Resafa

Good morning, camel driver; good morning, camel driver. Vladimir keeps giving me what I want: honest, fresh euros that are exactly as much as they need to be, at a time when others keep recycling the same old things and we wait for the next “put the familiar game in Space.” Resafa is beautiful, feelgood, and breezy, without pretending it has to crush me in order to count as serious.

At its core, it is an enjoyable set of small mechanisms, with a feel that reminded me of Prague. Its main engine is each player’s personal deck of six dual-action cards: these determine what I do and give the flow a clear, pleasant structure. I did not have to wrestle with rules standing between me and the game.

A game lasts around 18 to 20 actions, yet it moves exceptionally well. There is enough to combine that, toward the end, it turns into a proper points salad, but without exhausting downtime. And, most importantly for me, the interaction does not degenerate into clumsy cutthroat moves or kingmaking that spoils the mood at the finish line.

Clever, balanced, and genuinely enjoyable, Resafa was one of the best euros I played this year. I recommend it unequivocally.