Carnegie

Played on BGA as part of Kickstarter preview.

Departments and Donations

KS Edition

Quick turns, just 20 per game. Echoes of Race for the Galaxy (ie you choose an action and your opponents get a different version of the same action) yet Carnegie is much more dynamic. Sequencing is crucial: will the action you choose trigger income and will it benefit you more than your opponents?

You have to pay attention to your opponent's board: choose an action they can't do; wait for an action you know they will choose. I therefore prefer 2-player (whereas 4p, it's difficult to monitor 3 opponents) but 2p does mean the map is less tight.

The only negative - the theme is pasted on and it's based on a guy with a questionable history. But I'll tolerate that, given the amazing mechanisms. Rapidly becoming my favourite game.

Getting some Puerto Rico vibes with this one, I always like to see a good implementation of the follow mechanic. A bit abstract and impenetrable for me, but I am intrigued enough to give it another shot.