#95: Capitol
Alan Moon and Aaron Weissblum created several popular games together. This offering from 2001 has players building towers in the ancient Roman Empire. Seems to have flown off many gamers' radar, but the inclusion of Capitol on this list (and the many positive comments on the Geek) suggests that it's hardly forgotten.Pat Korner: "Highly underrated but excellent Moon / Weissblum release. The tension between wanting to use your cards to build buildings vs. using them to win auctions is superb, and you always feel like you want to do more than you can. An overlooked classic."
Frank Hamrick: "Capitol almost didn't make it because it never gets played! This, like Bridges of Shangri-La, is one of my absolute all-time favorites that seldom gets played. Since part of the criteria for this list is 'Games that you PLAY', I dropped it from where I would normally place it. If I could play it regularly, it would vie for a top 5 spot! For me, it meets most of the criteria for a great game:
- high turn angst [I can never do all I desperately need to do];]
- aggression [area control]
- simple mechanics
- strategy [requires thinking, planning, outwitting, outmaneuvering belied by the simple rules]
- multiple choices and agonizing decisions
- minimal luck
- great bits [love the wooden pieces]
- short playing time [under an hour]"
picture from Board Game Geek
posted by Mark (aka pastor guy) at 6:18 AM
3 Comments:
Capitol didn't make my Top 15, but it was close. It's amazing how important a simple change like constructing buildings off the board can be. It's all about tension and timing. This is truly an underrated game and I'm very glad to see it as part of The One Hundred
This may be the only game I've ever seen that I just can't get past the theme/mechanics conflict on.
Honestly, who's ever seen anything about the awe-inspiring towers of ancient Rome?????
That's not to besmirch the quality of the game itself. I've never played it, and for all I know it's brilliant. But every time I think about the combination of theme and mechanics, the gears in my brain start to make ungodly noises.
In that case, I would stay away from Palazzo, linnaeus. You might have a problem with the crane technology needed to insert floors in buildings in Renaissance Italy!
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