Sagrada: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Dice Rolling, Pattern Building, Sudoku
Player Age: 15+Player Count: 1 - 4 PlayersTime to Play: 30 - 45 Minutes
Player Age: 15+
Introduction:
Everyone loves to admire the gorgeous stained glass windows often seen at churches. Here with Sagrada, you get to be the constructor of one of these amazing displays. The job is not as easy as it seems as there are constant restrictions throughout that can make you feel like as if your whole board is a sudoku puzzle. In Sagrada up to four players (six with an expansion) are drafting dice for their window in the style of snake drafting this is where the last player takes two and then the drafting order reverses, so the first player will be both the first and last drafter. Once drafted, dice are carefully placed in their window, first having to meet certain restrictions then trying to score private and public target conditions.
Game Anatomy:
Window Frame Boards and Window Pattern Cards:
These dual-layered boards are where the stained glass window will be built for each player. Every frame will have different restrictions on which colours and numbers can be placed where. This is determined each time the game is set up with 12 double-sided window pattern cards that slots into the frame. These cards vary in difficulty but each card will award the player a different amount of favour tokens denoted on the bottom right. These will be used throughout the game on tool cards to give the players alternate methods around the puzzle.
Dice:
There are 90 small sized dice spanning five colours. These are the segments of your window design and will be drafted each round.
Round Track:
At the end of every round there will be one leftover dice that will enter the round track on the left-most empty spot. This is primarily used to show players what round they are up to as the game ends after the tenth round. Several tools interact with or are based on the dice along this round track as well.
Private Objective:
At the start of the game, each player will receive a private objective. These are identical except for the target colour. More options will become available through expansions. These private objectives will award points based on the total pip value of one colour.
Public Objective:
There are numerous public objectives that can be scored multiple times at the end of the game. These will be things like all unique values or colours in a row, every pair of certain values and simply scoring for every set of all the values/colours.
Tools:
Tools are how you will guide your way out of a challenging puzzle. These tools cost one favour token for the first player and two favour tokens for every subsequent use. They will allow you to alter the die value or move dice in various ways.
Setup:
Player Setup:
- Shuffle and give each player a private objective.
- Out of two cards, each player will select one window pattern card and slide it into the window frame.
- Gain the favour tokens shown on the card.
Game Setup:
- Shuffle both the tool deck and public objective deck and deal three of each type face-up in the centre of the table.
- Place the round track at the centre of the table.
- Place all dice in the dice bag.
- Determine the first player (the last player to have seen a stained glass window).
Round Setup:
- Draw and roll dice from the bag equal to the player count times two and plus one additional die. If there is three players it would be seven dice.
How to Play:
Each player has two turns every round, where they can draft one die and place it on their board in a legal location. Players can also activate one tool card by spending the appropriate amount of favour tokens. This can be done at any time.
Dice Placement Rules:
- for each player the first die of the game is placed in one of the four corners of the window.
- A die has to abide by the rules of the square in which it is placed. This may be a requirement of a certain colour or number.
- Each die placed has to be adjacent (diagonal included) to a previously placed die.
- The same colour or value cannot be orthogonally adjacent to each other. This is the most challenging aspect.
Scoring:
After 10 rounds the scoring begins. Private objectives are scored once, public objectives can be scored multiple times for each player, one point is awarded for each leftover favor token and negative one point is awarded for each leftover spot in the window.
Final Thoughts:
- Smart Sudoku-like puzzle each game.
- Challenging but with plenty of opportunities through tools.
- Memorable rules.
- Unique theme.
- Not a large variety of Private objectives but more are available through expansions.
Sagrada captures the essence of sudoku in board game form, along with fun colour array of stained glass windows. During the game you are aware of the scoring conditions but being able to place dice itself is no easy feat. Each time you place a die you create more location opportunities while at the same time creating your own conundrums. For example if you place a red dice adjacent to a location that only allows red dice you have now a location that cannot be completed (except for the help of tools), earning negative points later. This, combined with the actual dice you have available to draft, makes it challenging but not impossible to focus on the objectives. If you are someone that likes a puzzly game with memorable rules and an original theme then I definitely recommend Sagrada. This one is staying in my collection for years worth of plays.
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