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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 light up the city sky with colorful fireworks in Festival
Next: We’re planners of the future competing to build the most impressive city in NEOM
And lastly: We go for maximum bling in our collection of finery in The Great Split
Festival
Designed by: Grégory Grard
Published by: Scorpion Masqué (2024)
Players: 2 – 4
Ages: 8 & up
Playing time: 20 minutes
In Festival, you select tiles to place on your tableau to create the most impressive and beautiful fireworks display possible…and of course, score the most points! You have two stacks of tiles in front of you, with each neighboring player having access to the stack closest to them; tiles come in four colors and four firework designs. Four stacks of objective cards are in the middle of the table, along with four crowd-pleaser tiles.
On a turn, take a tile from the top of either stack and place it in the 3×3 grid on your board, whether on the ground level or on an existing stack. Alternatively, you can take an objective card from the top of its stack and place it to the left of your board. To end your turn, see whether you’ve satisfied any of your objectives or the crowd-pleasers that are available to everyone. Move each completed objective to the right of your board.
Whenever a player has completed six objectives or a stack of firework tiles has run out, the game concludes at the end of the round. In addition to scoring completed objectives and claimed crowd-pleasers, you have a target color and firework type depicted on your board. Each tile of this color or type at the top of a stack on your board is worth as many points as the number of tiles in that stack. If a tile matches both color and type, you score it twice. Time to light up the sky with our review!
NEOM
Designed by: Paul Sottosanti
Published by: Lookout Games (2018)
Players: 1 – 5
Ages: 10 & up
Playing time: 45 minutes
NEOM is a drafting and tile placement city-building game. Players compete to build the most impressive city utilizing a tree of 17 different goods (from three different tiers) that can each be unlocked, allowing the placement of increasingly powerful tiles as the game progresses. Tiles also feature roads which must be connected without being rotated.
At the start of each game, players draft cornerstones — powerful, unique tiles that heavily change what is most valuable from game to game. Then there will be three generations of tiles, each generation yields more productive tiles. Types of tiles are color coded, and type of tile has its own set of scoring rules. There are residential, industrial, commercial, public, and resource tiles to choose from. There are also disaster tiles that you can unleash on your opponents.
You’ll need goods to help build your future city, run your roads to the edges of your tableau to have access to your opponent’s resources.
The game ends after 3rd Generation, with lots of ways to score points, most points of course wins and becomes the future ruler of this city of the future.
The Great Split
Designed by: Hjalmar Hach, Lorenzo Silva
Published by: Horrible Guild (2022)
Players: 2 – 7
Ages: 8 & up
Playing time: 45 minutes
In The Great Split, you draft cards to collect riches such as gems, gold, artwork, and tomes, adding them to your collection to make it the most prestigious of all!
You start each round by splitting your cards into two groups, then you pass your wallet to the player on your left — but only one group of cards will be given back to you. You split, they choose! Don’t despair, though, because while your opponent is looking at your split, you also receive a similar offer from the player on your right, so choose wisely. When your hand is complete, play your cards to add all those riches to your collection.
Each type of riches awards you prestige points in different ways, so maintain a balanced collection of gems, keep an eye on the value of the art market as it evolves, and pile up priceless tomes. Depending on how each player builds their collection, different riches will take on a different value for each of them. Show off your best haggling skills in crafting your split, and create the perfect offer to push your opponent to take what you want them to take…leaving you with the tastiest loot!
Be prepared for when the mid-game scorings are triggered. Manage your gold reserves sensibly to get additional riches, and make your collection just right!
After 7 rounds, final scoring occurs, players with the most VP wins, gets the victory trophy and then splits!