Somnium Rise of Laputa: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Engine Builder, Take That, Hand Management
Player Age: 13+

Player Count: 2 - 4 Players

Time to Play: 15 Minutes
Game Designer: Ryan Doffek
Game Artist: Davy Wagnarok

Publisher: Zafty Games

Year Published: 2019
BGG Weight: 1.00
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

Objective:

You are trying to obtain political dominance over Laputa. This is achieved by deploying people to gain or steal influence. Once a player has achieved 20 influence they are the victor and the new controller of Laputa.

How to Play:

Each player will be dealt three cards to begin the game and at the end of their turn they will always draw up to three.

On your turn, you will play one card and activate that ability. If you are lucky the ability may let you play more cards. If the card is an event, the ability will occur and the card is discarded. These will normally be used to gain, steal or force others to lose influence. There are also characters who can be played and will then remain in play. These characters give influence shown on the bottom left, but be careful, if these characters are killed then you will lose their influence. After all, you no longer have their allegiance. These characters come in two forms either as one-shot abilities (shown on the left) or a continuing ability (shown on the right).

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- Each card has a visual representation (dots) at the bottom of the card to identify how many cards of this type are in the deck
- Simple pick up and play game

Cons:
- You may want to get sleeves as the card stock is average

'Somnium Rise of Laputa' adds nothing new, but what it does, it does very well. It is a easy hand management game of back and forth interactions. The ease of play, quick time to play and further understanding of the cards and their quantity help to make this game a great filler. If you enjoy a tug-o-war of points with quick and easy gameplay then Somnium is what you're looking for.

Click...feed the addiction:

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Somnium Rise of Laputa on BGG
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