Our review

Outlook to a dark future

Euphoria

Exploit workers, cash resources and place victory points

In Euphoria players try to create the perfect dystopic society, which well means that you need to say goodbye to looking forward into a positive, utopic future and must  immerse yourself instead into the development of a dark, dismal and ominous society boding only disaster. If this topic seems too depressing to you, let me tell you: not everything is as negative as it seams. If if the future is not rosy, it is at least very colorful and varied. All the same, you have to keep in mind: If you do not involve yourself in the creation and development of the dystopic society, will incur a penalty. And if you believe that you can work less diligently and instead throw yourself into acquiring knowledge and to intensify knowledge, will be penalized, too.

In Euphoria all players try to cooperatively create the future of their society. The city and her surroundings is divided into regions, which are dominated by four different faction. Thus the board is divided, indicated by different colors, into the boroughs of Euphoria - the city center, Subterra - life beneath the surface, and wastelands - the devastated surroundings of Euphoria. The airspace over the city is controlled by the Icarites in Icarus. Those faction regions offer action cases to players which they use with their workers. To make use of the individual factions at the right moment with the right means is the central task in the game. Each player starts the game as one faction’s favorite and commands recruits of this faction.

At the start of the game each player has already hired two recruits represented by cards, which provide individual advantages to each player according to the text on the cards. However, only one of the recruits is convinced of the individual player’s agenda, the other recruit must be won over for one’s own cause in the course of the game, so that he is put down face-down for each player, the other is on display openly. Each recruit is a follower of one of the four factions. When a player thus supports a recruit he profits from the advantages of this faction, if not, he does not benefit.

Those privileges and advantages evolve in the course of the game by the advancing of a marker on the allegiance track of the respective faction. For each faction there is an allegiance track on the board, those tracks comprise four different sections. Whenever a marker moves into a new section it activates another advantage. The advancement of the marker is triggered by various actions in the region of the respective faction.

The game board also features one region not affiliated to a faction, the worker activation tank. This is the place where players can hire additional workers. That is to say, workers can be lost during the game, too. Two action cases requiring different forms of payment and offering different revenues are available in the worker activation tank.

Finally, there are also two tracks for morale and knowledge of your own workers, each of them comprising cases 1 to 6. Players mark their positions with a token of their own color, at the start of the game positioned on case 1 of the morale track and case 3 of the knowledge track. The morale of the workers determines the limit of artifact cards that a player can have in hand. Artifact cards are cards featuring the image of one of six different artifacts, and each artifact is available six times. Those artifact cards are mainly used for payment of certain actions. The knowledge track, on the other hand, has an important role when a player takes back workers or wants to hire new workers.

A feature of the game that varies with each individual play are the Constructed Markets. 18 different markets are available and only six of them are in play in a game. The faction areas on the ground always feature two Constructed Markets. Those markets are placed face-down on at the start of the game in the form of market tiles and need to be constructed by all players together. To participate in the setting-up of a Constructed Market a player must pay a certain resource in order to be able to place a worker into an action case next to a market, a so-called Construction Site. Depending on the number of players, varying numbers of workers must be placed for a market until the market is constructed, maximum four workers.

Each player employs workers of his color in order to continue developing the society and for this he sends them into the various faction regions where they implement actions. Workers are represented by classic six-sided dice, albeit dice that look a bit different. Each die represents one worker, the value the worker is showing represents this worker’s knowledge.

When players, in the course of the game, place their workers on action cases on the game board, they usually immediately implement the action of the respective case. A worker thus placed remains in the case until it returns to the player due to a player action. For the implementation of certain action a player may, at the finalization of the action, place one of his authority tokens, a star in his color, on designated cases on the board. If he manages to place his tenth and final star, he has won and the game ends instantly.

The placement of workers on action cases is nearly always involving payment of costs. Often you pay with commodities for resources that are only available from action cases. Commodities, thus, are the basic raw materials that can be upgraded to resources. Each faction produces its own commodities, so that there are four different commodities in play. In the course of the game you can also construct a total of three tunnels connection one faction with another faction so that commodities from another faction become available in a faction region. What part of a tunnel has already been constructed is marked with a special Miner Meeple who moves along the built tunnel case by case. When the Miner Meeple reaches the ninth case, the tunnel is completely constructed and the action case at the end of the tunnel is unlocked for use.

The course of the game is very simple, you play in clockwise direction, starting with the starting player, and continue like this until the game ends. In your turn you can choose one of two action options: You can either place workers on the board or take back workers from the board. The complexity of the game results from the manifold options to place workers and from interaction with other players.

Action cases on the board can either be only occupied by one worker (action cases for temporary use or unique use) or by several workers (action cases for multiple use). However, there is nearly no blocking of action cases by other players: Action cases  for „unique use“ are blocked by a worker, but there are always several of those cases available; Action cases for „temporary use“ are never blocked by being used by a worker; if you place a worker on such an action case and that case is already occupied, the worker already there simply is returned to the owner. This also enables you to take back your own worker without having to spend an extra action for this. The special action cases at the ends of the tunnels have an additional characteristic: They can only be used by players who own a recruit of this faction.

Usually, the placement of a worker instantly triggers the action depicted in the case, only in case of building the Constructed markets the building is only triggered when sufficient numbers of workers are involved.

At the start of the game each player has two workers and can – in the course of the game – own up to four workers. Each player takes his two starting workers and rolls them. The resulting values are the starting values for his workers. Now the starting player begins the game with his first turn. An active player must always implement the action option place workers or the action option take back workers.

When the active player takes back workers, it is up to him to decide how many workers he takes back from the board. And he also must decide if he wants to pay for taking them back, the costs for this are independent from the number of workers that are taken back. When he pays for the action with the Commodity Food (orange, Faction Wastelanders) or Bliss (green cloud, faction Icarites), he gains two morale points with this action and advances his token on the morale track accordingly. As an alternative he can waive payment, but this automatically loses him one morale point. You can also choose this option when your morale marker is down to case 1. In this case you do not lose a morale point.

Always when a player takes back a worker or is given back a worker, he must roll those returning workers and also pass a knowledge test. For such a knowledge test the player adds up the dice values of all workers in his stock – not those still placed on the board – and adds his position on the knowledge track to the total. When the result is a knowledge value of 16 or more, he loses the worker of the highest value and must put him back into general stock.

When a player chooses the action option of placing a worker, he must place this worker on an action case on the board. Usually, he places a single worker. Should a player have several workers with the same level of knowledge available, he may place all those workers in his turn. Each worker is resolved as a separate action in turn. Even if the board looks somewhat confusing a first glance, it is all the same governed by a clear imagery. All notations in square cases are costs that must be paid for the placement of a worker; all notations in circular cases are denoting the revenue.

Action cases for acquisition of commodities are among those actions cases that are free of charge. Each faction has one such action case. Those action cases are the only ones that have room for any number of workers, all other types of action cases have room for one worker only. The revenues of those cases can be very different: When a player puts a worker on such an action case, the knowledge of all workers there is added. Depending on the total amount one of three columns with different revenues is activated; depending on the activated column a player always receives one or two commodities of the faction and in addition also acquires a unit of knowledge or loses one unit of knowledge or advances the marker on the allegiance track of the respective faction. Those allegiance tracks also come into play on those cases: As soon as the marker on the track reaches the first section of the track, players with recruits of this faction always receive one worker more for this action than is indicated in the column.

Each tunnel has an action case which advances the construction of the tunnel. Those cases always offer room for one worker only (temporary use). The cost for placement there is payment of one commodity of the respective faction. The revenue is – at the discretion of the player- either the depicted resource or an artifact card. At the same time the Miner Meeple advances by one case in the tunnel. In this situation, too, the allegiance track influences the revenue for players with recruits of this faction, as soon as the marker on the allegiance track has advanced far enough  then they receive the resource as well as the artifact card.

When the tunnel construction is complete, the action case for temporary use at the end of the tunnel is unlocked. This case is free of charge and delivers three commodities of the faction which the tunnel is connected to. However, the tunnel can only be used by players who own a recruit of the faction that did construct the tunnel.

Those tunnels also hold one more special case while the tunnel is being built. When the Miner Meeple arrives at that case, all players may reveal their face-down recruit of the tunnel-constructing faction. This is one of the two ways that enables activation of the second recruit. The other possibility is to arrive at the section of the allegiance track that has the same function.

Each faction has an Artifact Market (temporary use). This market is available from the start of the game. The name of the market results from the fact that the action case of this market must be paid for with any three artifact cards or two artifacts of the same kind. Artifact Markets always yield the revenue of placing an authority star token and the advancement on the allegiance track. There are usually two possibilities for the placement of such a star. Each faction region includes a star-shaped area for placement of authority tokens. The capacity of those areas is limited in its capacity, the number of cases there is equal to to the number of players. Every player can place an authority star token there, while a place is available. When the star-shaped area is full, a placer can only place authority star tokens on Constructed Markets of this faction. Usually he will choose to do this rather than place an authority star token in a star-shaped area.

Constructed Markets offer four action cases for unique use for building the market. Workers on those action cases cannot be displaced. The cost for each case is a certain resource. When sufficient numbers of action cases in a Constructed Market are occupied the market is completed. The market tile is turned over and each player who was involved in constructing the market may place one of his authority star tokens on the market. When the market is constructed the action case underneath the market – with the costs noted on the market – is unlocked. In addition, each Constructed Market has another effect: It discriminates against players who were not involved in its construction. The respective disadvantage is marked on the market. In order to annihilate this disadvantage for himself, a player must place an authority star token on this Constructed marked by using the Artifact Market. The disadvantages thus always apply only to those players who have not placed an authority star token on the market, and there can always only be one such authority star token for a player’s color on the market. The revenue of the action case in a Constructed Market is identical to the revenue of an Artifact Market, but authority star tokens that are placed via those action cases can only be placed in the star-shaped area of the faction, never on a completed Constructed Market.

In the Icarus faction there are no Constructed Markets, but in their stead there are three very interesting action cases, which have different costs – always a combination of resources and commodities – and always yield advancement on the allegiance track as a revenue and, in addition and depending on the action case, either the placement of an authority star token, two artifact cards or two resources at the choice of a player. As Icarus does not feature Constructed Markets, you can only place authority star tokens in the star-shaped area of Icarus and are thus very limited.

Finally, there are two actions cases of temporary use available for the action of placing workers in the worker activation tank. Depending on the case the costs are either three units of energy (yellow lightning, faction Euphoria) or three units of water (blue water drops, faction Subterra). The energy cost case incurs, besides providing an additional worker, the loss of two knowledge points on the knowledge track, the water cost case the gain of two morale points on the morale track. As usual, when a worker is acquired for stock, he must be rolled and master the knowledge test.

Thus, in most cases, authority star tokens are placed due to the implementation of actions on the board. In addition, there are two further options outside the board: On recruit cards and on the card Ethical  Dilemma.

When the marker on one of the allegiance tracks has advanced to the last case of the track, all players who own an active recruit of this faction, that is, a face-up recruit, may place one authority star token on each of those recruits. Usually each player has two recruits, a third one can be acquired by using the card Ethical Dilemma.

At the start of the game each player is given a card Ethical Dilemma. They are kept secret, but only differ in the cost that has to be paid for activating them, which is a different artifact for each of the cards. As an alternative you can also pay for them with any combination of two artifacts. Once in the game each player can use an action to activate his card Ethical Dilemma. He pays the costs, reveals the card and chooses either the right side or the left side of the card. If he uses the left side, he can draw two more recruits and, if applicable, reveal one of them instantly. If he uses the right side of the card he can put an authority star token on the card.

The end-of-game rule applies here, too – if this star is the 10th authority star token, the game ends and the player who placed it is the winner of the game.

Even if the topic of the game is rather bleak, the game itself is very colorful, components and the game board are very brightly painted. Therefore, the game board comes across as a bit confusing at first glance. But this impression is proved wrong rather quickly, as flow of the game and action options are mastered very quickly. The mechanism of limiting your workers by means of their knowledge is very interesting, you must always keep an eye on the knowledge limit to not lose workers due to too much knowledge. However, this can only be regulated via the number of workers in your stock and a bit of luck in rolling the worker dice is also necessary. You must also take into account, that you can get back workers unexpectedly due to them being ousted from action cases. In contrast to other worker placement games this mechanisms provides a change, after all.

The recruits introduce a bit of imbalance and strategic pre-determination into the game. On one hand you are urged in a way to prefer one of the faction in order to reach the bonuses of the respective allegiance track, but on the other hand an imbalance can occur, depending on the distribution of factions amount the recruits that are revealed for all players at the start of the game. When two players support the same faction they will with a high probability reach those bonuses faster than players who are alone in supporting a faction. This is a recommendation for the variant named in the rules, that is, drafting of recruits, which offers player a wider choice to select their recruits from.

Commodities aren’t equal, either. With the assistance of lightning and water you can acquire additional workers, with food and bliss you can’t. Players working with recruits from Euphoria and Subterra thus have the chance to collect those commodities on the production cases, which are necessary at the start to raise the number of workers and can at the same time advance on the allegiance track and secure bonuses. For the other commodities the advances are not that clear at the start of the game, even if you cannot dispense with the, as they are the payment for the taking workers back action, and the green cloud is also necessary as payment for most of the action cases in Icarus – and only in Icarus you have the possibility to quickly collect artifact cards.

So progress in the game differs for players from the start of the game on. However, a fast progress is very important, as Euphoria is a game that rather promotes players in the lead than slowing them down. This is especially noticeable for the Constructed Markets. When a player assisted in constructing a market, he may place an authority star token. If he did not assist, he not only cannot place his authority marker token, but suffers also from the disadvantages of this market. Those disadvantage increase the difficulty for further actions, which can also have negative effects on assisting in the construction of more Constructed markets, which then results in a new disadvantage and the player is more and more handicapped and penalized. To assist in constructing markets is therefore a very deciding element in the game.

The overall impression of the game is very positive, the enticement to be faster than the other players in placing your authority star tokens is strong and variation is provided by interaction, which makes each game different. And you can always blame lacking luck in rolling your workers, because luck in rolling, especially with identical values, gives you enormous advantages.

Bernhard Czermak

Players: 2-6

Age: 13+

Time: 60+

Designer: Jamie Stegmaier, Alan Stone

Artist: Vladimir Krist

Price: ca 35 Euro

Publisher: ADC Blackfire / Morning Players 2014

Web: www.blackfire.eu

Genre: Worker placement, resources management

Users: With friends

Version: de

Rules: de cz en fr it jp nl

In-game text: yes

Comments:

Colorful design

Easy basic action options

Extensive worker placement

Compares to:

Neuland, Alien Frontier

Other editions:

English, French and Czech editions from Morning players, Portuguese from Fire on Board Jogos

My rating: 5

Bernhard Czermak:

Euphoria is very simple as to the flow of the game, but is variated and entertaining due to the high level of interaction and the various options for placing your workers. Good for tacticians who can live with chance happening!

Chance (pink): 2

Tactic (turquoise): 3

Strategy (blue): 2

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 3

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0