Gùgōng

Gùgōng does not win you over by offering one more variation on the familiar Euro. It takes card drafting and worker placement, then anchors both around an action system that first seems merely novel before revealing how much headspace it occupies.

Actions do not arrive through dice or fortunate draws, but through card exchange: to claim a space, you must offer something better than the card already sitting there. That makes every move calculable rather than easy; the interesting decision is when to spend a strong card and when to save it for a space that will genuinely reshape your round.

Drafting feeds that system, while worker placement turns it into a continuing exercise in priorities. Players are not tearing strips off one another, but they do compete for the same spaces and leave cards behind that may be useful or awkward for the next person; downtime therefore stays low, even with five players, which is unusually welcome in a Euro of this weight.

It is not especially thrilling as it unfolds, though, and a runaway leader can become apparent before the game is over. The expansion is said to address some of that, but I have not played it, so the base game does not get to claim the remedy. If you want a Euro that is not yet another Euro, Gùgōng is well worth a look: demanding, carefully made, and a little cooler than I would prefer.