Carnuta
Players: 2-4
Play Time: 20-30 minutes
Ages: 8+ (Officially 10+)
Ages: 8+ (Officially 10+)
I’m a sucker for clicky-clacky game components, but that’s not the only reason I enjoy Carnuta
Overview
Players use runes to gain ingredient to create the best potion (score the most points). The game centers around the rune tiles, which have a sun on one side and a moon on the other. On your turn you can draw cards, use runes to play a card, take all of the runes of one type that fit on your board or flip all of the runes on your board to the same side. Playing ingredient cards requires you to flip and/or discard runes. Cards might score you points on their own, or might score you points for each of a different ingredient or even a set of ingredients. Choosing the best combination of ingredients is how you maximize your points. The game ends when someone has played 11 cards.
Thoughts
The more I think about Carnuta, the more I think it is elegantly simple and incredibly well designed. The components are beautiful and compelling! The artwork is lovely, the player boards are sturdy, and the slider that keeps track of cards and bonuses is a thoughtful touch that makes the game easier to manage. Similar gameplay probably could have been pulled off without the nice boards and tiles, but it would not have been as smooth and enticing.
The mechanisms around the runes feel unique. Since you often have to flip the runes to play cards, having both day and night cards in your hand is useful, but then you also have to make sure the points on them complement each other. The first play, my oldest doubled my score by going all in on one particular ingredient, but I don’t know that that would work every time, without just the right combination of cards. I've since played more times and find you really have to adapt your strategy depending on the cards available to you near the beginning of the game.
That being said, it still falls on the lighter end of the spectrum. I hope to teach my 7 year old soon. It would also be the perfect weeknight game or game to play among others on a bigger game night.
The only thing I don’t love is the box sleeve. It makes the game so pretty, but not all that functional.
Overview
Players use runes to gain ingredient to create the best potion (score the most points). The game centers around the rune tiles, which have a sun on one side and a moon on the other. On your turn you can draw cards, use runes to play a card, take all of the runes of one type that fit on your board or flip all of the runes on your board to the same side. Playing ingredient cards requires you to flip and/or discard runes. Cards might score you points on their own, or might score you points for each of a different ingredient or even a set of ingredients. Choosing the best combination of ingredients is how you maximize your points. The game ends when someone has played 11 cards.
Thoughts
The more I think about Carnuta, the more I think it is elegantly simple and incredibly well designed. The components are beautiful and compelling! The artwork is lovely, the player boards are sturdy, and the slider that keeps track of cards and bonuses is a thoughtful touch that makes the game easier to manage. Similar gameplay probably could have been pulled off without the nice boards and tiles, but it would not have been as smooth and enticing.
The mechanisms around the runes feel unique. Since you often have to flip the runes to play cards, having both day and night cards in your hand is useful, but then you also have to make sure the points on them complement each other. The first play, my oldest doubled my score by going all in on one particular ingredient, but I don’t know that that would work every time, without just the right combination of cards. I've since played more times and find you really have to adapt your strategy depending on the cards available to you near the beginning of the game.
That being said, it still falls on the lighter end of the spectrum. I hope to teach my 7 year old soon. It would also be the perfect weeknight game or game to play among others on a bigger game night.
The only thing I don’t love is the box sleeve. It makes the game so pretty, but not all that functional.
*game provided, but thoughts are my own
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