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In this game, first released in 2008 by Mindtwister USA, players place element stones on the game board and use the power of those stones to move and create walls, with the goal of immobilizing the opponent. When first released, Element was for two players only; this new version modifies the rules of the original game, with slightly different powers for earth and wind from what I recall, in addition to allowing for games with up to four players. With more than two players, your goal is now to trap the player to your right. Trap anyone else, and you have made them the victor!
I reviewed the original version of Element on Boardgame News on March 4, 2009, so I thought I'd share that piece to describe the original gameplay in detail, after which I'll note changes in the 2017 edition:
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Let's kick off this review with two confessions:
1. I know game designer Mike Richie personally as we used to attend the same karate dojo in Rhode Island. I even attended his wedding reception when he married his beautiful bride, Holly. And while he participated in a few of the game sessions that I hosted in the early 2000s, I don't recall him expressing an interest in game design. Apparently I had blocked out sour memories as in one email note late in 2008 he wrote, "Thanks for playing that awful game of mine at your party." No problem, Mike, although I haven't the foggiest idea what your design was.
The past aside, Richie now has a professional release from Mindtwister USA, which is surely a step up from a random prototype shown at a game night. Or at least that's the hope, which leads to the next confession…
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Thankfully the game turned out to be decent and not the train wreck I had feared, with the elements proving to be more than mere coloring in the design.
Your goal in Element is to surround the other player's sorcerer and prevent it from moving. Play starts with the sorcerers nearly head-to-head in the center of the game board and a number of element tokens in their starting positions.
On a turn, you roll four dice: One side has the word "Element," one shows a wild symbol, and the other four each show one of the element icons. Each element has a different effect on the game board, and each element can replace one other: Fire replaces air, which replaces earth, which replaces water, which replaces fire. After rolling the dice, you'll place stones of the proper colors on the game board, replacing other stones as allowed and if you desire to do so. You can also move your sorcerer one space in any direction like a king in chess, with each "Element" word granting you an additional movement. As for what the elements do:
• Fire spreads. If you place fire orthogonally adjacent to another fire already on the board, then the space on the opposite side of the existing fire also catches fire, assuming that space is empty or holds air.
• Water flows. When you place water orthogonally adjacent to existing water, then you can make those pieces "flow" across the game board, taking right-angle turns as desired or required and putting out fires along the way.
• Air enables. Air creates strong winds, so a sorcerer can travel over spaces that contain air in addition to making any other moves allowed on that turn.
• Earth sits there and looks pensive. Place three earth stones in a horizontal or vertical line, and those stones can no longer be eroded by air, thereby creating a permanent wall on the game board.
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Midgame on the 2008 version of Element
The game play in Element is similar to Knizia's Genesis in that a player's possible actions on a turn depend on the roll of the dice. Since your goal is to surround the other player, ideally you'll roll lots of elements that let you make such plays. At the same time, however, that player is attempting to surround you, so you might need additional movement to get out of potential traps or to create additional space around you by, say, encouraging a river to flow across the board. Over time the board becomes more crowded, with earthen walls creating spots that are permanently out of play, that block the spread of fire and prevent air from coasting you to safety. From the midgame on, you need to assess how much at risk you are each turn. Says Richie, "I've noticed that people tend to simply not notice all of the options on the board at any given time. If there is a serious discrepancy in the level of players, the weaker one will frequently not realize how close they are to being trapped."
To some degree, Element reminds me of Go, a game that I've played only a handful of times, as the game board starts in a nearly empty position. Your goal is to trap the opponent, yet he has so many degrees of freedom that you're not sure how to begin. One fire, one earth – they're meaningless on their own, but you lay them down anyway. As the turns pass, areas of the board start getting cut off. You maneuver your sorcerer a little at a time, trying to keep a path of air nearby so that you can jump to a fresh, unpolluted area as needed. In some ways, the game feels like two disjoint contests as you rarely move your sorcerer to an area where the other sorcerer is or has been; you've been trying to trap him, after all, so why enter an area that's already laced with land mines?
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Playing with my exchange student Seung Chan in 2008 or 2009
While Element's game play is solid — at least for those willing to endure the capriciousness of the dice and to keep their plans flexible — the graphic design of the game is a mixed bag. As noted earlier, the cover seems like a throwback to decades past and not in a good way. The sorcerers are chess pieces, most likely used because they could be purchased cheaply, but because they're not generic like meeples and wooden cubes, their presence distracts you from the differentness of Element, from the mechanisms that make this game unique and challenging. The bags holding the glass stones are a classy touch, but they seem out of place given the rest of the graphic design. The rules are packed chock-a-block with text, using twice as many words as needed to get the rules across, so they're less clear than they could be; one plus for the rules, though, are the numerous illustrations that demonstrate the use of the elements and movement of the sorcerer.
In addition to discovering a good game, I've perhaps learned a lesson about judging titles based on their appearance and theme. As Element demonstrates, even the most tired of themes can be used in meaningful ways. Oh, who am I kidding? Down with ugly games about gem collecting!
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Ha, what a hater that old Eric was! He even titled this review "Fugly Fun" when he posted it on BGG back in 2009.
Aside from the change in player count, the biggest difference in the 2017 edition of Element is that players no longer roll dice to determine what they have to work with on their turn. Instead a player decides to draw 0-4 element stones at random from a bag, while being able to move their sage 5-1 spaces each turn, with the total of those two numbers equaling five. After a player draws stones, the player places stones and moves in whatever order they like.
Other changes: Earth now becomes a ridge and is therefore non-erodible by wind by placing a second earth stone on top of an existing earth stone, and if you connect this ridge to other earth stones, then those can't be eroded either, slowly creating barriers to movement as a player's sage cannot move diagonally through a pass in the mountains should one of those mountains contain a ridge.
When you stack one wind token on another — or possibly multiple tokens — you create a whirlwind that allows a sage to move multiple spaces by passing over it.
Finally, the graphics have been overhauled by RDG partner Grant Wilson, with a new cover, new component design, new game board design, and non-chess pieces for sages. Hallelujah!
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