The oust effects seem like a nice way to add decision weight into kicking people out, as well as blending in some 'worker placement'-style effect drafting. Shame that the small number of tokens made it awkward
Haven’t played Cooperative, but I think they’ve caught a genie in a bottle with Works and have leaned into the mint tin games too much! Also the player candies need to be bigger!!
I backed this, but only because it was the best way for me to get Mint Works which my wife and I love playing together. The whole KS campaign is full of comments that make it look like the company switched staff mid production. I am not sure if this effected the game or just the delivery or just the communication, but I am happy to have Mint Works coming tomorrow and don't plan on backing anything else from them. Hopefully I like Control more than Tom did.
The original company (Five24 Labs) got bought out by Poketto and then they kinda took things over from what I heard and the engagement/quality/etc just tanked after that... was really sad
Hmm, haven't received this yet (backed it on KS). And since I agree with Tom when it comes to the previous 3 games, can't say I'm eager to get it either. Might be time to stop backing those Mint games.
I’ve yet to play it to see how plays, but I agree that the rule book could have been better. As Tom mentioned, I had trouble matching up components with the component list. During setup, it said to put out cards until you have at least 20, but the picture showed cards over 20 by more than the value of any single card, so it’s like they just put out an extra card. The rest didn’t seem too difficult to figure out, and I’m used to checking BGG for rules clarifications. I’ll have to do a solo play. Technically, I still haven’t played any of the Mint games. I set up a four player Mint Delivery and played all players, but that resulted in basically each player doing the same thing. I tried Mint Works once, but don’t believe I figured it out, and never set it up again. Mint Cooperative seemed to be a good game that wasn’t too difficult to figure out. Looking forward to playing that one sometime.
I'm trying to remember the name of a game that was previewed on the Dice Tower, I want to say about a year ago. It came in a mint tin, but it wasn't from Five24. I think it was kind of a war game with each side of the open mint tin forming the map. Any help?
I finally got this to the table today (long after I got it from the campaign, obviously). I thought, "this can't be it, right? I must be missing some element that makes this game actually worth playing." Glad to see I'm not missing anything. It's just a bad area majority game, sadly.
I didn't dislike this as much as Tom....BUT...we ran into a lot of rules ambiguities that we just couldn't quite figure out and were never quite sure if we were doing things right. BGG folk seemed to be just as confused over some of these things. That said, I did feel like I ~could~ enjoy the game if everything was clear but not exactly sure when I'll even give it a try again (if ever).
The rulebook is a mess, they obviously had to cut a lot out to make sure it fit in the tin, and even then what's there could have been written so much more concisely. I really enjoy Mint Works and I don't think this one will even make it to the table, ever.
We played this the other week and actually enjoyed it (and certainly more so than Mint Cooperative). However, I absolutely agree that the rules are terribly written (indeed, I think I noticed one thing we were doing wrong compared to how you did it). We didn't have a problem with the bank being limited (indeed, that became part of the strategy) but I completely agree that there needs to be (a) more candies than 5 per player, and (b) a larger number of action cards to choose from. The variety of locations does add replay value though (much like in Mint Works). I'm leaning towards a 4/5 based on how much fun we had and I can definitely see this being played again as a quick filler game. I'd need a few more plays to decide if I prefer this over Mint Works though (we certainly enjoyed playing Mint Works on Tabletopia during lockdown) Re the mean-ness, I played it with my regular gaming group, and we tend to go easy on each other (at least until close to the end), so we didn't see too much of that. For instance, if I steal from someone one round, I'll probably steal from someone else the next round rather than keep picking on one person or pick on someone that is struggling. However, I could see that being an issue in other groups. I should note that I have not tried a solo yet. Lastly, I noticed your rules leaflet had a slight tear in it. Mine had a number of tears, some quite large, and I can see it completely falling apart quite soon if I keep playing this game. I contacted Poketto and they basically told me, "we don't have a spare we're willing to send to you; go print the pdf." Between that and the poor rules for both this and Mint Cooperative, I don't intend to back another of their games.
Thanks for an honest review. I am not sure if I should be that happy about it, as my copy is still in fulfilment limbo... Also, nice tie. Looks less tacky than the ones you usually wear.
It's too bad, this game could have been so much better. Both the Kickstarter backers and the BGG community have been begging Poketto to clarify the rules and fix things that don't work, but they refused to listen.
I do actively like Mint Cooperative as a pocket solo. It gets almost everything right for solo and travel combined
Tom didn’t mints his words.
ROTFL
Huh, before the final thoughts I was pretty sure Tom liked it, and it sounded very cool. But what a twist.
The oust effects seem like a nice way to add decision weight into kicking people out, as well as blending in some 'worker placement'-style effect drafting. Shame that the small number of tokens made it awkward
Haven’t played Cooperative, but I think they’ve caught a genie in a bottle with Works and have leaned into the mint tin games too much! Also the player candies need to be bigger!!
I backed this, but only because it was the best way for me to get Mint Works which my wife and I love playing together. The whole KS campaign is full of comments that make it look like the company switched staff mid production. I am not sure if this effected the game or just the delivery or just the communication, but I am happy to have Mint Works coming tomorrow and don't plan on backing anything else from them. Hopefully I like Control more than Tom did.
The original company (Five24 Labs) got bought out by Poketto and then they kinda took things over from what I heard and the engagement/quality/etc just tanked after that... was really sad
Hmm, haven't received this yet (backed it on KS). And since I agree with Tom when it comes to the previous 3 games, can't say I'm eager to get it either. Might be time to stop backing those Mint games.
I’ve yet to play it to see how plays, but I agree that the rule book could have been better. As Tom mentioned, I had trouble matching up components with the component list. During setup, it said to put out cards until you have at least 20, but the picture showed cards over 20 by more than the value of any single card, so it’s like they just put out an extra card. The rest didn’t seem too difficult to figure out, and I’m used to checking BGG for rules clarifications. I’ll have to do a solo play. Technically, I still haven’t played any of the Mint games. I set up a four player Mint Delivery and played all players, but that resulted in basically each player doing the same thing. I tried Mint Works once, but don’t believe I figured it out, and never set it up again. Mint Cooperative seemed to be a good game that wasn’t too difficult to figure out. Looking forward to playing that one sometime.
Mint Works is fun as a quick game in a group and is free on Tabletopia.
I'm trying to remember the name of a game that was previewed on the Dice Tower, I want to say about a year ago. It came in a mint tin, but it wasn't from Five24. I think it was kind of a war game with each side of the open mint tin forming the map. Any help?
I finally got this to the table today (long after I got it from the campaign, obviously). I thought, "this can't be it, right? I must be missing some element that makes this game actually worth playing." Glad to see I'm not missing anything. It's just a bad area majority game, sadly.
I didn't dislike this as much as Tom....BUT...we ran into a lot of rules ambiguities that we just couldn't quite figure out and were never quite sure if we were doing things right. BGG folk seemed to be just as confused over some of these things. That said, I did feel like I ~could~ enjoy the game if everything was clear but not exactly sure when I'll even give it a try again (if ever).
Hold up..... no component drop? Am I missing something???
We "dropped" the component drop for time purposes, sorry!
Poketto really messed this game up SO badly.
The rulebook is a mess, they obviously had to cut a lot out to make sure it fit in the tin, and even then what's there could have been written so much more concisely. I really enjoy Mint Works and I don't think this one will even make it to the table, ever.
Now I'm nervous for backing MintBid...
We played this the other week and actually enjoyed it (and certainly more so than Mint Cooperative). However, I absolutely agree that the rules are terribly written (indeed, I think I noticed one thing we were doing wrong compared to how you did it). We didn't have a problem with the bank being limited (indeed, that became part of the strategy) but I completely agree that there needs to be (a) more candies than 5 per player, and (b) a larger number of action cards to choose from. The variety of locations does add replay value though (much like in Mint Works). I'm leaning towards a 4/5 based on how much fun we had and I can definitely see this being played again as a quick filler game. I'd need a few more plays to decide if I prefer this over Mint Works though (we certainly enjoyed playing Mint Works on Tabletopia during lockdown)
Re the mean-ness, I played it with my regular gaming group, and we tend to go easy on each other (at least until close to the end), so we didn't see too much of that. For instance, if I steal from someone one round, I'll probably steal from someone else the next round rather than keep picking on one person or pick on someone that is struggling. However, I could see that being an issue in other groups.
I should note that I have not tried a solo yet.
Lastly, I noticed your rules leaflet had a slight tear in it. Mine had a number of tears, some quite large, and I can see it completely falling apart quite soon if I keep playing this game. I contacted Poketto and they basically told me, "we don't have a spare we're willing to send to you; go print the pdf." Between that and the poor rules for both this and Mint Cooperative, I don't intend to back another of their games.
Mint Works really was lighting in a bottle, huh?
How does that rule book even make it to the printer? They must have zero standard.
Why do the cards look dirty? Is that actually how they look or did Tom's copy fall on the ground and get stepped on?
That's how they look, some texture used as the background... you're not the first to ask this question!
Naw :(. And the red box looked really pretty as well.
The written rules ruin the whole thing. We should not need an FAQ in like a paragraph in.
It is woefully written.
Thanks for an honest review. I am not sure if I should be that happy about it, as my copy is still in fulfilment limbo... Also, nice tie. Looks less tacky than the ones you usually wear.
Whoops, that's a mistake! I didn't mean to wear a non-tacky tie. What is a tacky tie, anyway? Does tacky = non-boring?
*MINT BID,*
*MINT BID*
When??
i already bought it...dang...well, at least it was cheap.
Do you enjoy it? Then screw Tom's opinion.
I was hoping for a good game... Skip!
It's too bad, this game could have been so much better. Both the Kickstarter backers and the BGG community have been begging Poketto to clarify the rules and fix things that don't work, but they refused to listen.
After Mint delivery and Mint Control I´m out of buying more Poketto games
Let alone their shoddy KS management or lack of community engagement.
I really want them to do well but they're just missing the mark. I felt Mint Works is perfect for what it is. But you can't bottle lightning.