Emerge

• Designer: Adam DeYoung
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 14+
• Time: 75 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

New islands have emerged from the ocean, and as scientists, you must research the new, developing ecosystems present there. Watch the islands on the board grow in three dimensions as you learn more about them, and add colorful plants and animals to each island as you explore their ecosystems.  Each round in Emerge, earn points by rolling your dice and using them to collect research and make discoveries. All players start with the same research board, but throughout the game you can modify your own board and change what you’re researching. After eight rounds, score points based on how flourished and biodiverse your islands are as well as varying research objectives.

To start the game, each player gets all the bits in their color: a player board, island tiles, a set of dice, and some goal tokens.  Players have access to 6 dice at the start of the game, the other 4 are set aside. The long board is placed on the table, and each player places one of their small islands on a volcanic vent found in each corner of the board.  Four goal cards (all differing types) are set out for the game; and a market of 4 research tokens is constructed as well.  Research tokens are also placed face down on every other untaken volcanic vent on the board.

The game is played over 8 rounds, each with 3 phases: Ship Phase, Modifier Phase, Discovery Phase.

To start the Ship Phase, you move the ship one space away from the Research Center. The number of the space can be used to track the round. Any face down Research tokens adjacent to the ship are flipped over.  If the ship passes an “Add Die” icon, each player gets a new die.

In the Modifier Phase, players do things with Modifier Tiles. These tiles go on the top row of the board, and they modify what happens when you roll certain numbers.  Some tiles also allow you to change dice after they have been rolled. In general each Modifier tile ability can be used once each round.  First, players may remove any Modifier tiles from their board.  After tiles are possibly removed, players may then either take one Modifier tile from the supply and add it to their board OR they may move/rearrange any or all of their existing Modifier tiles.  You may not have more than 2 of the same type of tile.

In the Discovery Phase, players first choose to roll any of their dice – though dice not used from a previous round can simply be left in their location on the player board.  The chosen dice are rolled and then placed on the matching numbered spaces on the player board.  The dice are then used to Make Discoveries or to buy Research Tokens – doing one action in turn order.

To make a discovery, use appropriately numbered dice (based on your preprinted board icons as well as those changed by Modifier tiles) and activate one type of Discovery.  You can only make one set of dice (a single discovery) each turn.  If you make a Tectonic discovery, you get to put an island piece down. If you make a Bird discovery, you move a bird to an island which does not already have one and then add a Plant to that island.  For all other Discoveries, you simply place a corresponding meeple onto one of your islands.  As you are doing this, there are certain rules that must be followed.  You cannot place an animal on an island unless there is already a plant there.  Animals must then be discovered in order of size (crabs first, then turtles then seals).   You may only have one of each type of animal on an island though you can up to 4 plants on an island. After you make your discovery, check to see if you have completed a Goal Card, and if so, mark the highest remaining VP space on it with one of your markers.

To purchase a Research Token, spend any two dice from your board and take an available token. Once you buy a Token you may not make discoveries any more. You can only buy one Research Token per turn, but you can but multiple Tokens in a round.  Once you pass on buying a Token, you are done for the round.

The round ends when all players have passed on buying a Token – any unused dice remain where they are, as players will have the chance to leave them there or re-roll them at the start of the next round.  The first player marker is passed clockwise and another round begins.

After the 8th round, the game ends and the game is scored:

• Islands: VP = number of island leves x number of meeples on it
• Biodiversity: 3VP for each island with a plant, crab, turtle and seal on it
• Research Tokens – 1VP for an unused token
• Goal Cards – look at each of the 4 Goal cards chosen at the start of the game and score accordingly

The player with the most points wins. Ties in favor of the most points from goal cards.

My thoughts on the game

Emerge is a game that has a bit of dice manipulation and a bit of engine building.  You start the game with just 6 dice, but you add another die to your collection every other turn.  As you progress through the game, you are given the opportunity to change the ways that the different numbers will work for you, and you also gain some special abilities that allow you to actually alter the numbers rolled.

You have the choice each turn to modify your action tiles, and I like that part of the puzzle.  The Modifier tiles not only allow you to change your possible action likelihood but each one also grants a useful special ability.  I’ve actually seen a game where someone had 6 tiles, one of each action, and had arranged them in a different order than the preprinted actions – thus having all the base actions, albeit on different numbers, but having one of each of the special abilities to change the dice around.

I also like the way that you can keep unused dice on your board, so if you are willing to give up on using them in a previous round, you can guarantee that you get a desired action by adding/moving a modifier tile into that column.  It can be an interesting decision to choose between buying a desirable Research token versus leaving two dice on your board to use on the next turn.  Of course, if you can’t use the visible Tokens, maybe it’s not that interesting…

The game is essentially solitaire.  You build your own islands by yourself, and you can only place meeples on your islands.  Though the game lets you put your islands down on any empty space, in a majority of the games that I’ve played, players have still pretty much ended up with their four islands on the spots closest to them.  (Yes, there might be an advantage in playing on a spot where the Research token is revealed – but you can also avoid that spot if you don’t particularly want the token…)

Sure, there is a bit of race/competition to the goal cards as the player who finishes a goal earlier will score a larger bonus.  Turn order matters a bit in what tiles might be available in the Research token supply. Oh, and I suppose that you get to choose who you steal a bird from.  Other than that, you’re in your own little world, building islands and populating them with meeples.  And, to be honest, in this game, I feel like the interaction is forced, and I’d rather the game didn’t have it.  

For me, this interaction is minimal, but it does force players to wait to take their turn in order as timing matters for these two things.  If this wasn’t needed, each round could honestly be played in 2-3 minutes.  You’re not competing for board spaces, you’re not competing for non-bird meeples (there are enough for all islands to have what they want).  If turn order didn’t matter, you could figure out the puzzle of how to manipulate your dice/numbers and then do all your things.   At 15-20 minutes, this game would be snappy and lively.  At the 45-50 minutes that it takes, it feels like it overstays its welcome a bit.  All that being said; I’m not someone who is bothered by simultaneous solitaire games, and that’s a good part of why I feel the way I do about this.

The wooden components are nice. The meeples are well done, and the animals are differently sized enough to help you remember the placement rules.   The board is a bit long, and honestly, you may not really need it.  As I mentioned before, players only play on their own islands, and really, you could just have them on the table in front of you.  I suppose the track is there for counting rounds and for knowing when you can claim a free Research token – but otherwise, it’s mostly there to look pretty and take up a huge amount of table space..  One thing I feel is missing is a score pad or a score track on the huge board which is otherwise note really used much.  The scoring involves enough math that it’s really hard to do in your head, so we’re looking for a way to track scores at the end of each game. Additionally, as the board is so big, I feel like there could have been spaces for the Reseach Token market to be placed on the board so you didn’t also have to find room on the table for this.  I do like the way the player board reminds you of the meeple limits.  

Rules on the Research Tokens is a bit sparse in the rulebook.  Though there is a page on explanations of the Tokens, there are still a number of questions that have come up as we play.  The designer has answered many of them online; but that doesn’t help people who either don’t have access or those who don’t even realize that questions like this can have answers on online forums.  

I have found that the value of the Research tokens is quite variable, and while they are worth 1VP unplayed, I generally try to only get ones that I know I can use.  They cost 2 dice to acquire, so they aren’t cheap – though each one seems to be helpful in the right situation.  For me, it’s just figuring out whether the needed situation is likely to happen in my islands on the sea.

If you’re looking for a game with remarkable plays and huge swings of fortune, you’ll not find those things here.    Emerge is a game which lets you incrementally build and populate your islands.  As the game progresses, you also slowly get more dice which gives you more ability to do more each turn.  At the end of eight rounds, you tally up the points and see who wins. – but this is just adding up points that you’ve already collected, there isn’t a momentous comparison of things at the end for bonuses.  It’s just adding up the points. 

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it. 
• Neutral. Dale, Steph, Jonate, John P
• Not for me…