Extra! Extra!

I could hardly keep Extra! Extra! away from the newsroom obsessives in my group. It has that rare thematic fit where you do not feel as though you are merely placing workers; you feel as though you are trying to keep a newspaper alive while every demand is competing for space.

At heart it is worker placement, though its flow is not the neat, familiar route one expects from the genre. Hand management is part of the job too, so it is not enough to decide where a worker belongs; you also have to make something of what is in your hand.

The closing stretch tightens the screws, and the game develops a pleasingly awkward knot of pressure: moves that looked comfortable suddenly need care. The different scenarios, determined by the size of the newspaper, are not just a change of scenery; they materially alter how you need to pursue the win.

It may take a game to make peace with its peculiarities, but after that it moves along very pleasantly — even on a Tuesday after work, when another deadline is not what one had in mind. Its low rating feels unfair to me: this is quietly excellent worker placement, with enough character to warrant a special edition.