Small World

A few days ago, I had an opportunity to play Small World, a game that has gotten a lot of good press in the blogosphere. I had seen a few video reviews of it and, knowing that it was published by Days of Wonder, I expected the quality of the game pieces to be very high. I wasn't disappointed. Not only did everything look great in videos and images, but the heft and rigidity of tokens and such were really satisfying from a visceral perspective. Pretty and rugged are terms that are rarely used together-- except when women wax poetic of Mel Gibson or Pierce Brosnan-- but Days of Wonder has nailed this duality to a tee.

The most obvious "hook" to this game is that each player has powers unique to themselves, but that those powers are randomly generated by pairing a race (trolls, amazons, etc.) with a profession, ethic, or ability (alchemist, pillaging, or flying.) Moreover, this mechanic is beautifully reinforced through the game pieces.

The next thing that makes the game unique (and helps balance the game) is that these individual races are short lived. Once a player has played a few turns with them, the player can put that group into "decline." This allows the players to start a new one when their current races fortunes have basically played out. Not only does the player get to leverage all the territories they acquired with their declining race, but they get to build on them with new race. In this manner, all players get to watch the "elf era", for example, pass and give rise to that of the trolls. Races rise and decline over the course of this game, which is limited to nine turns. This may sound short, but it keeps the game fast-paced and quick. This allows new players to ramp up quickly, learning from the previous games.

All that being said, this is a pretty deep game with lots of tokens to track. Whenever I see a game like this, I long for the day when surface computers (note the little "s") will simplify all the data tracking. Until then, I am going to try to find simpler games that cater more to families who don't have the luxury of long set-up times and players taking five minutes to debate the finer points of their moves. I just don't have the patience-- especially when I know in my heart of hearts that once a game reaches a certain complexity threshold, it really needs to have a computer moderating.

The Review

The Game Mechanics

There are a lot of interesting hooks to this game that, when taken as a single game system, will surprise and delight almost any player. I have spoken about the two primary ones above, but there are interesting mechanics as well, when it comes to how a player chooses their race. There is basically a new roster of possibilities set for every game, ensuring that each game is different. Also, the game comes with multiple game boards, to accomodate different numbers of players, from two to five. It's very well-thought-out, grief-resistant, and the mechanics are supported with good story-- you never feel like you're playing the mechanics.

The Play

By and large, sitting down to a game of Small World feels like play. That's not true of all games, where the wrong move can screw you for the remainder of the game. A casual player can skim along the surface of the milieu, get into character, and just go crazy. A more strategic and perhaps more clever opponent has enough variables to contend with that even the best laid plans can fail on a single roll of the dice. It is these random touches that make the game scale to a wide audience, but may frustrate rule nerds.

The Parts

Days of Wonder puts out products at a level of quality that is very hard to match-- even the box composition is well thought out-- I swear, they must have some Apple user-experience alumni working for them. The interlocking race/power tokens are clever and beautiful, as well as the boards and victory point tokens. A casual gamer might wonder why the game coins are octogons rather than circles. The answer is simple and smart: so they do roll all over the place!

Final Notes

Small World isn't necessarily a game you'll break out for mixed groups of guys and gals-- it's no "party game." The number of pemutations available in the rule set are just to large for that-- too much concentration is involved. However, it's certainly a fun and interesting game for people who enjoy dealing with novel situations, enjoy complexity, and love a dynamic fantasy milieu.