So yea, that whole Ameritrash revolution thing happened not so very long ago. Basically, it sounded like some people were tired of cubes and wanted more drama in their games. I can definitely see where they're coming from at times, and I think that's what stopped me from givingNotre Dame a try earlier than I did. Now that I have though, I have to say this is really just a great game!
Description
Yup, this one is a cube pusher. If you look beyond the cubes though, I think you'll see a game that does almost everything right. The goal of the game is of course to acquire victory points. Wow, I'm making it sound real exciting and unique so far. Let me move on to some excitinggameplay.
Each player has their personal board that is connected to all other players' boards. Each player also has their own stack of cards and pile of cubes. During a round you do the following:
1. Each player draws three of their own cards, picks one and passes the rest to their left. Then you pick from those two and pass the last one around. This is the card drafting.
2. Take turns playing the cards they drafted. Almost all of them involve adding a cube to your board and taking an action. The more cubes you add to an action, the larger the benefit.
3. Each player then gets a chance to purchase one more action from an random allotment of cards.
4. The rats invade each player. If the rats get out of control, then the player suffers penalties.
5. You periodically score the center of the board that is an area majority technique.
And that's all there is.
1. Analysis Paralysis / Downtime
This is one place where Notre Dame absolutely shines.
A. First of all, the card drafting is done simultaneously. Yes, there will be one player who is slower than the others and creates a back fill of cards, but it's still not that bad. The simultaneous selection means that mostevery one's decision making is done at the same time.
B. You are repeatedly given a "choose 1 of 3" decision. 629
When drafting cards, it's always choose one of 3 or less. When purchasing actions, there are always three available. When playing cards, there are always 3 or less available. Even if a player like to min/max every possible choice, there's not that many to calculate!
Really, this game just flies by and keeps you absorbed the whole time.
2. Multiplayer Solitaire / Player Interaction / (Competitive / Casual)
And we step from Notre Dame's strong point straight into it's biggest potential downsides. It's not purely multiplayer solitaire, but it can come close at times. There's really only a few places you can affect your neighbors:
A. You can control what you pass them during the draft. Even though, sometimes you are just going to have to take what you need and give them what they need.
B. You do actually have a carriage that travels around the boards and picks up chits (messages). You can pick up a chit before someone else gets a chance to. Unfortunately, there's usually always another chit that will work almost as well. Also, the game prevents you from harvesting all the chits from a given area, so you can't just leave some one's carriage high and dry.
C. The central cathedral does have area majority scoring. Well, technically it gives out X number of points divided equally between all the cubes present. If a player gets the bonus all to themselves, then they are probably going to kick your butt.
So, Notre Dame generally appeases the casual gamer more than the competitive one when it comes to player interaction.
3. Skill / Luck / (Competitive / Casual)
This one is actually pretty hard to judge. You are going to see pretty much the same set of cards every game, just in different order. Some of the card decks are seeded and some of them are gone through 3 times, so the randomness is definitely curtailed. Overall, I'd say the level of luck is pretty low.
I think there is sufficient room for skill in Notre Dame as well. In particular, attuning yourself with what your neighbors are doing such that you are more likely to be passed the cards you need is an acquired skill. Still, this is one place that the whole "choose 1 of 3" can come back to haunt you. There isn't room for drastic board sweeping manouvers in Notre Dame. It's much more a game of incremental gain. Even though, experienced players stand a very good chance of beating the beginners in this game.
Again, I think this game will be more appreciated by the casual crowd. It has enough depth to grow, and enough luck to keep playings different, but it doesn't strike a cord with the tournament setting in my opinion.
4. 629