Photosynthesis Review

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You address my primary concern and you did it in your very first game.Does the big tree in the middle break the game? Because it always seems the "perfect" annoying move to deprive everyone of sunlight.

WadeMonnig wrote: You address my primary concern and you did it in your very first game.Does the big tree in the middle break the game? Because it always seems the "perfect" annoying move to deprive everyone of sunlight.

Yeah, you could accuse photosynthesis of many sins, but broken isn't one of them. Hogging the prime scoring spot is certainly a valid strategy, but it requires as much skill and patience as any other because it deprives you of opportunities elsewhere.

However, your comment sent me down a little rabbit hole where I discovered that there are quite a few variants around for Photosynthesis to try and make it bit more of a "gamer's game". Most notably is this one from the designer himself , which runs the game longer, but adds some strategy and removes some of the predictability from the end game.

Play until two of the piles of scoring tokens are depleted, when someone takes the last scoring token of a pile and there are only two piles left, you finish the current turn ( so you play until everyone has passed) and then the game ends. As presented above it’s for 4 players only, with less players the number of scoring tokens has to be reduced, you also could reduce the number of tokens (even with 4 players) to shorten the game length.

Apparently, this was the original rules prior to development by the publisher. It probably should have gone in as another optional rule.

I for one really like this game, and I think it's what euros should be -- tight rules, engaging play, a competition for scarce resources. The middle spot is valuable, but frankly so are the ones just around it and they're quicker and easier to get. The middle spot becomes a bit of a booby prize if you have players working the other spaces near it, cutting and planting while you hold on to your vaulted position in the center.

There are patterns in the game that serve you well. I stumbled onto two of them in later plays. It's a game with a bit of exploration to it, definitely worth multiple plays. Given how quick it is that's not hard to manage.

Again, I find myself praising you for the broader nature of your review, seeing the game's spirit shining through its very simple rule structure and concept. Talk about executive theme, this game is the epitome of the concept. And when you look at it from a whole-package perspective you do realize that you take a little sadness from dropping your bigger trees in spite of that being the core concept of scoring. The game reaches into your heart, just a bit, giving your head one additional detail to cope with during gameplay. That's a nifty trick. Blue Orange really nailed it on this one.

I really want this game...Blue Orange has really emerged as a great publisher for classic German Game style designs.