Fantastic Factories

A pretty straightforward engine and tableau builder game. The multi-use card element means you have to think about what cards you want to put into your tableau and which ones you use for building, you will want to try to get cards that combo well with each other, the contractors are very useful but not cheap so you have to work out whether they are worth it and there seem to be plenty of different blueprint cards and variety in them to allow for two or three different approachs

However, our one game far outstayed its welcome and really drags. The time taken to roll your dice, assign your workers and take your actions each turn can be painfully slow particularly after a while when you have got a fairly big engine up and running. This also means that there is a lot of downtime and twiddling of thumbs while you wait for other players to take their actions – there is virtually no interaction in the game at all. To be fair, the rules do say that each player should take their actions simultaneously but this takes away some of the fun of actually playing games. I think the fact that the rules say this means that the designers recognize that the length is a problem – perhaps they should have come up with a better solution than saying “play the game on your own”

Solid engine building with dice mechanics. It's fast and works with all player counts, thanks for simultaneous turns. Might feel solitaire, because lack for interactions.

Really is FANTASTIC. Buy the Manufactions expansion too.

23M/17F/15A Enjoyable game. A fun little puzzle but nothing too original. Would play if asked but would rather go to something like Space Base, that scratches a similar itch (for me). Not saying they're that similar but it would fit into the same kind of game-night slot.

Fantastic factory was a game I kickstarted I also got to play test it at 2018 ECCC. Most of the time dice driven games work against me but there is so many to mitigate the dice rolls. Awesome engine building game.

Plays like many other engine tableau builders and dice manipulators, but doesn't do much to stand out. Theres a mechanic whereby, to hire a contractor (a one-time event/boost) or build a building, you must discard a card that shares an icon (gear, shovel, hammer or wrench). These icons may be thematic, but it felt largely arbitrary and disconnected from what I was doing, being merely a hurdle to clear. It may be that this simply annoyed me, but other games just feel more tightly assembled.

The game arrived completely damaged in a very inappropriate parcel post, a very bad company, don't trust them! I'll never back again any of their future products...

Cute game that packs a surprising amount of tableau-building gameplay into its weight and playtime.

I have a few plays in for this game, and my group really likes it. A combination of card drafting and dice rolling reminiscent of Yahtzee. Luck does play some part of this, and the deck is a little light, and it could use some player interaction, if for no other reason than to slow down the game leader. I'm really excited for the expansion which is forth coming. A light, fun game with neat art!