The Upstairs, Downstairs expansion brings with it four brand new servants for you: Hall Boy, Cook, Head Housemaid and Useful Man. The cook allows you to invite guests 1 or 2 levels above the reputation score. The Hall Boy gives the butler an outstanding service option. The Head Housemaid has impeccable reputation and helps assure that only the most prominent people get acquainted with the family. The Useful Man is for those well versed in Obsession and is, as the name would suggest, very useful and has some versatility in his play options giving him ways to mitigate Victorian Fate. The game consists of players taking turns to host events at locations on their estate: each event requires a number of Servants to attend, and a number of Gentry to be played from the hand as guests to it. The outcome of an event will be a gain (or loss) of Reputation and/or Money, and/or the acquisition of new Gentry cards. After hosting an event, you may optionally buy one Improvement from the Builder's Market. Each activity must be attended by the estate’s service team. Certain activities necessitate certain staff, such as the Bowling Green, which requires a footman to attend two gentry members for the event. The gentry, based on their status, may also require attending. The starting family cards do not require this, but many of the cards you will add to your hand over time will require the attention of a lady’s maid or valet. Once used, staff members become expended and will not be available for a period of time. The central boards include Derbyshire and Alderley Hall.

Regardless of which camp you’re in, the answer is a resounding maybe. Obsession is a great game and no mistake. It may just be a little troublesome for someone unaccustomed to a modern board game’s disposition. The very first moment I beheld him, my heart was irrevocably gone NEW IN THE 2nd EDITION: Unique to the second edition (indicated by 2.1E topped by a crown in the upper right-hand corner of the box) are two hybrid improvement tiles: The South Lawn and Green Room. Hybrid tiles refer to a room or outdoor space that is multi-purpose; as a result, the tile category changes with the activity, a power that greatly impacts courtship! Round 14 (Extended Game: 11) is a National Holiday: player Reptutation does not limit actions this round. Players may host any event and invite any guest, irrespective of their Reputation.

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At the end of the game, a final courtship phase considers all four phases. The player with the estate that appeals to the Fairchilds most will win the final matchmaking event. This, combined with an accounting of points related to estate improvements and social connections, will decide the ultimate winner regardless of who enticed the final courtship. The Cavendish family is ready to make some improvements. Game Experience:

You are the head of a respected but troubled family estate in mid-19th century Victorian England. After several lean decades, family fortunes are looking up! Your goal is to improve your estate so as to be in better standing with the truly influential families in Derbyshire. THE BUILDERS' MARKET RESERVE: New management of the Builders' Market prevents it from stagnating and increases access to service tiles. Throughout the game, a competitive courtship for the hand of the most eligible young gentleman and lady in the county presents specific renovation and reputation objectives. The player who best meets these objectives while accumulating victory points will win the hand of the wealthy love interest and the game. The game invites a world of storytelling as you play. Each gentry card, including the family cards, are delightful as they include in-era photography and flavor detail. A picnic on the south lawn may attract a new guest. But look, it’s the local gossip Miss Beatrice Wilton, who upon future play will lower the reputation of the family. Why did Father wave to her as she passed by on her way to town? The scandal! Lady Cavendish and the Viscount are attended by the family footman.

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Over the course of various turns (either 16 turns in a standard game or 20 in an extended game), you must work to host events, ensuring you can service said events effectively with your staff, and attract new guests to your estate, thus increasing your income and your reputation. The game plays over 4 seasons and at the end of each season, you compete for the affection of one of the Fairchilds, who will bring certain reputation and fortune in their wake.

A special mention has to go to the overall level of presentation throughout. From the portraits on the guest cards to the beautiful boxes included to store the game’s components, everything has had so much attention to detail lavished upon it. Critics might argue that the tiles are bland and uninteresting, but they’re very much about function over form. The clear iconography throughout makes it possible to discern everything you need to know about a card or tile at a glance. Those of you who revel in multiplayer-solitaire games will love Obsession. The only real competition is in the scrapping over the buildings on offer, and the odd tile that lets you recruit a worker from another player’s board. Other than that, it’s just you against your own brain. To be honest, that’s just as bad for me, my brain is my own worst enemy. That sort of game should be a natural fit for a good solo game, and guess what – it is. Obsession takes Jane Austen and Emily Bronte seriously, and then goes the extra mile by wrapping the experience in a wonderful set of mechanics. There’s tableau-building as you work hard to build the most glorious estate. There’s hand management as you mull over the best gentry card to add to the current hosted event. There’s worker placement as you struggle to keep your servants available for the needs of the estate and the whirlwind of guests coming and going. Once a gentry card is used during a round, it is discarded and can’t be used again until reclaimed. This is the Upstairs, Downstairs expansion for Obsession the board game. This expansion brings a slew of new content to be inserted into the base game to enhance the game experience and offer you plenty of new content to play with.You then can invite a certain number of guests to the activity and they themselves may have certain staffing requirements that you must be able to fulfil. They will also provide favours (rewards) as well as the activity itself. Favours can vary from money from wealthy Earls, reputation or new guests to add to your hand. All of these will build upon your fortune and better your standing with the opportunity to court the Fairchilds. “My Heart Burns For You, Obsession!” Host activity: Choose tile from your estate to use this turn. Its bottom-left number must be equal to or lower than your family's Reputation. For example, we prefer to play the game with closed courtship. This means that we do not know what appeals to the Fairchilds until the end of a phase. This requires us to maintain a close race for estate points without knowing which area of appeal will turn up. But the game allows you to play this as an open option, so you’re aware immediately what to work towards, or even a random option in which a die determines when this information appears. As a note, this expansion works best in conjunction with the Wessex expansion. The base Obsession game is needed for this expansion as it is not a standalone game.