Luxury Island: BUZZ Review
Information:
Mechanics: Print and Play, Roll and Write, Resource Management
Player Count: 2 - 4 Players Time to Play: 30 Minutes
Year Published: 2022Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Basics:
Luxury Island joins the latest and favoured trend of print and play roll and write games. The difference with this game is it also has resource management as you are trying to gain resources from locations to erect buildings and attract tourists. The first player to attract eight tourists wins.
On your turn you have three options after rolling the dice:
- Gain gold equal to the difference between the two dice,
- Everyone gains two resources per location they own that matches the two numbers added together,
- Expand/build the amount of times that the highest number divided by the smaller number equals.
Expanding will allow a player to buy locations (then gain two resources from that location) by spending gold. Building will allow a player to add buildings to their existing locations to gain tourists and ongoing/one time abilities.
Uniqueness:
A lot of roll and writes are based off combo moves (which is always exciting). But its good to see Luxury Island do something different by focusing on the resources. This is what a lot of larger pen and paper games do but in this instance it is done on a smaller scale that really sets the game apart. It has a challenging choice in how to manage your resources and what to buy and when, but also manages to keep the game moving at a constantly rapid pace.
Zig-Zag (Player Interaction):
There are two forms of interaction in this game.The race to gain eight tourists and the competition of gaining the locations. Tourists is always at the back of the players mind as that is the ultimate goal but in terms of gaining locations it is a first come first serve system. When one location is gained by a player the opponents must cross it off on their sheet and it cannot be gained by anyone else.
One strategy would be to gain the most of one number so you can get a huge pay off when that combo is rolled. This can be difficult though as you have to build adjacent to a previously bought location. As these location purchases are open information you can be smart about taking opportunities to block off your opponents, as long as they don't hinder you first.
Zone:
Key Points:
- Interesting that each location can only be bought by one player.
- Unique resource management roll and write.
- Some turns can feel slow when the dice don't let you do much.
- The art style feels just functional.
For the final thoughts, as it is on GameFound I am going to split the game into one of the three zones; avoid, watch and instant back.
Luxury Island is made by a first time creator and I think they have hit the mark with this game. It is a quick and interesting resource puzzle that has you focused on expanding your presence on the island faster than your opponents. For the price of a coffee and no pesky cards to cut out yourself, this is easily a instant back and I fully recommend backing this game.
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