Rialto
Designer: Stefan Feld
Publisher: Pegasus/Tasty Minstrel Games
Players: 2-5
Ages: 10+
Time: 45-60 Minutes
Times played: 5 (between games at the Gathering of Friends and games with a review copy provided by Tasty Minstrel Games)
2013 looks to be a banner year for Stefan Feld. So far, there have been three major designs from him (Bruges, Bora Bora, Rialto) and one that is scheduled for Essen (Amerigo). Like other designers, I definitely feel that most Feld games share a common backbone. While the theming and particular mechanics might change, most Feld games will provide the player with a multitude of opportunities to score points (and never enough time/actions to score well in all possible choices) and some sort of randomization factor to keep the game lively. Finally, most Feld games have some sort of penalty mechanic which can cause great anguish to the player. Rialto does not truly follow this pattern as it doesn’t have the penalty aspect at all, but it has most of the other Feldian characteristics. It gives the gamer a lighter game to enjoy than some of the other members of the Feld canon.
Venice is one of those recurrent themes in TGOO (these games of ours) – like Rome, Pirates, hedgehogs, ancient Egypt, Renaissance Europe, etc… In Rialto, you are trying to have the most power and influence in the city though your buildings and your councilmen in the city.
The board is a depiction of the city of Venice, split up into six different districts. These districts have spaces where bridges and gondolas could connect them together so that each district has 4 connection points. Other than the map of Venice, there is a turn-order track, the Doge track, at the top. There is also an area that serves as the supply of buildings. These buildings will be built over the course of the game, and each of them can grant their owner a special ability. But more on this later… The game is played over 6 rounds, and each of the rounds follows the same general pattern.
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Hanabi and Andor Win the SdJ and Kennerspiel!
Congratulations to Antoine Bauza and Michael Menzel for winning the two awards announced today by the SdJ jury. Hanabi was a bit of a surprise, but not a huge shock. It was clearly the best of the three nominated games and I guess that won out over perceived issues with its difficulty, box size, and expansion ability.
I think we need to step back and give the jury some credit for its picks over the past two years. Obviously, individual tastes will vary, but you could easily say that Hanabi and Kingdom Builder were the best *games* of the three respective nominees and each won despite doubts about their perceived difficulty. You could probably make a similar statement about Village’s selection as last year’s Kennerspiel. I applaud the jury for their faith in the willingness of the gaming public to support more involved games. While I continue to be suspicious at any attempt to find patterns in the jury’s selections over the years (more and more, I think it just comes down to the games this small group of individuals happens to like), there are some indications that slightly more complex games are becoming acceptable. Of course, this comes after successive wins by Dixit and Qwirkle convinced SdJ watchers that the trend was hurtling towards uber-light games, so there’s still a big danger in trying to read the tea leaves. Nevertheless, it’s nice to see that a game can have more than half a dozen rules, or require a modicum of thought, and still take gaming’s biggest prize.
What did everyone else think? Surprised/happy/infuriated by today’s announcements?
Larry
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