Thrones of Valeria: Rapid Review
Information:
Mechanics: Trick-Taking
Player Age: 8+Player Count: 2 - 6 PlayersTime to Play: 30 - 45 Minutes
Game Designer: Matt JacobsGame Artist: Mihajlo DimitrievskiPublisher: Daily Magic GamesYear Published: 2022BGG Weight: 2.00
Player Age: 8+
Game Designer: Matt Jacobs
Rundown:
Thrones of Valeria introduces trick-taking to the Valeria universe. Players will attempt to win tricks throughout two rounds and whoever has the most coins at the end of the game will be the winner. The standard trick-taking rules apply, there are five houses each ranked from 1 to 9 (only one of each number per house). One player will lead the first trick each round and each subsequent player must play the same house if able, if unable then they can play any house from their hand. The game differs from other trick-taking games now as each house will be on the standing board and the winner of each trick is the player that plays the highest ranked card of the highest house, not the highest ranked card of the lead trick. This standing board will have a reward of silver or a penalty cost next to each house. The winner of the trick will gain this reward or pay the penalty after each trick. The player who won the trick will now lead the next. Once one player has run out of cards the round will end, players will be re-dealt cards and the second round will commence. Whichever player has the most coins at the end of the second round is the winner.
Appeal:
The appeal of this trick-taking game comes from two factors; the standing board and each card's special ability. The special abilities will activate whenever the cards are played (even if it doesn't follow the lead house). Activation is based on the card's rank, so every number 5 will have the same ability no matter what house the card is.
These abilities will modify the order of the houses on the standing board in different ways including swapping adjacent houses with the rogue and moving one house to the bottom of the board with the assassin. This will be used to manipulate the payout and the house winning the trick in your favour. Other ranks may gain players silver, lock houses from being modified, and draw and discard cards. Three jesters in the deck have no house associated with them. When the jester is played you have the option to pay silver to raise the card above all other cards or simply play nothing and treat the jester as a zero. There are only three jesters and each jester costs either 1, 2 or 3. If there are multiple jesters the most expensive jester will win the trick so use these jesters wisely.
If the gameplay wasn't enough of an appeal, the components are also great. You have upgraded plastic tokens for the houses and the standing board is made up of two puzzle-piece boards to keep away damage over time.
Player Count:
The player count has a wide range of 2-6 players. To make this work there are three variances based on player count. The standard mode is split up into even and odd amounts of players. In the odd amount (3 and 5 players) it is a free for all, whichever player is the richest. With even players (4 and 6 players) the game structure changes to become a team game. These teams are simply two people each but it changes the table state as it is no longer just about your victory, you can try to manipulate the board state further to help your teammate win.
The last player range is 2 players. At this count the gameplay is still over two rounds except each player gets all 20 cards at the start of the game and they will choose how to split their 20 cards into two 10-card decks, one per round. This creates more planning at the start of the game in how players want to effectively spread their houses and abilities.
Interface:
One of my favourite artists in board games, Mihajlo Dimitrievski, returns to his vibrant world of Valeria. However, this time he has gone for a minimalistic approach as each card has a black-and-white design with a splash of colour. The rules of each card are contained to an icon to keep the art the focus of each card. There is a reference for each character so players can refer to each rule at their leisure.
Determination:
- Great minimalistic art.
- Constant movement of houses on the standing board.
- Plenty of ways to gain coins from playing cards.
- Multiple variants of play based on the player count.
- Great components.
- Quick and easy to learn but good depth in house manipulation and effect of the cards.
Thrones of Valeria is a quick and straightforward trick-taking game when it comes to teaching. The joy of this game comes from the constant interaction between players, including manipulation of the houses, using the card actions In your favour and racing towards the most coins (often stealing them from your opponent). This is a quick, fast and fun trick-taking game that has all the elements that will make players want to bring it out for a quick filler or to play multiple games in succession, hoping to come away with at least one victory. If you're a fan of trick-taking games then this one brings an interesting mechanism of house manipulation as well and you can never go wrong with the latest addition to the Valeria world of games.
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