Review
La Stanza
La Stanza is well produced, brisk, and free of downtime, but its decisions are left at the mercy of unforgiving randomness. It feels like a poor Newton imitation with little reason to return.
- Published
- 2019
- Designer
- Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro, Paulo Soledade
- Publisher
- Quined Games, Maldito Games
- Players
- 2–4
- Playing time
- 90 min
La Stanza looks properly finished on the table and does not outstay its welcome. Those are the good bits. Beneath the handsome production sits a design that seems to have misplaced its purpose: too much randomness, too little room to adapt, and an optimisation puzzle that keeps you busy without reliably rewarding good play.
Its centre is a constant attempt to optimise a highly variable situation. You try to read where the board is heading and redirect your plan, but there is too little control for that adjustment to mean very much. The randomness does not merely shuffle the conditions; it decides which plans are allowed to work.
The randomness does not merely shuffle the conditions; it decides which plans are allowed to work.
EdgyJellyfish
There is racing here as well, but it is poor racing: the pressure to advance is not matched by enough distinct routes to victory. The scoring tiles are uneven, so points can swing sharply, while interaction mostly amounts to watching the shared board alter your already precarious options.
Zero downtime and the agreeable brain-burn of optimisation are not enough to rescue a design this unstable. It is pretty. So is a lava lamp. La Stanza is, to my mind, a poor copy of Newton. Keep away.
La Stanza is, to my mind, a poor copy of Newton.
EdgyJellyfish
Source: BoardGameGeek
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