Xenon Profiteer: Rapid Review
Information:
Mechanics: Deck Building, Drafting, Hand Management
Player Age: 10+ Player Count: 1 - 4 PlayersTime to Play: 30 Minutes
Game Designer: T. C. Petty III
Player Age: 10+
Game Designer: T. C. Petty III
Rundown:
In Xenon Profiteer you are trying to create the most efficient distilling engine. You want to distill xenon from air to fulfil contracts and score the most points. This is done by a combination of deck building, tableau building and what I can only explain as set collection/rummikub.
On your turn you will do the below:
- distill; remove all of one type of element then (if you only have the xenon element left in your hand) place that on the table in front of you to later fulfil contracts)
- Gain air; collect one of each element and two dollars or wipe out one row of either the upgraded cards line or the contract line.
- Buy a card or place a bid token; using a bid token on a card will make it cost one less for you as well as your opponents. The token also keeps the card on the table for if someone tries to wipe out the line of cards.
At the beginning of your turn you can choose to ‘work overtime’ which will let you distill twice, bid twice then shuffle your deck. This would be the entirety of that turn.
Throughout the game you will buy upgrades that will enhance the actions that you will do on your turn. This includes gaining money whenever you distill oxygen or letting you bid and buy on the same turn. When buying the upgrades you can buy them for the cheap option and only use the upgrade when it comes out of your deck or you can spend a higher amount to place this upgrade in your tableau immediately so it occurs every turn. If it is added to your deck for the lesser price then when it comes out you can spend the difference to add it to your tableau as your buy action.
Contracts have no cost to add to your tableau, it can be done using a buy action. When bought, you cannot add a new contract until the current one is fulfilled. Once fulfilled it will score you points at the end of the game and possibly even some immediate money.
The game will end, once a player has either gained 5 upgrades in their tableau or have fulfilled five contracts. When the game ends, the player that activated the end of game will either score 3 points or have one final turn after every other player has had their last turn. Players will score for each of their completed contracts, each upgrade, each bonus upgrade scoring condition, every five coins, and pipes based on the amount a player has.
Alteration:
For a deck-building game, there isn't a large number of cards involved in the game. The main alteration from game to game comes from the fact that neither the upgrade or contract deck will finish or even half finish each game. This means that there are numerous strategies that players can follow based on what cards become available from the upgrade deck. There are strategies that will let you distill faster, frequently bid or let you buy more than once in a turn.
Production:
The production does what it needs to do, the main selling point is the uniqueness of the game. This is a very strategic deck builder that doesn't focus on combos like other deck-building games. The main focus is on building your tableau to create the most efficient distilling engine possible.
Interaction:
The main interaction that arises from the game is how each player interacts with their engine. Every time you add air to your deck you're clogging your engine, but it is the best method to gain money to then build a better engine. There are ways to interact with the other players and this is mainly through bidding on cards. This makes it more expensive for your opponents to buy the card but at the same time it makes it cheaper for you to gain the card to your deck or upgrade it straight away and place it in your tableau. Bidding without buying, however, can keep you from accelerating your engine.
Determination:
Xenon Profiteer is a good deck builder with a unique design. You are trying to create a matching hand of elements so you can distill all the elements of that type at once. This is accelerated by upgrades, pipes, keeping leftover cards in your hand and frequently adding air into your deck. This has been a challenging puzzle every time I have played and I still haven't figured out the best method of playing. So it will stay in my collection for many more plays.
Click...feed the addiction:
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