Transformer Boxes: Taiwan's Most Beautiful Scenery

Eric Brosius wrote: Tell us more about Transformer Boxes: Taiwan's Most Beautiful Scenery. I wonder whether it's something I'd like.

Sure! Players are "urban architects" beautifying the city of Taiwan by painting murals on transformer boxes, like this example from Taiwan:

https://www.herenow.city/en/taipei/article/transformer-boxes...

In my three games I found that it's super important to set up the deck correctly. There's a chart to follow in the back of the book (page 6), that's not mentioned in the set-up. After that, there are some optional variant cards that can be added. My first two plays we used the Sextuplet cards, but I think that those are best left out except at 6 players. At 6 players, they could be pretty interesting. I suggest the Mount Hehuan/Mount Ali and the Sky Dragon for original variant for five players and under.

Everyone starts with $4 (represented by the lightening bolt meeples) and will get $3 at the start of each of the seven rounds. After the fourth round, scores are added, excluding the set bonuses for the tourist cards, and the points are given out as money. This cash infusion escalates tension in the auctions.

The first player draws and divides cards (seven in 4P - one for each player plus three), into four piles, and puts the first player marker on one of the piles. The first player may look at the cards at any time during the bidding to see what they put where.

Next there's a "checking" phase. Starting with the person to the right of first player, players flip over one card from any pile, leaving it face up so it's visible to everyone. So in a four player game, four cards will be visible and three hidden.

Now the auction happens! Starting with the person to the right of the start player, players bid on piles of cards, using their bidding marker. If outbid, bidding pieces are taken back. Bidding continues until everyone passes.

Similarly to games like Sushi Go, there's a set collection element. Player's keep their won cards face up in a tableau, so it's pretty obvious what they want to bid on. The bidding game isn't as punishing as in a Winsome for example, because receiving $3 each round means that everyone will get a pile of cards no matter what. However, some cards can be worth negative points for the player with the least of them, and another type of card is worth zero points unless the owner has three or more of yet another type of card, which are in such short supply that only one player will get enough each game. The first player marker also grants an extra $2 immediately and is hotly contested.

I'd say that Transformer Boxes: Taiwan's Most Beautiful Scenery is a little more interesting than other filler bidding games such as For Sale, Biblios, and No Thanks. It also plays up to 6, which is something I often need with a game of this length. I really like the player interaction, and noticed that everyone was eager to play again, including James who can be a tough critic.

Simple, breezy set collection/auction game. Has a fun structure revolving around the "pie rule". Really nice production with great colors throughout. Not for 2 players unfortunately, but in general a little more interactive than other games in the same space (eg Sushi Go), which is appealing.

TGM 2017 Spring

A rather simple set collection game with a bidding element. That could be good but money is worth too much on its own and there is not enough open information about what you bid on to make the auctions juicy.