published by Queen Games, who are known both for their really functional inserts, and for the resulting significantly over sized boxes. This is no exception. The insert has nice slots for everything, but that does mean a lot of extra space in the box. Of course this means the cube tower comes pre-assembled.
"Wait, what? A cube tower? Has Feld designed *another* unique core mechanism?"
If you've heard of this game, you are probably aware that it does indeed use a "cube tower" as its central mechanism. Whether you are a fan of Mr. <PERSON>'s work, or not, you must admit that he continues to create games built around a single, unusual core mechanism. Amerigo is no exception. This time, there is a circle of 7 actions. There are 7 action cubes for each action. The tower is seeded by pouring cubes through it, and then the remaining cubes are arranged on the circle. Once around the circle completes 1 of the 5 turns in the game. The cubes from the appropriate space on the circle are poured through the tower. The cubes that come out represent the actions available for each player to take during that phase. The largest number of cubes of any one action (color) determines the number of actions that can be taken for *any* of the available actions. Every player can use the number of actions for any one of the available choices. So, 3 red, 2 blue, 5 green, means that a player can choose to take 5 red actions, or 5 blue actions, or 5 green actions.
In practice, we were a little skeptical of the tower. It seemed that most of the cubes poured into the tower seemed to come out. Still this usually meant about 3 choices of actions during each phase. We did have a few phases with only 1 choice, which seemed disappointing, since everyone pretty much had to do the same thing, but generally, there seemed to be enough choices for us all to pursue our own plans. There also seemed to generally be multiple chances at the same action during a single pass around the circle, supporting focus on a particular "strategy". Personally, I liked the cube tower. 118
Since it was a "choose what to do now" mechanism (unlike the Macao"choose an action for the future" mechanism), I found I could begin to create a plan and a strategy, even in my first game.
"Enough with the cube tower. Is there a (mmmm...tasty, tasty) point salad or not?"
I suppose that all depends on how much you like your salads. In Amerigo, a primary part of the game is the "sail/survey/settle" process used to occupy islands for points. (These are the blue/red/green actions from the phase circle.) First to settle an island gets points. Settlements score points. Private settlements are cheaper but score less. Shared settlements are more expensive but score more. Finishing an island scores points. Everyone who participated in settling an island scores points as well. Settling an island allows grabbing goods, which score end-game points. You get the idea. Settle good. Ugh.
Independent of the "sail/survey/settle" there are also a number of "tracks". Progress track. Turn Order track. Cannon track. (brown/white/black action phases) Gold track. Progress and Turn Order score end game points for discrete progress levels, such as 1, 3, 5, 10, and 15. The Gold track scores end game points for every space. The Cannon track doesn't score. Significant points can be scored on these tracks completely independent of island settling. The Progress track also lets the player take tiles which can enhance actions or give bonuses. The Turn Order track lets the player use a different action in place of the white, Turn Order, actions. Excess progress on some tracks give Gold track advances. Excess progress on the Gold track gives points. So, quite a few moving pieces, but I found the parts of the machine to be simpler and easier to control than, say , more like .
"Wait, did you say cannons? Sailing, and islands, and settlements, and cannons... Is the Theme strong with this one, Master? 349