|
|
|
|
Scott Tepper: Robotics Review
Have you ever played a game where you thought, “Hmmmm, this game seems almooooooost like it’s a great game. It just needs a little tweaking.” Well, unfortunately, that’s not quite what I was thinking after playing Robotics, the new game by Mario Coopmann, published by Pegasus Spiele, that I picked up in Essen solely because the artwork on the box was fantastic. Shame on me!
In Robotics, the players, using a fixed as well as a random set of parts, put together robots that meet certain requirements and fulfill work orders. The player that first completes 3 robots, or acquires $10,000.00, wins. Simple and straightforward. Maybe that’s the problem. The choices in the game are either pretty simple or even non-existant.
The components in the game are beyond reproach. The centerpiece of the game, the 78 tiles depicting robotic components such as heads, torsos, wheels, propellers, connectors, grip arms, vaccuum arms, soil compactors, and Multi-use tools, are beautiful. Their cartoony artwork is just perfect for this game. The box also contains player boards(garages) for up to 5 players that have rules overviews(in German), paper money, 4 Saboteur tiles, 4 Inspector tiles, a linen bag to hold the tiles, a Marketplace with cost dial, 12 wooden nuts to denote black market purchases, and 16 Order Cards.
To setup the game, each of the (3-5) players receives a garage, which is really just a large, 6-squared board. 3 of the squares are blank, 3 of the squares have values from 100-300 printed on them. The players also receive $2000 starting money. Robot component tiles are placed around the dial on the Marketplace so that there are one less of each tile (excluding the Inspector, Saboteur and Multi-use tiles) than the number of players. The remaining tiles, as well as Inspector, Saboteur and Multi-use, are put in the cloth bag. Lastly the Order Cards are shuffled and 3 are turned face up. The game starts with an auction for the startplayer, because there is an advantage to going first. After the startplayer goes, the players take turns in clockwise order until someone wins the game.
Ultimately, the players are trying to collect sets of tiles that they can use to fulfill the Order Cards that are turned up. Fulfilling an order must be done at the beginning of a player’s turn. This is important as a player’s actions during their turn may result in a set of robot parts that would allow them to fulfill an order. Unfortunately, they must wait until their next turn to claim an order, which may allow an opponent to intercede on their turn. The Order Cards display 3-8 robotic components that are necessary in order to claim the card. A player’s robot may have more parts than necessary to complete an order, but it may not have less. When a player fills an order, she receives money equal to the value on the Order. All the components of her robot are returned to the Marketplace. Any parts that would result in the Marketplace having more than the starting number at the beginning of the game (N-1) are returned to the cloth bag. Then a new Order is revealed to take the place of the recently completed one.
On a player’s turn they are allowed any two of the following actions:
*Buy one of the tiles at the Marketplace at the regular cost(the corresponding price around the outer rim of the wheel) and then rotate the wheel one notch clockwise.
*Buy one of the tiles at the Marketplace at the black market price(the corresponding price in the inner rim of the wheel) which is half the price of the regular cost. Then put a wooden nut on the newly acquired tile to denote that it had been purchased at the black market price. Finally, rotate the wheel one notch clockwise.
*Trade with another player for parts or money, or any combination of the two.
*Draw a tile from the Scrap Heap (the cloth bag). If a Saboteur is drawn, the player can remove one extremity tile from another player’s robot and send it to the Scrap Heap (cloth bag). The Saboteur tile is set aside until all 4 have been drawn. At that point, all 4 are returned to the Scrap Heap. If an Inspector tile is drawn, all tiles belonging to any players that were acquired from the black market (have a wooden nut on them) are returned to the Scrap Heap. Like the Saboteur tiles, Inspector tiles are only returned to the Scrap Heap after all 4 have been drawn.
*Rebuild: rearrange and exchange any number of tiles between his robot and his garage.
*Pass.
When a player acquires tiles on their turn, they must be either added to their robot(you may only work on one robot at a time) by the end of their turn, or put in their garage in an empty space. The first 3 garage spaces are free, but after 3, the player must pay a penalty: $100 for the 4th tile, $200 for the 5th, and $300 for the 6th. Any tiles past 6 that the player does not want to add to their robot, must be returned to the Scrap Heap.
The players usually acquire 1 or 2 tiles from the actions on their turn, and eventually trade them in for money. When a player completes 3 Orders, or has $10,000, they immediately win. That’s all there is to the game, and that’s the problem. As you only put out N-1 of each of the parts, at a certain point, all the players can do is go fishing in the Scrap Heap for a tile or two that the need. So it’s just a random gamble to see if you can get what you need. Although trading is allowed as an action, you don’t see much of it, because players don’t want to give other players parts that will help them complete Orders.
The Marketplace, with its rotating price wheel is the only interesting element in Robotics, but it just isn’t enough to build a game around. Occasionally you’ll be able to do a clever double purchase of items, but often you won’t want to buy something because your purchase will make something that your opponent wants less expensive. So the game pretty much devolves into a race to see who can draw the tiles they want out of the bag first.
Robotics isn’t a bad game. As family fare it’s probably better than some of the games that I played when I was a child. I think that the Marketplace wheel, which feels like a weaker version of the price wheel in Vikings, could be a possible good additon to some other game, as opposed to Robotics where it feels like the game was built around this wheel. To me, Robotics, with it’s excellent artwork by Michael Menzel, seems like one of those chocolate easter bunnies; seemingly delicious on the outside, but ultimately hollow on the inside.
Quick Overview
Number of players: 3-5
Artwork: Fantastic
Luck component: Very High
Playing time: 40-60 minutes
Type of game: set collection
Posted by Scott Tepper on Feb 4, 2008 at 01:00 AM in Columnists, Scott Tepper / 1123
Comments:
You must register with BGN in order to comment. Registration is free, but if you appreciate the news, previews, reviews and other material posted on Boardgame News, please consider becoming a member to keep the info flowing to your screen!|
Scott; My opinion of the game mirrors yours (I too was seduced by the components and artwork) - there SHOULD be a good game there, as all the bits are present, but it just falls flat and devolves into a luckfest. I would love to see someone try their hand at ‘gamerizing’ the rules, but it’s probably more effort than most are willing to put in. Too bad. pk Posted by Patrick Korner on Feb 4, 2008 at 12:39 AM | #
|
Next entry: Convention Preview News: Nuremberg 2008 Update
Previous entry: JESS: Roberto Goes to a Spanish Toy Shop
