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Welcome to Which Game First where we boldly explore the hilariously huge world of board games. Did we unearth any hidden treasures you’ve been missing out on? Let’s find out!
First up: We press the gas pedal and our luck in The Mother Road: Route 66
Next: We build up rome and our architectural reputations in Foundations of Rome
And lastly: We race our winged beasts across peaks on card power in Mount Drago
The Mother Road: Route 66
Designed by: Sid Sackson, Rick Soued
Published by: Eagle-Gryphon Games (2022)
Players: 1 – 4
Ages: 9 & up
Playing time: 20 – 40 minutes
The Mother Road: Route 66 is a press-your-luck race on that famous stretch of road, Route 66. On their turn, players will roll 4 dice, and divide the rolls up into pairs. The player then uses the results to move the cars of those numbers. So if you roll say a 4 a 4 a 3 a 3, you can choose to make those a pair of 7’s , or a 8 and a 6. You would then choose to move the 7 car twice, or the 8 car plus the 6 car one space each.
It is a press of your luck game, so feel free to keep rolling until you choose to stop and mark your positions on the lines, OR crash the car on RT 66 by making a roll where you can’t move your cars anymore, and start over.
The goal is to be the first player to move your car to the end of the number line, and score the most points. Players who are close enough to the end of the line can possibly score second place points on that line. Once 6 of the number lines are completed, the game ends and points are totaled. Player with the highest total wins, and becomes King of the Road!
Foundations of Rome
Designed by: Emerson Matsuuchi
Published by: Arcane Wonders (2022)
Players: 2 – 4 (5)
Ages: 13 & up
Playing time: 60 – 90 minutes
Foundations of Rome is a city-building board game which puts you into the role of an architect competing to own land and build magnificent structures!
Players are randomly assigned starting positions on the city grid. And take 1 of 3 actions on their turn:
- Take Income – get 5 coins + extra coins for buildings they control in the city
- Buy a Lot – from the market, pay the coin, some are more expensive than others (on a line)
- Construct a Building – if you own the spaces, you can build a building up that size lot. A player can also build over a building they already built, so long as it is at least one size bigger.
This continues for 3 rounds. At the end of each round, players score for citizens, score building bonuses, and collect coins. Some icons allow for a player to score points on buildings adjacent to theirs – basically using other players’ buildings to enhance their scores. And of course, there are BONUS points available for having the highest totals in these categories.
The player with the most glory points is appointed leader of the new Senate, and wins the game, and who knows they might just take a stab at becoming the new Ceaser. Oh wait, bad joke, too soon?
Mount Drago
Designed by: Leo Colovini
Published by: Schmidt Spiele (2011)
Players: 2 – 5
Ages: 8 & up
Playing time: 30 minutes
Mount Draco is a sort of hybrid – it’s a race game, but not really, and it’s a worker placement game, but not really. A bit hard to pinpoint, but regardless, here’s how it goes.
Ten dragons start the game on the first square of a movement track, with each space on the track bearing a number from -2 to 8. Four blue and three green scoring spaces are scattered on the track, and four summit spaces are found at the end of the track. Each player is dealt a hand of six cards, with cards coming in ten colors to match those of the dragons; each player also starts with a uniquely-colored card face-up on the table to indicate which dragon the player is riding.
On a turn, a player lays down one card from his hand, then advances the appropriately-colored dragon as many spaces as the number shown on the card. If you are on that dragon, then fly on the back of the dragon! But another player might be on that color dragon, and then that player gets moved on the back of the dragon. Some dragons will have no riders, and that’s ok, just move the dragon alone – and you can choose to change to the back of that dragon if you wish.
If a dragon moves onto a blue space, then each dragon on a space valued three or less scores that many points for the player riding that dragon, if any. If a dragon moves onto a green space, then each player scores points equal to the value of the space on which his dragon stands. If a player causes no scoring on his turn or plays his last card in hand, he refills his hand to six cards; if he causes scoring, then he draws no card and plays with a smaller hand next turn.
When a dragon moves onto one of the four summit spaces (the last spaces on the board track) , all dragons score points for their riders. Once three dragons have reached the summit, the game ends after a final scoring, and whoever has scored the most points wins, and gets to breathe fire for the rest of the gaming day!