Great Western Trail: El Paso

The German school has taken recycling seriously, and Mr Alexander —I am stripping him of the “Great”— seems to be teaching the class. After the pirates of Maracaibo comes a bargain-bin GWT, dressed in production so cheap that “for playing on the go” sounds more like an excuse than a virtue. Apparently, we have entered the era of deep discounts.

At its core, El Paso is the base Great Western Trail cut down: fewer buildings, a few borrowed mechanisms from the other games in the series, and a new approach to acquiring workers. The core remains recognisable, but it feels as though pieces were removed from the proper package and then served back to us as a more portable version.

There is still engine/deck building, while the little poker game with the cows remains entertaining. Those elements work, and they give the session some of the series’ familiar flavour. But with fewer buildings and mechanisms that feel borrowed, I did not feel that the interaction and choices justified picking this version over one of the larger GWT games.

I cannot call it a bad game. Someone who has never played Great Western Trail may absolutely be excited by it. But after the session, I was left with just one question: why play this when I could play one of its bigger siblings? I do not really see its reason for existing.