Cuzco Review - Tense, Strategic, Thinky & Too Long For What It Is

BoardGameCo Patreon - / boardgameco
Cuzco is a beautiful game from Super Meeple, another game in the Mask trilogy, and it's tactical, tense, every move counts....and yet it's drier than what I want in a 90 minute long game. One of the most amazing games to see slowly develop as you play, yet not one I particularly feel the need to play again.
TimeStamps:
0:00:00 - Introduction
0:01:20 - Game Overview
0:07:21 - Review
0:14:10 - Final Thoughts
Scoring System
5 - Great game. Period. It's in my collection. Obviously.
4 - Really solid game but for reasons X or Y, I'm just not willing to give it my top score. Almost always a game I'm adding to my collection.
3 - A solid game. May or may not enter/leave my collection depending on a number of factors such as other similar games, personal interest, people I play with etc. Sometimes can reflect a game's allure dropping over time.
2 - I'm either not the target audience, or too many issues with it.
1 - An arguably bad game.
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[@Sebastian-rt9qf]

I like how much you like this game, although it's not for you. You have me intrigued although I kin a missed what player count hs game suits best. Or are there specific rules for the amount of players?

[@diamondmeeple]

BGG users like it best with 3. I feel it gets unbalanced with 3, and prefer it with 4.
I bet it work great with two players, but I never tried it with that player count yet.

[@Sebastian-rt9qf]

@@diamondmeeple Thanks

[@TylerDeLisle]

I was sitting here through all of your discussion thinking that the game still sounded fun and interesting and I still wanted it... until you made the astute Tigris & Euphrates comment. that's one of my favorite games and yeah... a similar abstract game without that level of depth, I don't see myself playing this over that any time.
By the way, I do take a bit of umbrage at the pasted on theme comment for T&E. ;) I'm obviously a fan, and I admit it's abstracted, but I think the theme fits really well when you consider it. You visually see these civilizations gain leaders, grow due to those leaders, cover the board, leaders are overthrown and rebuild... then civilizations merge into each other and war happens changing the face of the landscape for new civs to be rebuilt in their place. My earlier plays of T&E I was so caught up in mechanics that I didn't think about it, but once the rules were second nature, I feel like the theme really starts to come through.
Followup question, have you played Mexica? I need to revisit it, but I think it still holds a place for how straight forward it is, and how directly hostile it is.

[@brdgamz]

In a world of euros where you puzzle out your own position with limited mind to the opposition is the German school of design. This school builds a system around the players rather than asking the players to engage and puzzle out the system. Over the years I've come to appreciate the sentiment of having to play the players and not the game itself. For a better version of this try Mexica.

[@diamondmeeple]

I feel a stronger urge to play another round of Cuzco than Mexica at the moment, but both games are great!

[@terrencesoltz8943]

I love this game, though I have the original, which I think is even more attractive. I can understand if it's too long for your tastes as an abstract game, and I agree that it can run a bit long with new players. I don't mind long, dry games at all. The endgame scoring point I don't understand. Many eurogames are like that. The point is getting yourself in position to score those points. Where I think this game has an advantage over T & E is that there isn't that same luck of the draw element. Yes, there is a little bit with the festival cards, but with a much smaller impact. Great job explaining the game, though, and I appreciate that you can tell when a game may be solid, but just not something that draws you in.

[@willyum3108]

The subtitles are in Dutch. Never seen that before. Is that you or me?

[@ryanmiech2380]

Yup, just checked, same for me haha that is funny

[@timbe7979]

Looks like google is drunk again

[@seniscram7958]

Not too long for what it is. Awesome game. In my top 10 of 130 games I have played.

[@diamondmeeple]

Agreed. Its in my top 20 of 380 games.

[@seniscram7958]

@@diamondmeeple ya. I like games that have easy rules but lots of tough decisions to make. Along the same line, Mexica is really good too

[@Talliesyn]

watch out for dangerous, malware content in the coments (timestamp links)

[@andrewnr3238]

Being able to appreciate something without necessarily liking it is an important aspect of critical thinking, which is always positive.

[@diamondmeeple]

Just look how amazing the game looks. This is gaming heaven.
There are no reasons to dislike this game. So what he says puzzles me.
But I'm a strategy master... he is not...
The main problem with this game is to gather four dedicated players. Which is NOT easy if you live in a smaller place...
Four pretty even skilled players create the balance this game needs to really shine.
With three players it gets the same problem as many games with three. The third player benefits if two players start fighting among themselves.
To me this is a dedicated 4-player game, with all the cool interactions this brings. Superb.

[@jhowd78]

You put thinky in the title?...lol

[@diamondmeeple]

Maybe that's why he dislikes it... go figure ;-) I love skill rewarding games, and I love Cuzco.

[@jhowd78]

@@diamondmeeple thats my guy, I'm just playing around

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol yep :)

[@diamondmeeple]

@@jhowd78 Main difference between me and you is: You act like you are into strategy. I AM strategy. And no, I am not joking around now :p

[@diamondmeeple]

Its a really nice game. I disagree with you.
Main point: The game should not be played with three players. It works best with 4 players. So I really disagree with the BGG users regarding this.
Sadly, I never played the game with two yet. Would've been nice to try.
Too long? This is a game which gets better through many plays, and playtime decreases a lot.
With a game like this it is hard to gather four dedicated, pretty even skilled, players. But this goes for so many great games without a lot of random stuff going on.

[@BoardGameCo]

This is definitely a game up your alley :)