New game - Vivarium

We like games around here and I have usually found one or two new games to add to our collection each Christmas. For various reasons this didn't happen this year. But since we own a few games I wasn't going to spend much time feeling sad about it. It also meant that when B. and his fiancee gave everyone a new game I was thrilled to have that hold filled in. 

Tonight while dinner cooked, L., J. and I sat down to figure it out. 

It's called Vivarium and is in the Eurogame category.

As you can tell from the picture, the game board isn't huge and it only tajes a modest size playing space. Set-up was pretty quick and simple once we figured out the different types of cards and pieces. And for a Eurogame the instruction book was pretty minimal... Just six, not very large pages. (We have some games where the instructions run to 20+ pages, which is when I start looking for an instruction video to watch.) The first round, though, was a lot of guessing, though, as we figured out what to do and realized there were bits we weren't doing. 

I won, so liked it very much and will play it again. Other than the winning but, there were other reasons that I enjoyed it. First, the game components are well done. They had a nice feel and the artwork was fun. These two creatures are a good example. 

There are a set number of rounds, so it has a relatively short game time. (Once you know what you're doing.) While a really long, involved game has its place, it always feels easier to say yes to a game knowing your not committing to a couple of hours. I think we played our first game in less than thirty minutes. 

In the luck-strategy ratio, I think it leans a bit more towards strategy in deciding which cards you are going to pick up. There is a bit of luck involved as to what cards are available and do you have the ability to pick them up. I like a game weighted towards strategy. 

The actual game play was a bit unique. It is a card collecting game, but the method for collecting cards involved using dominoes to determine which spaces in the grid of cards you were able to choose from. It was a nice change from dice. 

If you enjoy games, I recommend this one. And if are pretty skilled at playing games, this will feel pretty easy to figure out.