Sankoré: The Pride of Mansa Musa

I am not generally known for wanting repeat plays of the same game, yet I could play Sankoré: The Pride of Mansa Musa every day. I would merely require that I never have to teach it again, and that somebody else handles setup and teardown. It is already a serious contender for my eurogame of the year.

At its centre, worker placement is not a self-contained exercise but the starting point for a very respectable mix of mini-games. Each subsystem earns its place and, more importantly, feeds the others rather than waiting politely for its own moment; the interesting decision is that a choice rarely stays local, because it helps shape the developing game.

That gives the engine building a proper arc: you establish capabilities, put them to work, and watch their synergies alter the value of later decisions. The strain is pleasantly calibrated and, in our group at least, did not lead to much analysis-paralysis industrial action; teaching it is another matter, particularly if the teacher starts outlining possible strategies too soon. Setup, meanwhile, is a solo game for someone with a monk’s patience.

For all the complexity at the door, I cannot identify a particular change I would make. It is an exceptionally well-integrated game; better still when the group has set it up before you arrive to teach worker placement.