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-----• Camel Up, by Steffen Bogen (eggertspiele/Pegasus Spiele)
-----• Concept, by Gaëtan Beaujannot and Alain Rivollet (Repos Production)
-----• Splendor, by Marc André (Space Cowboys)
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I published an overview of Splendor in March 2014 that includes both a video demonstration and written commentary. I've now played 25 times, and my comments at the time still hold true:
Quote:
Splendor continues the trend of fast-playing, highly variable games that have been hitting my table recently. The game is highly tactical as players frequently buy or reserve cards, putting new ones into the market and forcing you to either be flexible in what you're building or reserve cards earlier than you might want so that you can build them later...
[S]ometimes you luck into a card that's perfect for you because the previous player bought or reserved something and opened a hole in the tableau, but you can still have a game plan and a direction for how you want to build based on the tiles on display and the expensive cards in the back row. You can hog the jokers through early reservations, forcing others to build up exactly the chips they need and making card reservation less attractive — which will sometimes compel them to leave a card on the table they might otherwise pick up and *scoop* you get to nab it instead.
Compared to the other two nominees, Splendor is a more traditional game design, one with all the players trying to optimize their moves in order to score, score, score! The design is minimal and relatively clean — although I've heard grumbling from a few parties about the awkwardness of the "two chips of the same color" restriction — and the game plays quickly and feels addictive, partly because you feel that if only you had made a few different moves, you would have nabbed that card first, which would have let you then do this, and *boom* victory. Another huge aspect of the game's appeal are the gloriously produced gem tokens; they feel great in your hand and sound like money on the table. Other publishers should take a lesson from Space Cowboys and produce a premium edition of their games in the regular edition box because those gem tokens do half the job of selling the game.[S]ometimes you luck into a card that's perfect for you because the previous player bought or reserved something and opened a hole in the tableau, but you can still have a game plan and a direction for how you want to build based on the tiles on display and the expensive cards in the back row. You can hog the jokers through early reservations, forcing others to build up exactly the chips they need and making card reservation less attractive — which will sometimes compel them to leave a card on the table they might otherwise pick up and *scoop* you get to nab it instead.
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I've watched more games of Concept (two) than I've played (one), and I can understand that voyeurism being one of the real appeals of the game. Heck, the rules for Concept even suggest this possibility: "During our extensive testing, we eventually abandoned the points system and kept only the pleasure of guessing and being guessed. Feel free to do the same as your enjoyment of the experience will be just as large!" (Disclosure: I was paid a one-time fee by Repos Production for editing of the English rules.)
This variant came to life in one of the games I observed as the clue-givers were taking foreeeeeeeever to communicate the answer, starting over a couple of times as the stream of guesses ran off the rails, then ground to a halt. Eventually someone blurted out the answer, everyone sighed in relief and amazement (that it took them that long to guess, that no one got the answer sooner, that all the built-up tension dissolved in seconds), then another guesser scooped up all of the scoring markers and dumped them in front of the guesser. "Here you go. You win!" That game had the feeling of a group party more than a competition, and while the co-operative game Hanabi just won SdJ in 2013, I can still imagine the jury going with Concept because it's as outré a choice as Hanabi, a game that expands the concept of how a game can be, a game that feels modern while also presenting players with an old-timey, gather-round-the-campfire spirit. Well, that's how it feels to me anyway, not that I've spent much time around a campfire...
•••
Time for Steffen Bogen's Camel Up, which I've played 6-7 times on a review copy from Pegasus Spiele. The player count on this game is an inviting 2-8, a range not seen on many boxes and surely something that excited a few SdJ jurors. You can play as a couple, as a nuclear family with little Hannah and Luka, as an extended family with Oma and Opa. The one group you can't play Camel Up with, however, is gamers — or more specifically serious gamers. Those folks shroud the game with a dark cloud of unfun and make you wonder why you ever suggested playing. I'm speaking from experience here, and I go into a bit of detail about this game's secret identity in the latter half of this video overview:
My apologies to eggertspiele for not naming them in the video! Yes, the game is a co-production, but my understanding is that eggertspiele does its own design and development, then co-ordinates with Pegasus for the production of its games. I already edited this video several dozen times, though, and time is about to expire at the SdJ speculation/betting window, so I'll leave you for now and pick up this conversation again in a few hours once the winner's been announced.
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