Perch: Rapid Review
Information:
Mechanics: Area Control, Modular BoardPlayer Age: 14+Player Count: 2 - 5 PlayersTime to Play: 30 - 60 MinutesGame Designer: Douglas HettrickGame Artists: Ari Oliver
Rundown:
Perch is an area control game of strategic bird placement, where the unique twist of this game is that you can place your opponent’s birds. This is done to try to manipulate them into ties in certain locations, or manipulate your birds into second or third place and scoring more from certain locations. Perch lasts five rounds with a growing board state as the birds will not be discarded from the locations between rounds. The player with the highest score after round five will be the winner.
Alteration:
The three items that will add a lot of variance to the game is the locations, creature cards, and objective cards.
At the start of every game each player will be given two objective cards and choose one to pursue. This is a hidden bonus scoring potential that will need to be correct at the end of the game if a player wants to gain the bonus points.
There are 24 locations with variations on points, abilities and creatures that will be included in the game. There are basic locations and creature locations (upper locatiobs in below image) equal to the player count and there will be two or three locations with special abilities in each game (bottom locations on image).
When a player wins a creature location they will gain that creature to use in the next round.
These creatures have variations in how they either scare the birds, sending them to the fountain (a scoring graveyard), or move them to a different location and altering the board state. Each creature also has specific movement, making it challenging at times to use their effects.
Phases:
Migration:
During the migration phase, each player will have two of their birds placed into the migration bag.
Recruit:
Each player will gain two birds of their type and draw two birds randomly from the migration bag. This could equate to gaining more of your own birds.
Perch:
In turn order, each player will place one bird onto one of the locations. If there is an existing stack of that colour the new bird will go on top of this stack. If there is a nest with no birds on top, the bird being placed can be placed on this nest. Each nest grants one more value to the bird stack for that location. There is only one stack per player in each location, however if a nest is empty the entire stack can be moved to the nest when a bird of that colour is placed.
As a free action before or after the placement, the player can activate each creature card once per round. Only one free action can be used per perch action.
Upkeep:
During the upkeep, several instances will occur;
- Each location will score.
- Turn order is determined by the score track starting with the player in the lead.
- Each location with an ability will activate, the player in first place of that location will gain the creature or activate the ability if it only relates to one player.
- Round marker advances.
Rounds four and five:
In rounds four and five a new free action will be unlocked. In round four, a birdhouse will be given to each player to keep any bird stack from growing any further. It also counts as a plus one value to that stack and prevents those birds from being affected in any way. In round five, players will unlock a zap action. This will send one bird of your choice to the fountain and may even be used on your own bird as the fountain can be a great way to score points.
Scoring:
After scoring each location in the final round there are a few more scoring conditions;
- Ten points per largest flock (stack of birds).
- Three points per creature in control.
- One point per bird in the plaza (ground underneath the fountain).
- Points per bird on the fountain.
The fountain will score different points based on the row the bird is on. For a bird to get higher points on the fountain, they need to be stacked in a pyramid structure with two birds supporting at the base.
Interaction:
Perch is an area control game with a lot of interaction between players to gain points from locations. The three interactions I find the most interesting includes the way scoring is displayed at each location, the tiebreakers, and how players place birds.
Each location has a unique spread of points shown on the top right, going from first to third place. The interesting part of these points is that the first player may not be who is awarded the most points. Each location has a different mix and it could award the second or third place the most points, rather than first every time.
Tie breakers in this game are settled by no one receiving points for the level they are fighting for and the following level down. The remainder is scored like normal. Two examples of this are when two players are tied for first place, so only the player in third place will score third-place points this round. Likewise, if players are tied for second place, only the first place player will score the first-place points. This is a pivotal interaction for players as they place opponent’s birds, making those tie with other players and resulting in both opponents not scoring points.
The last crucial interaction is playing your enemies' birds. This is the only area control game I can think of with this unique twist. This tweaks how players have to think of placement and in which order they play the birds during a round.
Determination:
- Interesting decisions when placing opponent's birds.
- Many ways to score, not purely based on having the majority.
- Added variability with a good mix of locations and creatures.
Perch is going to be one of my favourite area control games this year due to playing your opponent's birds, the tiebreakers creating zero points, and the unique mix of point order on the locations. There is a lot of decision space in how to score points and manipulate the board state. With all of these options it creates a less conflict-heavy board state that I quite enjoy compared to other area control games. Add in the variability of 24 locations and 9 creatures, all with unique movement restrictions and bird movements, there is a lot to like about this game. Perch is getting a Go-To Golden Game Seal and will be getting a lot more plays this year.
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