What I like most about this game: there is absolutely no randomness involved. No rollig dices, no drawing cards, no spinning wheeles and what have you. I love that!
Photosynthesis is the second "modern board game" we purchased, after Carcassonne. We call it "The Sap Wars"! It plays best for us over four rounds, with two people. The theme runs through the whole game, for instance I think of the alternating start player as a change in the weather.
Loved the review and my 8 year old daughters and I are absolutely blown away by the game after purchasing it. Superb game that should be in everyone's game collection.
This games looks very interesting and pretty on the table and it seems to me that this game is potentially going to be re edited someday by a publisher and they will make an stunning version with 3d plastic tree pieces and a sun board with a lantern included to create the shadows jejeje
Hey Tom! Don't feel to negative about "spoiling" the review for us by saying in advance, that you like (or dislike) the game! I still would like to hear what you have to say about the reasons anyway. And if I am not interested in the details I skip to the final thoughts anyway! Keep on with your great work!
Bought this game off of this recommendation. Played it a few times and every game felt exactly the same. It is an abstract game with an amazing theme, but at the end of the day the only differences between the games felt minor. There are no asymmetric player powers, no game scenarios, or anything to spice up further games. If you like chess, you will likely enjoy this game. For me, I sold it after a year because I never felt like taking it off the shelf. After playing a few times, what else was there to surprise me?
I did the exact same thing, but after 3 months. I felt after the first play like playing again. Every time I played I was more frustrated than excited about the decisions in the game.
I share Tom's thoughts about this game.. I'm really digging it! I do have one complaint though... the recycled cardboard they use seems to be very prone to fraying, or "de-laminating" if you will. That is, the printed paper outside likes to pull off the rest of the cardboard, and the cardboard layers even in the middle have a tendency to separate. I had many pieces do this when I was originally punching the pieces off the trees when we first got the game. I was very frustrated just removing the pieces from the trees as about 1 in 4 would split or tear. What I did was I sat with some white Elmer's school glue and carefully glued all the damaged pieces, and added some glue to reinforce a few that looked like they were going to want to split down the road. This took about an hour to repair pieces before we ever even played the game. This was a little disappointing. I feel the glue strengthens the cardboard though and my pieces should now be more wear resistant.
I actually got this game just a few days ago. It's good, but I do not understand why people call it 'easy and simple'. It's a game with perfect information, plenty of possible combinations and feel of something more like Tigris & Euphrates, than say Azul. I can't imagine playing it with less experienced gamers - it's just that tough and cutthroat.
Great game - I love it and it is a lot of fun! Easy to understand, looks nice, it has a greath theme and it is a good opener. BUT it is also the most brutal passive aggresive experience in a euro game I ever had.
I honestly do not understand the problems some people seem to have with component drops and/or "the hammer." Has anyone ever seen any damage to anything (except as Sam mentioned, expansion boxes that were not going to be kept anyway)? I have very little money to spend on games, and it doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I like both of these aspects to Tom's videos.
Yeah, those people are the epitome of rich #FirstWorldProblems handwringing. “Oh no, a man I don’t know is treating a game that isn’t mine in a manner I don’t like! Its a tragedy!”
As someone that has complained about the color of a card edge (it won’t wear as well) throwing about game pieces seems counterintuitive to his personality.
Looks like it takes 4 rounds to move the sun around the board and the game is over after the sun orbit the board 3 times. Which means there are only 12 rounds. Does that mean you only get 12 turns? That doesn't seem like many turns. What am I missing? The game does look very cool. Currently wouldnt be able to play it with my 4 year and 19 month old but maybe in about 7-8 years I can give it a try.
Crazy Legz the board is a hexagon, so there are 6 turns in a round, and as said in the review (that's not me talking down to you, I haven't played myself so I'm citing my sources) you can play either 3 or 4 round variant, so it ranges from 18 to 24 turns per player.
What are my top 3 favourite themes for a board game? #3 - Zombies #2 - Cthulhu Mythos #1 - Fantasy Dungeon Crawls I don't play 30 new games a week so burnout from certain themes isn't an issue. When we saw this at GenCon my friend and I laughed at "Arbor Day the game". After seeing this review, I think this looks amazing. Thanks for the review Tom. :)
I would like a new system. If you think the game is "fire," then you burn it at the end. This would be sign of respect and approval, like a boat-fire burial. Great review. :)
I really want to know what Jason thinks about this game. Being a highly strategic player, I did not care for this game. In a highly "competitive" game of this, only the player who is lucky enough to be the starting player can ever harvest the very center. They will harvest it once towards the end and never let anyone else have a chance to get the center. There is also no bonus to other players for not being first. Also I was really hoping Tom explained the shadows in this video better than he did. The rules for shadows, at least how I played it, (which I think was correct) are not always intuitive.
I haven't played yet but compensation for not being 1st was a concern I had, possibly a house rule fix is in order? Bonus light may be a good fix but would speed up the tempo, which might not be good. Maybe remove a starting available tree from Player 1. However it seems that in a 3+ player game, smart opponents could agree to gang up on the 1st player just enough to negate the advantage of being able to spend light and plant seeds first, blocking his trees etc... even in a 2 player game, I wonder if it's viable to counter an early central grab with light denial by just surrounding the center so no light can reach, giving Player 2 a huge economy advantage. Regarding shadows, I think it's pretty intuitive. They follow the straight lines as shown on the sun, travel 1/2/3 spaces for small/med/large trees and only deny light to an equal or lesser sized tree.
Lol... of course all the "Don't hurt the board game!" people come out for the "Love nature!" game. Geez people. He loves the game, do you think he wants to break any of the components? No! Good review. I'm going to buy it and who knows... maybe I'll drop a piece or 2 on the ground for laughs and to make the Game-Huggers cringe.
I like this video a lot, but i have a complain, the game quality is not as good as it has to be, the trees use to split and the card board uses to open. My board just set apart by half, i the only tha i did was to move it. I like the game mechanics, but the card board quality,,,,neeeh, not as good
Well, I think Tom did/does it even for the copies he and the team bought. IMO it's more about simple respect for work of people who invested, created, crafted, delivered these boxes :/ And yeah, when it takes weeks, if not months of waiting and double the prices to get same copy... seeing this hammer is brr.
Sam here...in Tom's defense, he doesn't actually damage any of the components in these, except for when it's an expansion box he isn't keeping, or the occasional accident. So, throw that shade somewhere else, yeah? (see what I did, there?)
It's just a matter of respect. If you had to work as hard as I do to save the money to buy a game it might bother you to see them treated so poorly also.
It's constructive criticism. Some segment of your audience doesn't like the rough component treatment. You don't have to take the constructive criticism, but as a largely viewer funded enterprise, it behooves you to aggregate this kind of feedback and if the same comments continue to pop up, maybe you take a look at it and consider making a change. Maybe this is an isolated complaint, but as a regular consumer of your content I can say at least anecdotally that I've seen comments in this vein many times before. I understand you can do whatever you think is fun, but as a big Dice Tower fan, I want to see you be successful and continue to expand. "Giving the fans what they want" is a part of that within reason as long as it stays in line with your values and goals for the brand. I think people do want to see smashing of terrible games, the view counts make that abundantly clear. Seeing the gavel/Mjolnir/cudgel smash less frequently might give it more impact (no pun intended.) Just a thought.
Tom is a respected leader in the gaming hobby and the way he treats components and games is disrespectful to the designer and contemptuous to the viewer who doesn't get truckloads of games for free and actually takes care of their things. I love this channel but I do not agree with the way he does that and it makes me respect him less.
That is ridiculous. Designers create things for them to be used and create enjoyment, not so they can be kept in pristine condition. How is is disrespectful?
I think that considering the things that Tom has had deal with in the last few years, he probably values people far more than material goods. Its a harmless ongoing joke that I think he does to trigger us autists (yes it bothers me too but not as much as you)
What I like most about this game: there is absolutely no randomness involved. No rollig dices, no drawing cards, no spinning wheeles and what have you. I love that!
That’s called a game of “perfect information.” The only uncertainty comes from the actions of other opponents
Why I love Scythe so much, apart from Combat Cards (not a big deal) it's just pure skill and decision making
Love blue orange. Love the fact cardboard for game come from recycled cardboard. Love the engine building of the game.
Oh wow, never knew it was made from recycle cardboard - I'm definitely buying it!
Photosynthesis is the second "modern board game" we purchased, after Carcassonne. We call it "The Sap Wars"! It plays best for us over four rounds, with two people. The theme runs through the whole game, for instance I think of the alternating start player as a change in the weather.
Loved the review and my 8 year old daughters and I are absolutely blown away by the game after purchasing it. Superb game that should be in everyone's game collection.
This games looks very interesting and pretty on the table and it seems to me that this game is potentially going to be re edited someday by a publisher and they will make an stunning version with 3d plastic tree pieces and a sun board with a lantern included to create the shadows jejeje
How about adding a flashlight (torch) to your set up for realistic, dramatic effect!
Hey Tom!
Don't feel to negative about "spoiling" the review for us by saying in advance, that you like (or dislike) the game! I still would like to hear what you have to say about the reasons anyway. And if I am not interested in the details I skip to the final thoughts anyway!
Keep on with your great work!
Bought this game off of this recommendation. Played it a few times and every game felt exactly the same. It is an abstract game with an amazing theme, but at the end of the day the only differences between the games felt minor. There are no asymmetric player powers, no game scenarios, or anything to spice up further games.
If you like chess, you will likely enjoy this game. For me, I sold it after a year because I never felt like taking it off the shelf. After playing a few times, what else was there to surprise me?
I did the exact same thing, but after 3 months. I felt after the first play like playing again. Every time I played I was more frustrated than excited about the decisions in the game.
I guess you also didn't like Cascadia.
Thank you once again for a great review Tom Vasel - much appreciated. Take care :-)
I always feel like Tom is going to destroy a game just by touching it, LOL!
I like the fact that the you can actually see the shadows from the tree tokens!
I love how excited you are Tom
I share Tom's thoughts about this game.. I'm really digging it! I do have one complaint though... the recycled cardboard they use seems to be very prone to fraying, or "de-laminating" if you will. That is, the printed paper outside likes to pull off the rest of the cardboard, and the cardboard layers even in the middle have a tendency to separate. I had many pieces do this when I was originally punching the pieces off the trees when we first got the game. I was very frustrated just removing the pieces from the trees as about 1 in 4 would split or tear. What I did was I sat with some white Elmer's school glue and carefully glued all the damaged pieces, and added some glue to reinforce a few that looked like they were going to want to split down the road. This took about an hour to repair pieces before we ever even played the game. This was a little disappointing. I feel the glue strengthens the cardboard though and my pieces should now be more wear resistant.
I actually got this game just a few days ago. It's good, but I do not understand why people call it 'easy and simple'.
It's a game with perfect information, plenty of possible combinations and feel of something more like Tigris & Euphrates, than say Azul. I can't imagine playing it with less experienced gamers - it's just that tough and cutthroat.
Great game - I love it and it is a lot of fun!
Easy to understand, looks nice, it has a greath theme and it is a good opener.
BUT it is also the most brutal passive aggresive experience in a euro game I ever had.
Thanks, Tom! I will definitely look into this.
I honestly do not understand the problems some people seem to have with component drops and/or "the hammer." Has anyone ever seen any damage to anything (except as Sam mentioned, expansion boxes that were not going to be kept anyway)? I have very little money to spend on games, and it doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I like both of these aspects to Tom's videos.
Yeah, those people are the epitome of rich #FirstWorldProblems handwringing. “Oh no, a man I don’t know is treating a game that isn’t mine in a manner I don’t like! Its a tragedy!”
It's funny how other reviewers are critiquing it.
I need to get this game reviewed!
As someone that has complained about the color of a card edge (it won’t wear as well) throwing about game pieces seems counterintuitive to his personality.
Looks like it takes 4 rounds to move the sun around the board and the game is over after the sun orbit the board 3 times. Which means there are only 12 rounds. Does that mean you only get 12 turns? That doesn't seem like many turns. What am I missing? The game does look very cool. Currently wouldnt be able to play it with my 4 year and 19 month old but maybe in about 7-8 years I can give it a try.
Crazy Legz the board is a hexagon, so there are 6 turns in a round, and as said in the review (that's not me talking down to you, I haven't played myself so I'm citing my sources) you can play either 3 or 4 round variant, so it ranges from 18 to 24 turns per player.
The sun takes 6 moves to turn around, so 18 rounds/turns
Thank you for this review.
Thanks for this Tom!
What are my top 3 favourite themes for a board game?
#3 - Zombies
#2 - Cthulhu Mythos
#1 - Fantasy Dungeon Crawls
I don't play 30 new games a week so burnout from certain themes isn't an issue.
When we saw this at GenCon my friend and I laughed at "Arbor Day the game".
After seeing this review, I think this looks amazing. Thanks for the review Tom. :)
Always. Be. Growing.
Can this be played with 6 players?
I would like a new system. If you think the game is "fire," then you burn it at the end. This would be sign of respect and approval, like a boat-fire burial.
Great review. :)
Can you explain the variance in playtime? (30-90 min)
Number of players and possible analysis paralysis by some of those players. Just a thought.
I really want to know what Jason thinks about this game. Being a highly strategic player, I did not care for this game. In a highly "competitive" game of this, only the player who is lucky enough to be the starting player can ever harvest the very center. They will harvest it once towards the end and never let anyone else have a chance to get the center. There is also no bonus to other players for not being first. Also I was really hoping Tom explained the shadows in this video better than he did. The rules for shadows, at least how I played it, (which I think was correct) are not always intuitive.
could you play the game with out using the middle, or house rule the middle being 3 points instead of 4. would that even the playing field.
I haven't played yet but compensation for not being 1st was a concern I had, possibly a house rule fix is in order? Bonus light may be a good fix but would speed up the tempo, which might not be good. Maybe remove a starting available tree from Player 1.
However it seems that in a 3+ player game, smart opponents could agree to gang up on the 1st player just enough to negate the advantage of being able to spend light and plant seeds first, blocking his trees etc... even in a 2 player game, I wonder if it's viable to counter an early central grab with light denial by just surrounding the center so no light can reach, giving Player 2 a huge economy advantage.
Regarding shadows, I think it's pretty intuitive. They follow the straight lines as shown on the sun, travel 1/2/3 spaces for small/med/large trees and only deny light to an equal or lesser sized tree.
Lol... of course all the "Don't hurt the board game!" people come out for the "Love nature!" game. Geez people. He loves the game, do you think he wants to break any of the components? No! Good review. I'm going to buy it and who knows... maybe I'll drop a piece or 2 on the ground for laughs and to make the Game-Huggers cringe.
1:05 token drop
Cute idea. =)
I like this video a lot, but i have a complain, the game quality is not as good as it has to be, the trees use to split and the card board uses to open. My board just set apart by half, i the only tha i did was to move it. I like the game mechanics, but the card board quality,,,,neeeh, not as good
this game-smashing at the end looks more nerve-wrecking than cool :(
Not hard to do when you don't pay for your copies.
Well, I think Tom did/does it even for the copies he and the team bought.
IMO it's more about simple respect for work of people who invested, created, crafted, delivered these boxes :/
And yeah, when it takes weeks, if not months of waiting and double the prices to get same copy... seeing this hammer is brr.
Sam here...in Tom's defense, he doesn't actually damage any of the components in these, except for when it's an expansion box he isn't keeping, or the occasional accident. So, throw that shade somewhere else, yeah? (see what I did, there?)
It's just a matter of respect. If you had to work as hard as I do to save the money to buy a game it might bother you to see them treated so poorly also.
It's constructive criticism. Some segment of your audience doesn't like the rough component treatment. You don't have to take the constructive criticism, but as a largely viewer funded enterprise, it behooves you to aggregate this kind of feedback and if the same comments continue to pop up, maybe you take a look at it and consider making a change. Maybe this is an isolated complaint, but as a regular consumer of your content I can say at least anecdotally that I've seen comments in this vein many times before. I understand you can do whatever you think is fun, but as a big Dice Tower fan, I want to see you be successful and continue to expand. "Giving the fans what they want" is a part of that within reason as long as it stays in line with your values and goals for the brand.
I think people do want to see smashing of terrible games, the view counts make that abundantly clear. Seeing the gavel/Mjolnir/cudgel smash less frequently might give it more impact (no pun intended.) Just a thought.
great review but why you physicly treat the game like this? you can put the tree down without throwing it man
Tom is a respected leader in the gaming hobby and the way he treats components and games is disrespectful to the designer and contemptuous to the viewer who doesn't get truckloads of games for free and actually takes care of their things. I love this channel but I do not agree with the way he does that and it makes me respect him less.
That is ridiculous. Designers create things for them to be used and create enjoyment, not so they can be kept in pristine condition. How is is disrespectful?
We are talking about board games, right?
They are just things, Tom takes care of things that matter not materialistic things. Much respect ✊🏽
I think that considering the things that Tom has had deal with in the last few years, he probably values people far more than material goods. Its a harmless ongoing joke that I think he does to trigger us autists (yes it bothers me too but not as much as you)
Kids in Africa could have eaten those games!