Episode 269: Inventions: Evolution of Ideas

When we say gist we mean gist because there are a lot of moving pieces in Inventions: Evolution of Ideas designed by Vital Lacerda with art by Ian O’Toole.

The objective is to have ideas presented that get turned into inventions, innovated on and then presented to the world. Generally not one player does all of those things but it can happen where a player does all of those except innovate on an invention they invented. If you participate in any of those steps you get points or bonuses.

The central action mechanic of the game involves placing out pillars in an action grid to indicate your action for that turn. You can’t use the same location twice in a round, so when you take an action matters. This game drastically rewards shrewd planning.

You also have a personal player board that sees you building out your own civilization with hexagonal tiles. On the main board there is an area majority map that you can add meeples to by participating in the Evolution of ideas process.

After the final round of the game you score your objective cards, any tiles that give you points from your player board, and your position on a reputation track (yeah there’s one of those).

There are a pile more cogs to this chugging engine of a game but for now let’s head back to the studio where we find out if the pegs think this game is flying high in the computer age or stuck in the cave working on a square wheel in Inventions: Evolution of Ideas.