The Opinionated Gamers

Maharani

Designer: Wolfgang Panning

Publisher: Queen Games

Players: 2-4

Ages: 8+

Time: 40min

Times played: 3 (with review copy provided by Queen Games)

Maharani is a nice tile-laying game with a twist (literally).  In the game, players are working to build the mosaic tile floor of the palace.  The twist in the game is a rotating display of tiles which is turned and twisted at the start of each player’s turn.  The palace itself is split into quarters, with each quarter having 14 spaces.  Each space has at least one column (black circle or semi-circle) on it which determines which tiles can be played there – the column pattern on the tile must match that on the board.

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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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