Alma Mater

EvEvanstar8,5

This is a worker placement game where you have to do everything, as opposed to similar looking games that reward specialization. Your path through the game changes every play, as most of the goals and cards you have access to will be different. The puzzle hits hard right out of the gate with an initial starting resources draft, the results of which can really make or break your strategy. The game has no take that and no randomness outside of the initial setup of the game. The key element that makes this game special is the player interaction through resource production. Each player in the game has a resource of books in their color. This resource is largely only produced by that player, yet it's needed by opponents to pay costs requiring sets of differently colored books. When you take the action to produce your books, you can put some of them up for sale, available to the other players who will pay you to gain them with the buy books action space. Unbought books still pay out income at the end of the round, although less than what you would have gotten from another player buying from you. The timing and strategy of when to produce, how much to put for sale vs to keep for your own action costs and when to buy from another player elevates this game beyond what was already a fascinating puzzle. ★ Art, Iconography and components functional ★ Clever or interesting mechanisms ★ Reasonably low downtime between turns with mildly AP players ★ Multiple plays stay interesting ★ Low or mitigatable luck elements ★★★★☆ Raw enjoyment