Tableau builders on mobile

So, after it was strongly suggested to me by a couple of folks, I recently picked up Race for the Galaxy (and the first expansion, Gathering Storm) and having a blast with it. I’ve played at least a couple dozen games in the last week. I also grabbed 7 Wonders, which I think is pretty bad (primarily because military seems horribly unbalanced to me). I also don’t care for San Juan, partly because of theme, but also the sheer number of buildings available just feels like on many options where I want something a bit more focused, and I like Race’s fixed phase order.

I wound up looking at the list of tableau builders at BGG and there are a couple inbound on iOS that look really good, namely Castles of Burgundy and Terraforming Mars. I think the sweet spot for me in terms of complexity is probably near the 2.25-3.25 on BGG’s scale.

I’m also really looking forward to New Fontiers. While I expect it to be much closer to San Juan than RftG, I’m hoping the fact that I like Race so much will help me get past the things I don’t like about San Juan. Hopefully, they get someone to do a digital version that is as good as Race.

I also have Among the Stars, which is fine, but didn’t get it’s hooks in me like Race did, as well as Puerto Rico & Agricola. I never did get Through the Ages, but I think it might be a bit heavy for what I tend to enjoy. The games I tend to play again and again are the ones that have fairly simple decision making each turn and can play quickly once you get the hang of it.

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Terraforming Mars. Biggest plateaus.

Anybody heard when it is coming out? And why the heck did autocorrect change Tableau to Plateau? Bloody hell.

Have you tried Splendor? It is about as basic a tableau builder as you can get but is loved by many.

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Yeah, I have that one too. It’s ok, but not one that compels me to keep going back to it. As mentioned, I like games that are just a bit meatier than that.

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They’re demoing it at Gen Con, so I should be getting more info on Terraforming Mars then.

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Cool. Looking forward to it.