Review
Ore: The Mining Game
Ore: The Mining Game has a sound mining system and a worthwhile market to meddle with, but it never quite supplies the momentum needed for a full game. It does, however, handle five players well, which is no small thing.
- Published
- 2013
- Designer
- Joseph W. McClintock, Jason Lyle Steingisser
- Publisher
- (Self-Published), Atheris Games, Quick Simple Fun Games
- Players
- 2–5
- Playing time
- 90 min
Ore: The Mining Game is an interesting, slightly dry game of extracting deposits and nudging the market about. There are decisions here, but not quite enough pressure around them to keep everyone leaning forward for the whole session.
The mining core works. Getting your diggers down into the mines has a purpose and gives you real choices; it is not merely a matter of placing someone and collecting a rock. You are watching access, weighing where your attention is worth spending, and trying to make those routes pay.
They do, but not often enough; the interaction never quite grows the teeth that would keep the entire game awake.
TheCuttlefish
Then there is the pricing of the minerals, where players can interfere with the market and thereby with each other’s plans. This ought to be where the looks begin across the mines. They do, but not often enough; the interaction never quite grows the teeth that would keep the entire game awake.
It is not a bad game, and I would play it again, particularly because it works well with five players, a genuinely useful number for a regular group. Still, if Ore never crosses your path, you will not have missed a hidden gem.
Still, if Ore never crosses your path, you will not have missed a hidden gem.
TheCuttlefish
Source: BoardGameGeek
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