Leonardo Lee

Santorini

25 Feb 2018

The What

An abstract strategy game with a veneer of god powers. Designed for two players in mind, but has a 3 player and 2 team variants.

The Summary

Alternating between the players the players must do the following:

  1. Move a pawn to any adjacent unoccupied space on the same level, one level above, or any number down.
  2. Place a building piece on an adjacent unoccupied space, starting with the first floor, ending with the roof.

A player wins when they move a pawn on top of a third story building. The game also ends when a player cannot make a legal move or placement, that player losing.

The Puzzle

As an abstract strategy game, it is about outthinking your opponent.

With the god powers, the game becomes more about exploiting the benefit of the power to help you win. The beauty of the powers is that they are all situationally beneficial. The abilities strength diminish based on what other power is within play and whether or not they are synergistic or antagonistic.

Tips

  • The game stands well without the power of the gods, they merely act as additional tools or actions that help develop the tactical abilities of individual players.

The Verdict

Essentially Santorini is a luxurious package, you can essentially make all the pieces and play the abstract version of the game. If you are not an abstract strategy snob, the boxed game is extremely well built and the components are top notch. Recommended.

Other Games

  • Tak
    • The notion of stacking tiles is also used here, but its use is coupled with the game hex.
  • Android: Mainframe
    • Combines the flavorful use of player powers with a game that is rooted in abstract strategy land.

Tweaking the Game

My fiancée and I thoroughly enjoyed the game. The section on adding God powers was enjoyable, but I decided to put a twist on it by draw n (number of players) + 1 cards. This gives the last player an option thus giving them an advantage for the game.

The advantage is slight and is a small tweak I personally believes that adds a dynamic to the game, if I was playing with the 3 or 4 player variant, I would be hesitant to use the tweak.

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