Gheos by Rene Wiersma

The following review was one of the most refreshing I have done for the entire contest, although it might be a bit cerebral for the average-Joe-Gameplayer. I’ll save the rest for my explanations below, but anyone laying hands on a copy of the following should definitely rest before playing. Here we go…

Gheos by Rene Wiersma

Theme: (10 points) In Gheos, players take the part of gods shaping a planet to their own designs, allowing civilizations to either flourish or fall, while doing their level best to ensure that the world is populated with followers dedicated to their own cause, rather than that of the other players. Some of these civilizations are most definitely doomed, but then again some are, through the actions of the players, blessed. In fairness, the game isn’t truly about civilizations doomed or otherwise… it’s a world-building game in which civilizations play only a part, albeit a fairly important one…
So – Some of the game is about civilizations, some of which are doomed. I’m going halfsies here.
5 points.

Originality: (10 points) At the outset, this appears to be nothing more than another tile laying game, but the number of changes to overall strategy and game tactics that ride upon every activity engaged in by a player make Gheos truly unique. It is a bit like Civilization, Settler of Cataan, and several others, but only by the merest fraction of definition. As I mentioned above, it was quite a refreshing new look at board gaming in my book. Tile laying occupies the majority of player activity, but civilization placement, follower absorption, and the ramifications to these two vital components engendered by the placement, or replacement of a tile, as well the timing of scoring rounds make this a very different game than anything you might previously have played. Gang, I did the math… This simple game (standard layout would bring the rules in at about 6 pages tops) has a 6X4 decision making matrix! An astounding achievement. I only wish that I hadn’t noticed those slight similarities mentioned above.
9 points.

Cohesiveness: (15 points) Simple rules but complex strategy… complex enough to put Chess to shame. That says it in a nutshell. Hole-free. Mechanics that indeed make you feel like a god fighting for control of a planet. I’m going to scratch one point for the fact that there is a bit more math than some will enjoy, which diminishes the god-like feeling. It is quite simple to explain the rules, but deviously impossible to explain the strategy of this game. I truly believe, in fact, that there ARE those players who will pick this up (for the most part) in a game or two… and that there are also those who will NEVER understand the ramifications and strategies associated with particular actions in the game.
14 points (and a bow from your judge)

Components (5 points): To be easily playable, this game needs much larger tiles, and this in fact, was a constant beef among the play testers. This is a prototype, and I understand that the componentry was designed to be electronically portable, so I’ll not penalize heavily for that, but bigger, hard-backed (or cardboard backed) tiles would make this game far more enjoyable. I also didn’t see a “box cover” art-bit which others did provide, so I’m scoring down for that a bit too. On the bright side, the art is both cute and apropos, and I wouldn’t change it a bit myself.
3 points.

Fun (25 points): This game is a blast… for some. As I say that I can only pray that Rene does NOT try to change it so that it becomes a game that might be enjoyed by those with an IQ under 90… because those are the folks that will not like it. For example, if you have a friend that can’t understand that subtracting four is the same as adding negative four… well… that is the friend that won’t enjoy Gheos. We played a total of four games… and stayed up late, and I was still discovering new strategies to this game. (Perhaps that is indicative of my rather meager IQ). By the same token, the rules were simple enough that my 12-year old daughter played, and did quite well for herself!
Were this a personal matter, this would be a home-run 25 out of 25… as there are some folks that will never get this game, I need to mark down a bit… but again, Rene… PLEASE don’t change this game. It rocks on ice.
22 points for fun.

Side Note: Settlers of Cataan just got bumped off my desert island list… and this got put onto it. I only wish we had the budget to make this into a boxed game… and I may get back to you on that later this year.

Personal Prediction: Put in bigger tiles on 36-pound chip board and bang out a 4-color box cover that has several etheric gods near the top with there hands poised over a forming planet … and send this as a submission to Larry at Mayfair. If you want his personal e-mail, write me privately… I think he’d love this. Hell, tell him I sent you, it wouldn’t hurt my reputation any.

Total score: 53 points