Rats to Riches: Re-Review

Rats to Riches: Re-Review

Information:

Mechanics: Take That, Set Collection, Engine Building

Player Age: 8+ 

Player Count: 2 - 5 Players 

Time to Play: 20 - 60 Minutes 

Publisher: Accentuate Games LTD
Designer: Eugeune Lim

BGG Complexity: 1.50/5

Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

The Production Copy:

Now that Rats to Riches has left the beta copy behind and reached a production copy, we are going to re-review the game and highlight the changes that have occurred between the two. For the full review of the beta version click here.

Production Quality:

First off, the production quality has had a major overhaul. In the cheese, money, player and card markers and now has a player board.

Cheese and Money:

Instead of cards representing the cheese, there are now cheese pieces that are used as well as a creative container to hold them.
The previous currency tokens have been replaced by paper money. I don’t instantly love this change but it is much easier to organise and are more noticeable for other players at a glance.

Markers:

There is now a miniature for the Boss, Ruffian and Gangster who personifies the different colours. So in a moment, you can see who you have to pay your cheese to if any of these characters are active. As well as this, there is a gold first player marker shaped as a rat to keep track of the first player.

Player Board:

If you take the insert out of the box you will be pleasantly surprised by a game board which is not necessary to play the game on, but does increase the atmosphere of the game overall.

Balancing:

Pipes:

In the original game, you could run towards the end of game by just reselling the pipes alone. In the newly released version, this has been balanced to cost more cheese so it is no longer the quick easy win and makes them more challenging of an option to win with.

Flush Cards:

The new flush card, that every player starts the game with, is now altered to give two money during the income phase instead of one. Additionally, when a player clears the sewer (by discarding this card) they get to take one of the sewer cards for free.

Purple Cards:

Instead of costing one of each cheese, some of the purple cards have been altered to cost three of one cheese type to match the strategy they are supporting.

Events and Red Cards:

The ‘take that’ abilities have been changed to be less aggressive and there are fewer event cards in the deck which are now more relevant when they come surface.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- Less of a ‘take that’ mechanism
- Balanced gameplay
- Improved quality for components

Cons:
- The tokens were preferred over the paper money.

From beta copy to final product, the quality and balance of the game has been vastly improved. The game originally had too many negative interactions (take that competitiveness) but with the positive re-balance, the game has been improved and is now much more enjoyable for opponents. If you like competitive games with great components then this final copy to gouda to ignore.

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