Review
Pocket Imperium
Pocket Imperium is an interesting filler for 3–5 players, with a king-of-the-hill feel and a cleverly mischievous action-selection system. At two players, however, it loses precisely the interaction that makes it stand out.
- Published
- 2013
- Designer
- David J. Mortimer
- Publisher
- Games Factory Publishing, Good Little Games, LudiCreations
- Players
- 2–4
- Playing time
- 45 min
Pocket Imperium struck me as a nice, streamlined filler for 3–5 players, with a clear king-of-the-hill feel. It does not try to do more than it needs to: it is simple, quick, and its interest lies exactly where it should, in the decisions around the table.
The real meat is its slightly kinky action-selection mechanism. I am not merely choosing what I want to do; the choices of the players beside me also affect the final outcome of the actions. That creates the game’s meaningful friction, since I have to keep watching what everyone else is preparing, rather than focusing only on my own plan.
That interaction is also why the game loses almost all of its appeal with two players. With fewer people affecting my choices, the idea does not have the same intensity. We will play it again, though, especially to try its fairly interesting variants.
Source: BoardGameGeek
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