#50: Goa
Goa is the creation of Rudiger Dorn, currently one of the hottest designers of challenging gamer's games. The design is a delight for players who love to "play in their own sandbox", as they attempt to use the game's intricate mechanics to optimize their own infrastructure. The auctions in the first half of each round drive the progress of players in the second half, so players must balance money management, spice production, colony building, and more. Goa is sometimes tagged as multiplayer solitaire,but ignoring your opponents' actions and misreading their strategies will tank your auctions and doom your long-term plans.Scott Tullace: "I love this game. Too new to be a classic yet, but a very nice game."
Frank Hamrick: "The best of the class of 2004, IMO. I'm not sure how this one will stand the test of time, but so far it is a hit with our group. I enjoy the many levels of scoring that constantly leave you with the feeling of needing to do more than you can each turn. A multi-faceted game, yet simple. A great combination."
Larry Levy: "The newest member of the list, which means it might slide up or down a few places, but I'm pretty sure it will continue in my Top 15 regardless. A great 'beat the system' game, with an intricate advancement scheme, but success in the auctions is vital as well. A rich game, whose nuances I'm still happily exploring. The four player game is best (I definitely prefer it to the three-player version), but it plays surprisingly well with two. Excluding my first game, I haven't had any trouble in playing this in two hours or less."
blurb assistance from Larry Levy & W. Eric Martin
Labels: The One Hundred
posted by Mark (aka pastor guy) at 7:12 AM
1 Comments:
When Goa first arrived, I wasn't too excited because it sounded a lot like Princes of Florence - a game that has never grabbed me. Then I played it for the first time, and from that point on I have been (and still am) very excited about the game. I was even more excited when I discovered that it was also terrific with 2 and 3 players, not just with 4!
The two games are very similar, but to me there is one huge difference. In Princes of Florence, you have to script your moves very carefully and it's easy to get locked into a narrow path. This feeling of executing your strategy flawlessly is thrilling to some gamers, but it feels confining to me. Goa is much more flexible, allowing you to fly by the seat of your pants when necessary. I like that.
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