YORKTON - When it comes to solo games Scott Almes is noted for doing them quite well.
Almes is the designer behind games such as Tiny Epic Galaxies and the raft of Tiny Epic games that followed, the recent A Nice Cuppa and its expansions, The Last Lighthouse and more expansions, and now we have Lands of Amazement.
Lands of Amazement is another of a continuing line of games featuring only 18-cards from Button shy Games. While the varied titles have not all been top shelf, when the name Almes is tagged to it as designer you can generally anticipate a very solid offering.
That is certainly again the case with Lands of Amazement, which is immediately boosted by the art of Filip Popovic. This is visually very nice with a sort of retro 60s-70s advertising poster inspired art. Yes it’s only a few cards but they are nice looking.
In Lands of Amazement you are trying to create an amusement park – obviously the best one possible.
You design the parks by creating patterns which “match the park’s needs while saving a few ideas each year for your final design. Stick to the schedule and complete the megapark to the required specifications to succeed,” details buttonshygames.com
“Each round, draw a card and add it to one of your parks. Place icons to create required patterns. Match a pattern perfectly to get a special effect!
“Set aside cards over the course of the schedule to use in your megapark. The better you can match the megapark’s requirements, the better your score!”
Follow the always well-laid out rules from Button Shy – they print on a single sheet – and the basics of this one fall into place pretty well, although managing high scores will take some play-throughs, and of course luck – you are drawing cards after all.
My copy was print and play – most Button Shy games are offered PnP at some point, and with just 18-cards it’s an easy print and simple cut then into sleeves.
Overall another top-shelf offering for solo gaming fans that like their games quick from Almes. One worth a long look for sure.
