Page 23 - spielbox 4_24 Englisch E-Paper

Review. Amygdala
Exchangeable Emotions
By CHRISTWART CONRAD
resource may be substituted by any two resources, a joker tile or five money.
Victory points are immediately award- ed on placing emotion tiles in one of the seven large circles, but—somewhat trick- ily—according to a different rule than in the final scoring. Here, your own symbols that are linked together count. The end of the game is triggered when only 5 of your initial 21 emotion tiles are still left on your tableau.
Two main challenges need to be mas- tered in this demanding connoisseur game: First, you want to collect efficient- ly and match, to fulfill quickly. You con- stantly have to weigh whether you want to choose inexpensive actions close to home or take the more expensive ways around. Second, you have to pay atten- tion to the restricted storage area. It is limited to ten spaces and all cardboard tiles except for the emotion tiles must fit inside at the end of your turn. Any surplus is wasted. The rule about individual coins taking up a space of their own is an espe- cially tough one. If you buy two resources for 2 money and pay with a 10, you then need five storage spaces, as there are only denominations of 5 and 1 available.
Of course, the other players are also a nuisance when they snatch away covet- ed resources. And there is one particular danger with full player counts: As at least
one of the motifs of the emotion tiles has to be continued with a corresponding motif at the respective circle center or at one of your own tiles. Careless players may neglect to secure such a connection in time. Unable to place a fulfilled tile, you may still remove it (and possibly trig- ger an unlock), but it won’t score you any points. Profit-wise, this may not seem too serious, but psychologically it is fatal and was one of the main reasons why players in my rounds refused to play again.
This game of emotions intelligently and innovatively combines elements that require advance planning, and it partic- ularly attracts puzzlers. Strategic consid- erations abound. Despite the clear rules, careful reading is required, because the devil is often in the details. The terminol- ogy makes the game hard to understand, but the crib sheets are very helpful. Both sides of the board proved equally popular; I consider the light one to be the clearer side, and the dark one the prettier side. The components, mainly cardboard, meet the customary minimum standard, but do not enhance the puzzle mechanism, which lives up to its promise. (cs)
O
encases what is essentially an abstract game. Meaning the choice of theme is arbitrary. It can not be derived from the game mechanism, but is purely subject to marketing considerations. No immersion intended. Amygdala falls neatly into that category.
The double-sided board—light on one side and dark on the other side—shows seven large circles in the middle. At the end of the game, a majority score is awarded for the emotion symbols in each circle that show your own emotion tiles, moved there from your player board. But points are only awarded to the player who has also placed a claim tile there, which must first be unlocked on their player board by fulfilling all the surround- ing emotion tiles.
Fulfilling an emotion tile is done by spending the necessary resources that you have bought on the big circuit. As is typical for the genre, there are conditions to be met, hurdles to be overcome on your way to the end. The numerous ex- changes deserve special attention, since you can make as many as you like in addi- tion to your move. For example, a missing
n his website, Wolfgang Kram- er defines his self-coined phrase
“semi-theme” as a theme that
spielbox 21
Photos: Becker, Conrad
Title: Designers:
Illustration: Publisher: Players: Age: Duration: Price:
Amygdala
Michael Kiesling, Wolfgang Kramer Anastasia Cartovenco Game Brewer
2 – 4
about 10+ years
about 90–135 minutes about 60 euros
Reviewer
Christwart Conrad
Andreas Becker
Playing appeal
6
5
A fitting example of how the wrong theme can unnecessarily complicate access to an abstract game. Apart from the fact that this is not really one of Kramer-Kiesling’s greatest master- pieces.