Foundations of Rome

Foundations of Rome finally arrived, having endured every bit of COVID delay a Kickstarter could possibly endure, and it is exactly the object you expect: a huge box, huge plastic buildings, and eye candy at over-9000 levels. It is one of those games that has already taken over the table before you even begin, making you stare at the little Rome forming in front of you.

At its core, it is a gateway game: we buy land in ancient Rome, claim our plots, and build buildings on them. The aim is to combine what we build properly in order to create scoring combos. There is enough meat here that it never feels like you are merely placing pretty plastic, without becoming anything terribly heavy or demanding.

Interaction mainly comes through space and land choices: there are some nice cuts, just enough to make you watch what the others are claiming without turning the session into an argument. With the Kickstarter expansions, it edges towards a light euro, adding a little more to think about, but its basic character remains approachable.

Yes, it costs a lot, and its box needs its own postal code. Yes, most of us probably have better things to do with that money. That does not make it a bad game, though; we enjoyed it. If a version with cardboard pieces instead of the huge plastic buildings comes out, I suspect it will become fiddly as hell, because the luxury of the object is a major part of the experience here. As a choice for moving non-gamers one rung above Catan, though, I think it is a very good one.