10 Minute Heist - The Wizards Tower: Review

10 Minute Heist - The Wizards Tower: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Drafting, Set Collection

Player Age: 14+

Player Count: 2 - 5 Players 

Time to Play: 10 Minutes 
Designers: Nick Sibicky
Artists: Denis Martynets

Publisher: Daily Magic Games
Year Published: 2017

BGG Complexity: 1.2/5

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

Objective:

While the wizard is away. The thieves can not pass the opportunity to steal the wizard's treasures as quickly but efficiently as possible. The thieves will be stealing from the tower in a downwards fashion, however, they can never return to the floor above so they have to steal the best treasures to meet the games scoring tiles, such as most of one suit (colour) or one number. Be fast though as the first player to leave the tower will score a bonus scoring tile.

Game Anatomy:

Treasures:

For setup purposes there are treasure cards with a light background and treasure card with a dark background, some of the dark background treasures have a crescent moon icon or a full moon icon.

These are the treasures that the thieves will steal throughout the game. When stolen they will be placed face up in front of the thief. The majority of these cards will have a suit and a value on the left-hand side. The value of all treasures of the same suit will be totalled when checking what thief has the most of one suit. For example, if a thief has three treasures of one suit with values of five, four and six they will have a value of 15 in that suit. There are five suits potion (purple), fossil (yellow), artifact (blue), jewel (red) and tome (green). Some treasures will have a wild suit which will allow it to be added to anyone suit when scoring.

Some treasures are cursed and they will have one or two curse symbols (the player with the most of these will lose points when scoring), these treasures can also have abilities at the bottom of the card to help the thief while in the tower or during the scoring.

Balcony Tile and Bridge Tile:

The balcony tile is the starting place for the thieves, and the bridge is the escape point for the thieves.

Thieves:

As the game goes to five players there are five unique looking thief standees.

Scoring Tiles:

There are four types of scoring titles, the majority in each suit.

The thief with the most of each value of 3, 4 and 5 with the value of 3 being worth the most points.

There is a negative three scoring tile for the player with the most cursed icons on all their treasures and one point for the player with the least. Lastly, there are scoring tiles for the first (2 points) and second player (1 point) to leave the tower as well as a negative scoring tile for the last player.

Set up:

- Until you are used to the game remove all the dark treasures with the crescent moon and place them back in the game box.
- Place the balcony and all thieves in play on the balcony tile in the top left of the play area.
- Shuffle the light treasures and deal two rows next to the balcony face up and consisting of five treasures per row. Each one of these is a floor of the wizards' tower.
- Deal one light card face down to each player and return the rest of the light cards to the box.

- Shuffle the dark deck and create six more floors using the dark treasures.
-  Place the last treasure however, face down.
- Place the bridge at the bottom right of the tower and place the scoring tiles for the first and second player to leave under and the last place tile above the bridge.

How to Play:

The turns are simple, starting with the first player they will move their thief to a treasure on the same level or a level below (this can result in multiple floors skipped at once) and place this treasure in front of them face up. Once a player leaves a floor or goes to the floor below they can not return upwards in the tower, so be careful when you go to the next floor.  When an item with ability is stolen that ability has to be used now if possible.

When the first player leaves award the two point-scoring tile and the one point scoring tile to the second player. The last player to leave will score negative one point.

As discussed in the scoring tiles in the game anatomy, each player will now total each suit, the player with the majority in 3, 4 and 5 treasures, as well as the player with the most curses and the least curses. Each of these scoring tiles will be given to the player with the majority. Then each person will total the victory points they have from the scoring tiles and they will be declared the best thief.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- Great two-player variant rules.
- Unique set collection game.
- Interesting choices when to jump ahead as every player keeps there gained treasures revealed.

Cons:
- due to the light and dark treasures, the set up can take longer than should be for a filler weight game, however, this would be for balancing purposes so it's understandable.

'Ten Minute Heist - The Wizards Tower' is a unique take on set collecting games. As it gives the players an interesting decision on what suits they should collect and with these suits should they go for treasures with high values or aim to gain a majority in either 3, 4 or 5 values. Each player also has the decision if they should take a leisurely pace down the tower and face a negative point, or if they should speed down the tower gaining the treasures they want fast and efficiency and gain bonus points for leaving first. The curse treasures also add an interesting feel as these are the most valuable treasures but gain too much and you face negative points. This is a great filler with variable set up to keep the game fresh and engaging I heavily recommend this game as a great introduction to set collection or as a great filler game, this will be earning a Silver Seal of Approval easily.

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Daily Magic Games
10 Minute Heist - Wizards Tower on BGG
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