Terraforming Mars

Terraforming Mars remains high on my list because it does not insist that the most obvious game is the best one. I tried leaning almost entirely into cards that reduce the cost of later cards, rather than building an impressive footprint on the map, and the approach held up rather well.

The centre of this game was an accelerating card economy. By the middle, I had accumulated discounts of 9–14 per card, a healthy stock of minerals, and an extra 1–3 cards each round. The interesting decision is whether to invest early in the infrastructure that makes every later option cheaper, or to turn those resources into immediate and visible map position.

The map is not the only progress meter, though. I finished with only one city and two or three forests, yet the card engine made up the difference and won by a single VP. Add drafting and card selection becomes properly interactive: you are choosing not only what helps you, but what ought not to reach the next player.

That is the game's strength. As the table gets better at spotting the engines being assembled across from them, the contest tightens without losing its range. You do not need to dominate the map in plain sight; you need to notice when a modest-looking discount has become an entire strategy.

Updated session

A later game, using drafting and leaving out Turmoil, confirmed the same view. Colonies felt a little flat at two players, while the Big Box and its plastic pieces are a conscientious production, even at their steep price. The later session did not alter the verdict: Terraforming Mars remains one of my favourites, particularly when card selection is genuinely contested.