I FINALLY played The Castles of Burgundy.
I’m not sure I can rationally say why I had never played it before. I owned a copy that I had picked up at a rural antique shop for $15. It was on BGA. I really had no excuse but I had looked at what was in the box a few times and felt a little overwhelmed by the huge variety of different types of tiles, the board with a few too many areas and tracks, and the general blah look.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take the plunge on BGA and, all I can say is, wow! Now I know what I was missing. Below all of that clutter and, well, stuff, was one of the best games I’ve played in a long time.
Now, I’m not going to say it is one of my all time favorites. I have a problem with someone promoting a newly played game (or movie or song) into the upper echelons of their “all time” list because it could just be a case of infatuation. It’s like a real life relationship. At first, you might be infatuated with a person and want to spend all your time with them but you don’t REALLY know them. It’s with time that you find all that person’s (or games) quirks and problems and, despite those things, if you still can’t see your life without them, than you might be approaching true love.
Castles is still a bit of a bear to learn. Every type of tile does a different thing. Within each tile type, there is a huge variety of scoring methods.
It’s one of the most point salady (sorry spell check) games I’ve ever played. You practically get points for getting up and pouring a drink for yourself. Let the dog out? Four points (not really, but it feels that way).
Then there is the problem of the aesthetics. I haven’t looked at the new version but the original is iconerific (again, sorry spell check). Not only does that apply to the yellow tiles, which show different methods of scoring using tiny icons and numbers, but you even have to pay attention to the depictions of the animals on the field tiles because, not only do you get points for the number of animals in the field, but you get to count already placed tiles again if you were to add another of the same animal in the field.
Yet, even with all of this, I can’t stop playing. There is a puzzle there that I AM going to beat one days soon. I’m going to find that ultimate solution to where to concentrate or what to ignore and finally, yes, win a game.
…or, maybe, it’s so well designed that there isn’t a ultimate solution and we will all continue to just enjoy Castles for what it is, a wonderfully designed game.
My next challenge (well, beyond winning) is to find a way to teach this to my wife, Karen. This isn’t the most complex of games (it’s rated a 3 out of 5 on BGG) but there is a decent amount of rules and there certainly is a lot to understanding all of the various scoring opportunities. The problem is, she is more a learn as you go player and does not do well with lengthy pre-game instruction. I’m not sure you can learn this game that way and not get frustrated with the constant layering of more and more concepts as you go along.
This is a real gem and I’m a bit sorry that I ignored it for so long. It’s a lesson learned. Now, time to convince myself I want to tackle Sythe.
