Pipeline

EvEvanstar4.6

This is a game where most money at the end is the winner, and the game gives you plenty of chances to spend your money along the way. Variable goal cards are a substantial element of endgame scoring, so it's good not to worry too much so long as you are on the way to those goals. In the mean time you play through three action rounds. The actions will let you buy cubes, buy upgrade cards, buy pipe tiles, buy engine tiles to run your pipe tiles, buy storage tiles to hold your cubes, and most importantly, upgrade your cubes to sell for money to keep your engine running. There's definitely a rinse repeat feeling to the flow of getting cubes. At the end of each action you can spend $15 to upgrade cubes along the pipes connected to your engine tiles. The temptation then is to constantly have an influx of new cubes to upgrade with, but then when are you spending actions and money to increase your capacity? Not to mention that sale slots are limited, and other players are buying the affordable cubes out from under you. The game gives you the opportunity to play efficiently with your actions if you have the cash, only to snatch it away due to all kinds of logistical concerns. For example, I can't tell you how many times my pipe lengths added up to 9 when I needed 10, or how many times I needed $15 but had only $12. Contracts work differently here than in most games. The contracts generally pay out worse than selling to the market spaces, but they have the advantage of being able to send to them on your turn without using an action. With a contract action you can gain up to three, one easy one medium and one hard. Once taken, they can be fulfilled every round. If you don't, you take a penalty cube. Having a lot of penalty cubes is a massive score penalty, but the math of the game is such that it might be worth taking contracts, benefiting from them for a round or two, then ignoring them because the payout elsewhere might still work in your favor. The many blocking mechanisms of the game feel more frustrating than interesting to me. When a tech is taken, taking that tech for that round becomes closed, and you also close a second tech just to block it. When you buy tiles from the grid, you break up groups of tiles to limit future choices, as with a single action you only buy tiles your meeple is on or adjacent to. The techs themselves have abilities that deplete the cheapest board upgrades on the owning player's first turn. It feels a little like climbing a ladder and every so often kicking downwards in case someone was behind you. Definitely lacking in the kind of back and forth, act/react style of player interaction I enjoy. The game is mathy, and turns can be very long. ★ 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

GaGarfieldstar8.0

#56 BGExpansions in Box This is a tough one! I think you have to replay it several times to be able to sell more. But my first impression was a little bit mixed. I like the pipe network and the economic touch. But I didn't like that it's hard to establish the technology cards (too expensive at the start and useless towards the end game?) and also the machines almost don't come to play because you have to have a big network first but there are not enough rounds. [c] Theme: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Building a pipeline network and economic stuff --> Gameplay: ★★★★★ <!-- size 7]Meaningful decisions --> Interaction: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]No direct interaction, what others buying/selling --> Artwork: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Nice --> Luck: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]No --> Strategy: ★★★★★ <!-- size 7]Pure strategy --> Components: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very good --> Play duration: ★★★★★ <!-- size 7]For such a game -> perfect --> Easy to teach: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Takes long (60min) --> Rules quality: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok(8 questions) --> Setup time: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]A lot to setup --> No downtime: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Can suffer from AP --> Replay value: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Random tiles, different technologies --> [/c]