Curators (Kickstarter – Standard Pledge)

Board Game Geek Reviews

1. 7.5 out of 10

   psznicx

   There are a few negatives but overall we enjoy playing this. I'll start off with the positives. Game play is just right: roughly an hour for 2 players but can vary depending on how AP they are. The puzzle is solid: there's an optimization aspect in trying to utilize the double actions as much as possible and the order you want to take your actions in to do that. Turns are mostly very quick; just flip 1-2 action tiles and do a few quick steps. The game itself is clear, not fiddly, and you know what you need to do with more than one way to go about doing it. The theme/setting is decent enough; more pronounced than the average euro IMO but not by much. I do like that the contract cards include a real factoid about some real-world museum piece. Player interaction is indirect but does make a difference (this is not a multiplayer solitaire). The thinkiness of turns is just right. If you're in a time crunch and want a solid puzzle to solve, Curators hits the spot nicely. There are a few negatives worth mentioning. The art while nice isn't very functional. It's so small you pretty much need a magnifying lens to make it out (my eyes aren't great and I gave up trying). Identifying the 3 and 4 player tiles at setup would be a lot easier if the icon wasn't like one shade off from the color of the tile. The visitor tiles could be (and I may just do it myself) replaced with wooden meeples. I like the imagery but for practicality wooden meeples would function much better. Also wings are identified as discrete tiles but have no unique border around the whole tile so during scoring or even in game when checking if completing a wing can involve just pushing the tiles around to see the borders. These things aren't great but they don't dramatically hurt the experience. The one thing I could see some people not liking is the drawing of contract cards during play (and even during set up). While it only happens at most three times per player per game it can make players susceptible to the luck of the draw. In my first game I got my second visitor contract card only two turns away from the end of the game. I happened to have the conditions of one card already met so I took that one and gained 5 VP at the end of the game, purely out of chance. I didn't win but in a closer game that could have made the difference (going forward I'd probably always play with the Draft rule in the advanced cards). Going in I wasn't convinced I'd enjoy Curators but despite a few minor quibbles I have to say it was a fun experience and I'd be happy to play it again. May be a good fit for euro gamers looking for something on the shorter/quicker side but which is a more than just a filler.

2. 8 out of 10

   hangvar

   Excellent game that fits geeks as well as less experienced board gamers. The mechanics are well balanced and the design is sleek and nice looking.

3. 7 out of 10

   absolutleo

   Rating after one solo play through. I especially like the economic aspect and exponential growth. Also big fan of polyominos which Curators has. Rating may vary after more plays.