Review
Extra! Extra!
An unusual, thematic worker-placement game for anyone with a soft spot for newspapers and groups that appreciate its journalistic theme. Despite its rough edges, it is very enjoyable and seems to have been treated unfairly by its reputation.
- Published
- 2015
- Designer
- Andrew Bond
- Publisher
- Mayfair Games
- Players
- 2–6
- Playing time
- 150 min
Extra! Extra! was impossible not to serve to the journalism nerds in my group. It has that nice, specific thematic identity that makes a session feel a little more like a story unfolding around the table, rather than just another abstract optimization exercise.
At its core, it is worker placement, but with a somewhat unusual flow that gives it its own character. It is not enough simply to place workers: there is also a touch of hand management, so your choices are never entirely separate from what you are holding and able to use.
Interaction emerges through this process of choosing and through the need to adapt to the shape of each session. Toward the end there is also quite a bit of “complexity,” which makes the closing stretch more demanding and a little stranger, without spoiling the game’s overall pleasant flow.
The icing on the cake is the different scenarios—different newspaper sizes—which meaningfully change how you need to pursue victory. It is neither perfect nor conventional, but that very oddness won me over. It plays very pleasantly and, to me, its poor rating is rather unfair.
Source: BoardGameGeek
0 comments
Sign in to react or comment.
