Newton

review

Change of perceptions

Newton

Scienctists on the move

Newton is not only a measurement unit or a scientist, but now also a very good expert game by Nestore Mangone and Simone Luciani, published by Cranio Creations and distributed by Asmodee. Simone Luciano was also involved in the creation of the excellent game Lorenzo il Magnifico.

Newton is intended for 1 to 4 players and the publishers states a minimum age of 12 years. I believe, however, that there are very few 12 year olds for whom this rather complex game would be suitable; of course, if you only play it for the sake of playing it, the rules are straightforward, put the planning is rather substantial.

The topic of Newton might be guessed from the mechanisms, but could as easily be replaced by a plethora of other topics. The front cover of the box does not give you many hints; it only shows a portrait of Isaac Newton on an eye-catching green apple. This green apple, by the way, is given the job of starting player token in the game.

The duration of the game should come out somewhere between 90 and 120 minutes in case of four players. If there are fewer players, the time reduces itself accordingly, I would suppose about 15 minutes per player. For the first game, one is usually a bit overtaxed on the question about what it is best to do when.

After having completed the rather copious set-up of the game, you should take a good and close look at the two game boards, as those influence your approach to the game during all of the game. As there are never all components (tiles on the game boards) in play, and those tiles are displayed variably and randomly, each game takes a very different course.

Now a few impressions of the game course itself. Each player begins the game with six action cards which only differ in the arrangement of the folios already present - folios are colorful books in colors of orange, blue and green - which means that all players have the same five action options, as one of the cards is a “joker” action.

Furthermore, each player has a player board, which differs in the “upgrading” of one of the various action options.

On your player board you find a bookcase, which plays a very important role in the acquisition of points, as well as slots for travel cubes and books. You also put down the action cards on the desk depicted on the board. You receive a starting capital in the guise of coins, value 2.

Furthermore, each player receives four master cards, which should basically be drafted, but I strongly advise against this for the first game; this is also mentioned in the rules. You have, as already mentioned, no real idea of what could be useful in the game, therefore you can save the time to select cards which you can not yet assess properly. During the game is is, on top of that, rather difficult in general to be able to play those master cards.

Besides the two game boards for travelling and technology, three action cards each are displayed, which are of varying power and available. On the boards, you randomly distribute Objective tiles, Specializing tiles, Invention tiles, Bonus tiles, University tiles, Ancient Land tiles and City tiles. Then, we need to prepare additional tiles - tiles for ideas, income, potions and coins. Of course, every player receives a summary tile showing bonus actions and options.

After a starting player tile has been assigned, we can finally begin and take the first of five actions that will be resolved in six rounds. In turn, each player puts an action card n the desk on his board, does the action and uses the eventual bonus, in any order, the bonus only after additionally acquired action cards. The starting player changes after each round, five actions, that are, in clockwise direction.

Those are the possible action options: Work, Technology, Travel, Lessons and Study.

With Work, you mostly generate money. Money is necessary to intensify action, to pay for travel costs, to acquire helpful potions or students, or to increase the selection of action cards. On the Work track you can also acquire specializations, or achieve an invention tile which enables an action and provides points or bonuses, or unlock a master card or acquire an Objective tile for victory points at the end of the game.

With Technology, you move a student on the respective board to arrive at invention tiles there, to collect bonus tiles - only the first player to arrive at at a given tile gets the bonus - or to arrive at specialization tiles or various Objective tiles. Every student, however, moves in a kind of dead-end lane in which he cannot turn around and where the paths end either on an Objective tile, a specialization tile or on a case for activation of a master card. Only by making use of another one of the four students that are available can you reach other objectives.

Travel works similar to Technology. You move, however, always only one Scientist any path of your choice towards various objectives. The travel board also shows Ancient Lands and Universities, which become important for the Study action. It is important to know that tiles are only activated, if your move ends exactly on such a tile; you are, however, allowed to forfeit surplus steps. On the travel board you place a travel cube on the tile to mark, on the one hand, that you have been there and, on the other hand, to eventually unlock scores on your board by placing the last travel cubes.

The action Lesson is used to acquire important additional action cards which are available in three levels of power. Cards have one action each and also a bonus in the guise of additional actions or folios. The action cards are important also on the grounds that, after each round, an action cards, usually and preferably one of the starting cards, is slid under the desk and enhances the respective action, but at the cost of missing that action from your your hand. This is one of the facts that always force you to make decisions.

For the Study action, you place your books onto the bookshelf which can unlock an income of points after each round - probably the most important means to achieve victory points. Furthermore, after any three books out of a total of twelve have been placed, this unlocks a bonus of potion, money, master card or points.

The Joker action is exclusively available from the starting card actions and you can use it to do any action of your choice. The Joker symbol, however, does not have an effect in subsequent actions.

An interesting mechanism for these actions is that an action always takes on the strength equal to the total of the respective action symbols displayed on your desk. You can also strengthen an action by one by paying two coins - your total starting capital.

As I have mentioned at the start, the game demands quite a lot of planning. On the one hand, you want to collect bonus tiles as often as possible and also certain action cards, but, on the other hand you want to place books in the bookshelf as early as possible to achieve points income as early, as high and as often as possible. Despite book shelfs and conditions to place the books are the same for all players, there are several approaches to this objective, so that not everybody will do the same thing always.

Placement of books always demands a prerequisite. You either need a combination of folios - which are either displayed by master cards or by action cards, or you must have placed a travel cube on the respective tile on the travel board. Those prerequisites can by avoided by discarding of potions. But those must have been collected previously, and this is possible by using action cards, bonuses on the boards or maybe even as income.

You also need combinations of folios to arrive at objective tiles on the game boards. Only if you have marked the respective objective tiles with a travel marker or a student, you may score the points for an objective - they are there for nearly everything, but for different things in different games - for instance for locations you reached, for money, potions, bonus tiles, and so on.

The rules of the game are rather well structured and, helpfully, also well illustrated. All symbols that occur in the game are described easily understandable. All master cards, too, are explicitly explained despite the fact that the symbols are easily understood after a few games. The master cards all have a fixed point value when they have been played. The point value is nicely and plausibly balanced with the effect of the card - usually either an action but also folios. The effects themselves, however, are very different. Therefore, the cards should be normally drafted at the start of the game.

The graphic design on the boards, in my opinion, is very functional, with the exception of the cost for paths on the travel boards; beginners could suspect that these also could be cases on the board. If I have to evaluate the game with a points system, I would give it nearly the highest value - it is a good game for experienced players, but not a family game. The numerous components are mostly made from cardboard, but very functional.

I have not and will not try the solitaire version, as for me, the allure of a board game is in the competition with other players. The game is, however, equally suitable and well working for all numbers from 2-4 players.

In my opinion, the game has the potential to end up on the table of experienced players. I will play it again gladly and often.

Hans Mostböck

Players: 1-4

Age: 12+

Time: 90+

Designer: Nestore Mangone, Simone Luciani

Artist: atelier198, Andreas Resch

Price: ca. 40 Euro

Publisher: Cranio Creations

Web: www.asmodee.de

Genre: Development

Users: For experts

Special: 1 player

Version: de

Rules: cn de en es fr it kr pl pt

In-game text: no

Comments:

Needs some gaming experience

Lots of planning necessary

Good rules

High replay value

Compares to:

Games using a mix of Drafting, Deck Building, tile placement and hand management

Other editions:

CMON (en), Cranio Creations (it), Ediciones MasQueOca (es), Lucrum Games (pl), Meeple PR Jogos (pt), Pixie Games (fr), sternenschimmermeer (kr), Yoka Games (cn),

My rating: 6

Hans Mostböck:

A good game with excellent action mechanisms, it needs a lot of planning and offers several strategies for winning; I will play it often and with pleasure.

Chance (pink): 1

Tactic (turquoise): 2

Strategy (blue): 3

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 0

Dexterity (green): 2

Action (dark green): 0