BRUXELLES 1897
Designer: Etienne Espreman | Artist: Vincent Joassin
Reputations are not built overnight. They take around 45-60 minutes of gameplay. Here we join the architects and patrons of 1896 Brussels as they build their reputations through architectures, nobility and prestige.
It’s a card game where players buy in their desired items (be they building materials, art, buildings or patrons) from the market-grid for a price of their choosing, placing one of their payment cards down. Why would you want to pay more for something you ask? The grid at the end of the round becomes a majority scoring tool – win a row and get the bonus shuffled beneath, like the chance to bring a card back from jail, or to gain more prestige (which acts as a score multiplier). You’re also trying to create majorities in the sets of cards at each corner of the grid. If you own the crossroads, you gain further victory points.
There’s a whole system of exhibitions, art sales, and use of the nobility which are intuitive and all contain their own risks. There’s a set of actions that avoid the main market that can be taken for free, with the risk of that card being jailed. It’s more complicated to explain than play.
But the result is a Euro-style market game that makes you feel like all the interactions are worthwhile, with meaning beyond the simple buying in. You’re always playing a couple of games here which adds surprising depth and flavour, like a good Trappist beer.
CHRISTOPHER JOHN EGGETT