Intarsia

Intarsia has very nice production and is one of those games you enjoy seeing spread across the table. The idea of building mosaics has its own charm, and overall the game feels carefully put together without trying to impress through unnecessary complexity.

At its core, it follows a pattern similar to Art Society: we manage our hand through a slightly “tweaked” mechanism, and our choices move the construction of the mosaics forward. It is a system that offers a fair amount of brain-burn without becoming opaque or heavy.

The flow of choices feels rather guided, though. As the game develops, I felt it becomes a little scripted, and the dynamic between players ends up carrying a “win more” feeling: once someone has taken the lead, the whole thing did not strike me as especially exciting.

I am not saying I would refuse to play it again; I would happily sit down for another game, especially with a group that might appreciate it more. But if I never see it again, I will not cry about it either. It is pretty, fair, and pleasantly light, but for me it never quite reached the level of something genuinely distinctive.