Gray Eminence

Gray Eminence arrived as a strange next course. When I ordered it, I expected something like a more European, more serious version of my favourite BLTG negotiation game, Corporate America. The gap between that fantasy and reality turned out to be wide, though. It is a very attractive, thoughtfully made production: each player takes on a global conspiracy — the Illuminati, Masons, Rosicrucians, and so on — along with a famous persona, while trying to fulfil public and secret objectives.

On the table, there is a board that tracks certain international relationships, while the event deck is built according to the scenario. Each round reveals an event that needs specific resources to be resolved positively. The game therefore creates a shared problem every time, one that everyone can influence, but not necessarily one in which everyone shares an interest.

Players bid and play cards either to help the situation or make it worse, depending on their own agenda. That is where the interaction lives: you are not merely cooperating to put out a fire, but weighing whether the fire serves your own objectives better. On paper, it sounds exactly like the kind of political, conspiratorial friction I wanted.

The designer clearly seems to have done a great deal of research, and the theme is genuinely well developed. The fluff is solid, with random Trump tweets capable of reducing everything to rubble, and the game has character in general. Where it lost me was in the execution: the rulebook is poor, the rules framework is too loose, and timing issues arise. On top of that, some mechanisms simply did not click for me.

I am glad to have it in my collection, because it is a distinctive game and such specific thematic ambition is rare. But however much I appreciate what it is trying to do, I do not see it returning to the table anytime soon.