Intarsia

• Designer: Michael Kiesling
• Publisher: Deep Print Games
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 14+
• Time: 45-60 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by Pegasus USA

For countless years, the Café de Paris has offered moments of carefree relaxation and a wonderful opportunity to pause and breathe amid a bustling city. Unfortunately, the café must close for emergency renovation to ensure that it continues to attract numerous guests.

In Intarsia, players compete for the contract for the coveted redesign work on the parquet, embellishing it with stylish intarsias. To win the contract, players have to prove their skills by refining the floor with stylish inlays and outdoing their competitors with new tools.

Each floor ornament can consist of one to four filigree wooden elements that are puzzled together from the outside inwards. The more pieces the ornament consists of, the more victory points it scores! During the building phase, wooden elements can be paid for with material cards and built according to the building rules. Whoever fulfills the requirement for a tool receives the tile that scores points. Only the person with the best building skills can secure the contract and give the café a new lease of life!

To set up the game, each player gets a floor board (player colors on the outside walls) and places a single connector in the central space. Make sure all players are playing with the same side (A or B).  The A side is the standard game.   Each player is dealt a starting hard card that tells them what their initial hand of material cards will be.  Any undealt starting hand cards are placed on the table.  The score board is placed on the table and a marker is placed on the reward track start space.  The tool board is also placed on the table, and tiles based on player count are placed on the corresponding spots.

The game is played over three rounds, each with three phases: Preparation, Building, Conclusion.

In the preparation phase, each player takes the cards shown on their Starting Hard card.  Once you have collected your hand, keep your Starting Hard card near your board.

In the building phase, players go clockwise to carry out a building action or pass out of this phase. To build, you choose one wood element to add to your board.  Each area (ornament) must always start with a frame, then a midsection, then a core and then finally a table on top of the core.  Ornaments must be built adjacent to an existing connector piece, and connectors other than the starting one must be built adjacent to an existing ornament.  The color of an ornament is determined by the frame color.  You must pay for your piece: 1 card of the ornament’s color for the frame, 2 for the midsection, 3 for the core and 4 for the table.  You can always play any two cards as a substitute.  Connectors require 4 matching cards of any one color (again you can play any 2 cards as a substitute card).   Once paid for, it is placed so that it is touching at least one other wood element.  

Now check to see if your build allows you to claim a tool tile (if your board matches the pattern seen on any tool tile).  Score points for the tile you take plus the points for every previous collected tool tile of the same type.  You may not collect multiple identical tool tiles.  Finally, take new material cards.  You get nothing for building a frame, one material card of your choice for a midsection, and 2 of your choice for a core.  If you build a table or connector, you move the reward marker 1 or 2 spaces clockwise around the track and take the three things shown in the space you stop on.

If you pass, you are out of the building phase.  You must discard down to three material cards in your hand.  Return your starting hand card to the stack on the table.

In the conclusion phase, after all players have passed on Building, score the connectors on your board.  1 point for connector at the end of Round 1, 2 points each per at the end of Round 2, and 3 points per each at the end of Round 3.  Advance the round marker.   Finally, starting with the player who was last to pass on Building, choose one of the Starting Hand cards from the supply and take the shown cards, adding those cards to any left over in your hand. Continue clockwise until all players have taken a Starting Hand card.

At the end of the third round, there is endgame scoring:

• 1 pt for a 1-piece ornament (frame)
• 3 pts for a 2-piece (frame+midsection)
• 7 pts for a 3-piece (frame+midsection+core)
• 12 pts for a 4-piece (frame+midsection+core+table)

The player with the most points wins. Ties broken in favor of the player with the most tool tiles collected.

My thoughts on the game

Intarsia feels like a throwback game – simple rules and a fairly abstract game.  In the basic game, everyone starts with the same board – the only difference is in the starting hands.  There are only five different things to build, and you’ll need cards that match in color to build anything.  No special abilities, no event cards, no dice rolling.  

In general, you’ll play cards each turn but then gain some back so that you lose one card net each turn.  That is, unless you need to play cards as wild cards.  If so, you lose one extra card for each wild card you have to create.  You start the game with 10 cards, so you could possibly build 10 things – but you’ll have to decide if you want to be able to do that (and manage  your cards to allow such a thing).

Courtesy henk.rolleman

You’ll likely need to be working on at least two different colored ornaments at a time – possibly more.  If you get to choose your cards, you cannot pick up the same color that you just built; so you’ll have to try to alternate colors.  If you build a more expensive part, you’ll get to use the bonus wheel – which may give you the same color back… but you’ll just have to carefully watch the position of the marker, and try to make your more expensive builds when you’re able to get cards back that you want.

There is an interesting bit to timing/tempo.  The last person to pass out of a round becomes the first player in the next round.  This can lead to a situation where players intentionally pass out of the first round early, trying to have more cards than anyone else in the second round – thus allowing them to go first in the third and final round.  Of course, you can only keep three cards between rounds, so you can’t quit that early.  Also, if you pass earlier than you have to, you lose out on the tempo needed to win the tool cards.

The tool cards offer players a chance to focus their builds.  If you can work the patterns right, you can get two or three cards in a column, and this leads to some nice large scores as you always re-score all the tools of the same type when you gain one.  I would definitely recommend that players keep a close eye on the tool board to figure out the colors that they try to go for.  

Later in the game, players will have to choose between trying to accomplish patterns for tool cards versus simply building completed ornaments for points.  There is a five point jump (from 7 to 12) for building the final table in the ornament – and this payoff is sometimes better than what you would get for a tool.

Each game can feel same-y as there are only 5 different starting hand cards.  However, the plays chosen by the players in the game may drive you in different directions – especially in the race for the tool cards.  The position of the tool tiles never changes though, so once you have come up with a strategy you like, you could possibly pursue it every game.   Of course, things will change when you  move to the other side of the boards – so that can generate changes for your later games.

The wooden bits are nice, and the game looks lovely as it develops on the table.  The intarsia formed on your board are mesmerizing to look at.   The box has a nice insert as well that keeps everything nicely organized.  If you save the sprues and place them on top, it will help keep everything in place even if you store your game on end.

For me, Intarsia is a nice puzzle providing a pleasant game experience.  It is simple to learn and elegant to play. It feels old fashioned due to its simplicity as well as its non-reliance on a modular setup.  The variance in the game comes from the choices the players make – and you’ll have to react to the plays of your opponents to get the upper hand.  The different ways to score points give you plenty of options and will cause you to plot your moves carefully.  I have enjoyed the process of building the wooden floors of the cafe, and I think you will enjoy it too.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it. Dale Y, John P, Talia R
• Neutral
• Not for me…