Episode 189: Paris

1) The Pegs discuss their recent game plays including Maglev Metro, You: Superpowered, Umbra Via and many more;

2) All the Pegs review Paris; and

3) Look back at Isle of Cats.

Show Notes

00:01:10 – Trivia: A Very Interesting House

Banter

00:08:11 – Secret Santa Update

00:09:29 – Christina revisits her 2021 resolution

00:14:40 – Robb seeks video game recommendations

00:16:40 – Bernard sets us up with Pirahna Pig masks

Plays

00:18:50 – Umbra Via * – Pandasaurus Games; Designer: Connor Wake; Art: Eddie Schillo, Stevo Torres;

00:29:25 – You: Superpowered * – Neon Mu Games; Designer: Sophy Un; Art: Jerico Canlas;

00:41:27 – Meeples and Monsters * – AEG; Designer: Ole Steiness

00:51:50 – Maglev Metro * – Bézier Games; Designer: Ted Alspach; Art: Alanna Kelsey, Ollin Timm;

01:02:16 – Princess Bride Adventure Book Game * – Ravensburger; Designer: Ryan Miller; Art: Medusa Dollmaker, Lucas Torquato;

01:09:45 – Marrakech – Gigamic; Designer: Dominique Ehrhard; Art: Victor Boden, Marie Cardouat, Dominique Ehrhard;

News

01:19:10 – CoraQuest

01:23:17 – Red Rising

01:25:27 – Rose Gauntlet

01:28:06 – Game On Tabletop

01:30:30 – Crew: Mission Deep Seas

REVIEW: Paris

01:32:56 – Rules Breakdown

Paris is a worker-placement title designed by Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer, with art by Andreas Resch and published in 2020 by Game Brewer.  In Paris, players take on the role of wealth real estate investors in the city after the World’s Fair of 1893.  Over the course of the game you will fill the various districts of Paris with a variety of buildings, invest in those buildings for resources and influence, and develop some of the city’s most famous landmarks, all while carefully managing your limited financial resources and competing for space in the growing city.

It should be noted that the game has two set up options, an introductory, more static option, and an advanced, more variable option.  Because we are advanced, more variable players, we will discuss the setup and rules of this version.

At the start of the game, players will choose their player color and components, which will involve assembling a player screen that looks like an apartment block.  Three different sets of bonus tiles will be randomly assigned to spaced around the perimeter of the game board, and resource and prestige tokens will be largely randomly assigned to all of the building locations on the board – with the exception of gold resources, which are always assigned to the highest value building in each district.  The building tiles will be shuffled into three equal piles, and then the game begins.

On their turn, a player will first – if able – draw  a building tile from one of the three stacks and place it in any district, so long as there is not already a building tile of that type or number in the district.  Then, they may place or move a key – basically, your worker piece.  Players may move a key from behind their player screen and place it on one of the banks in any district – assuming they don’t already have a key in that bank – then claiming the money associated with that bank.  Alternately, the player may move a key on a bank or building to another building in the same district, so long as they are able to pay the cost of the building, AND the building is a higher value than the building they are already on.  In doing so, players may collect resources tokens – wood, marble, or gold – or prestige points – bronze, silver, or gold – from the building.  If a player moves to another building in the district, they only pay the difference in the strength of the building they are on, and the building they move to.

In each district, the buildings of strength 1, 2, and 3 also allow the player to move along the bonus track.  Here, they may move forward around the perimeter of the board, with the caveat that they may never move backwards.  The player claims the bonus tile they land on.  Bonus tiles have a variety of effects and may be held and spent at any time and in any combination.

In addition to moving their key to an existing building, they may build a landmark in their district.  This works very similarly, except all landmarks are available at the start of the game and the player may select and place any available landmark so long as they can pay its cost in money and resources.  In addition to placing the landmark, they will have the opportunity to spend prestige tokens in certain combinations for points as determined by the landmark.

One a district has its fourth key on a building, the player who placed it will select one of the final scoring tiles from the supply and place it in ANY district on the board.  The final score tile will determine how each district scores for the player who has the most, second most, and third most strength in that district at the end of the game.

If on a player’s turn there are no building tiles left to draw, they will have the additional option to, instead of moving or placing a key, of selecting a Game End tile from the supply.  These will provide some points, resources, or money when cashed in, but more importantly when the last End Game tile is drawn the players will finish the round, then have one further round before the game is over.

At the end of the game, players will add their existing score to any points they earn from district scoring.  Leftover resources, prestige, or money count for nothing.  The player with the highest score wins the game.

01:37:09 – Review

01:58:55 – Ratings

ReRoll

02:07:31 – Isle of Cats – The City of Games; Designer: Frank West; Art: Dragolisco, Frank West;

Check out our original review for Isle of Cats during Episode 164.

Gameplay Photos

* Disclosure: These titles were received free of charge by the publishers or distributors. If you are interested in submitting a title for review, please read our Review Policy.