Wonderful World: Resources to rebuild

A single resource per card may not sound like much, but it could be just what you need to get something built in time for production.
Wonderful World
Wonderful World

CHENNAI: Card drafting is a particularly popular mechanic found in board games, and it’s easy to see why — players are able to take turns simultaneously, speeding up the game, and the decision of which card to keep and which ones to pass on to your opponent is always painful. 7 Wonders is arguably the reigning king of this subgenre, but today we’re taking a look at a new claimant to that throne — It’s a Wonderful World.

It’s a Wonderful World is a clunkily-named card game for 1-5 players in which each of you is in charge of the development of a dystopian empire. Over the course of four rounds, you’ll take turns drafting cards and building them into your empire. Cards come in various types, each of which tends to require different resources — vehicles usually require energy, for example, whereas science predominantly demands research.

Once cards have been drafted, you enter the production phase where constructed cards generate resources which you can then use to build towards other cards.

Here’s the first twist this game throws at you — you can’t be selfsufficient. Or, rather, you don’t want to be. Relying solely on the resources you produce is going to slow you down, and timing is everything here.

So what else can you do? Well, the cards you choose in the drafting phase don’t necessarily need to be constructed; in fact, trying to build everything is almost certainly a terrible idea. Instead, you can choose to recycle some of the cards you chose, which gives you a resource depending on what type of card it is.

A single resource per card may not sound like much, but it could be just what you need to get something built in time for production.

Speaking of the production phase, this is where the game starts to sing. All cards do not produce simultaneously, but instead you go in order — first, you’ll produce materials, then energy, then research, then gold and finally exploration.

As soon as you generate resources, you must allocate them to cards that require those resources if possible. This means you could produce research, say, which lets you complete a scientific breakthrough just in time for it to produce gold for you in the very next phase; and that gold could be put towards something else, and so on and so forth.

Spelling it out like this does make it sound rather dry but, in practice, this entire game is a massive chain of dominoes and you’re constantly searching for the best way to tip the first one over and set it in motion. It is ludicrously satisfying when you pull it off, and these cascades never really let up once you get them going.

It’s a Wonderful World is, quite simply, a wonderful game. It ticks all the boxes — solid gameplay, beautiful artwork (the cards are quite lovely), it’s quick to teach and play, and you’ll want to play it again almost immediately; which is usually the hallmark of something special, and this is no different.

Arjun Sukumaran
http://goo.gl/uNBWN3
(Arjun is a gamer, book lover and an all-round renaissance man)

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The New Indian Express
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