Image Courtesy of <PERSON>
This review continues my series of detailed reviews that attempt to be part review, part resource for anyone not totally familiar with the game. For this reason I expect readers to skip to the sections that are of most interest.
If you liked the review please thumb the top of the article so others have a better chance of seeing it and I know you stopped by. Thanks for reading.
Summary
Game Type - Card (Tableau-Building) Game
Play Time: 60-150 minutes
Number of Players: 2-5
Mechanics - Hand Management, Pattern Building, Take That!
Difficulty - Moderate (Can be learned in 30 minutes, takes 1-2 plays to begin to understand all the moving parts)
Components - Excellent
Release - 2017
Designer - <PERSON> -(Debut Title)
Overview and Theme
In the cut-throat world of the Theme Park business, competition is fierce to build the most amazing attractions and lure the crowds through the main gate. Owners search to find the most appealing themes and the best upgrades to create super-rides and money-draining sideshows.
The owners will seek out Blueprints to new and amazing structures and then look to upgrade them with all manner of new creations and guest comforts. Staff will need to be hired too but that is not where it ends. This is Unfair ...and park owners will also try to bribe officials, pay off hooligans to vandalise rival parks and safety inspectors may just be given a tip-off or two to put some heat on the competition.
This theme park building is done using cards to create a tableau. The game is essentially a card game and the central board is really a very handy management tool to assist the flow of the game.
Theme aside, I love helping to shed light on new designs, especially when they come from an Aussie designer as we are small fish in a very big pond. I don't know <PERSON> overly well but I do know the time and effort he has put into the design and playtesting of Unfair. 470
He has brought the design several times to our local convention, BorderCon, and I have seen much change and playtesting input go into the evolution of the game.
I could have been a part of the playtesting team also but just had too much on my plate at that time. So when <PERSON> asked if I could cover the game for the Kickstarter launch, I was only too happy to help.
Do I like this game? In short I think it's a cracker, but my last play was over 2 years ago and I know the game has evolved considerably since then. So I will be discovering the game all over again as I take a look at the game in its final iteration (I managed 2 more plays over this past weekend).
So roll up roll up folks and see for yourself, the greatest theme park of all time...it'll be a heck of a ride!
The Components
I usually include quite a detailed components section, but as this is a Kickstarter Preview, I will not go into quite as much depth. Also keep in mind that any component shots I include here are of pre-production quality. For the record I was pretty happy with the components (card thickness, cardstock etc) and I know they will only get better in the final release.
The Central Board - Unfair makes use of a rectangular central board to keep track of the various card decks. It also features a central track to manage where the play is up to each round.
It's colourful, engaging and really supports the play of the game.
Cards - The game comes with a large array of cards and in truth this is a card game as it is a tableau-building game.
The Cards on offer include Park Cards (the largest deck of cards by far), Event Cards, Blueprint Cards, City Cards and Showstopper Cards. There are then a few odds and ends such as Main Gate and Loan Cards.
The Cards are all highly detailed, featuring great art and the graphic design is very well done and consistent throughout.
The cards themselves all have a letter in the bottom corner to denote which thematic set they belong to. This is important because the players chose the themes to play with each game (one theme per player) and all cards of a theme are used in a given play. This does have some implications for packing up (I find it best to gather the cards of a thematic set when finished) and then the cards used will need to be well shuffled for the next play so thematic cards of a given type are not all clumped together in a particular deck.
The remaining tokens for money, start-player and the like are all well done and do the job nicely.
I will update this section to my usual standard once the full game is published. 336