Blackrock Games - It's a Wonderful World - Board Game

Product Information

Cubes gained are placed onto kept cards to pay for their building cost (upper-left) or on starting Empire card where 5 will immediately be converted to a single red (wild) cube to be used on demand. It is a game of efficiency and engine building, taking its core from games like 7 Wonders and Sushi Go and dialling up the fun without raising the complexity.

A lot of the cards show a (near) future with a pessimistic theme; AI overlords, totalitarian regimes, oppressed people, aggressive aliens, nuclear warfare… it’s kind of a grim dystopic look into the future, one we might be headed towards (well, most of it, anyway) if we continue to keep doing what we do – produce goods, then build more ways to produce goods, so we can build more. With It's a Wonderful World we were drawn in by all of the campaign content the game had to offer - campaign content that we have so far never touched! In It’s a Wonderful World, you draft cards that generate resources that allow you to build more cards that generate more resources, which allows you to draft more cards that generate resources… Repeat ad infinitum for four rounds. Some are better than others, but together they are fun and interesting and provide new twists and turns. The player that produces the most of each resource receives a bonus token (ties will not earn a bonus).Join the community and come discuss games like Codenames, Wingspan, Brass, and all your other favorite games!

Still, there is some theme here; and even an existential question, if you are willing to squint your eyes. At the same time, you will have to balance when to complete production cards versus scoring opportunities—too few production cards and you may not have enough resources to complete your cards, but too many and you may not have enough points to win.There are four rounds in the game and in each round players begin with a hand of cards, choosing one and passing the remaining cards to the next player around the table. At first, you need to have them all (usually four) built by the end of the game, but in later scenarios, you need to build one at least every turn cycle lest you lose outright. While you can’t use those on future projects, you can turn five resources into kristallium (red), the wild resource.

I’m not a fan of drafting, as a central mechanism for games, and this did nothing to change that for me. In the Its a Wonderful World board game, you are an expanding Empire and must choose your path to your future. The higher player count shouldn’t be discounted, (although an expansion to It’s a Wonderful World also takes it up to 7 players). There is a huge deck of cards, baggies containing six different coloured cubes, a bag of orange general chits and a bag of blue financier tokens. If you can get enough of the cards, that’s great; if not, you’re going to be scrapping a lot of cards for the few resources they offer, which feels less good.

The first is the draft phase, then the unofficially named puzzling phase, and finally the production phase. The newest offering in Wonderful World franchise is a Kickstarter for a two-player fantasy world game, using a similar card/resource structure… but with a really nice twist on the “I cut – you pick” mechanic. I suppose this one was a little redundant, but then again I wouldn't have known about the previous thread if I hadn't asked here. It is a card game for 1-5 players that will have each player trying to build their own little empire.

Competing for the supremacy bonuses feels like the most interactive part of the game, but that it is not as engaging as the war mechanics found in 7 Wonders. Likewise, the just side starts players with a limited number of resources, but gains 1 of their choice each round thanks to their good work ethic.Depending on player count this is done by taking 7 or 10 cards choosing one and passing the rest to the left or right, again depending on the round. But once built will give you some kind of benefit each turn and maybe a little bonus when you first complete it too. During the campaign and after the campaign, the players will unlock cards which can come to enrich the basic game definitively. This bonus will be either a general or a financier, these are the two people on the box cover by the way.