Masons is a short two to four player game by Leo Colovini (Clans, Cartagena). The aim of the game is to build cities by fencing in an area of the board and to score after each city is complete by using guild cards.

The game is played by taking a piece of wall to close in an area of the board, the player rolls three dice: two depicting coloured houses and a third depicting coloured towers. From these three dice a house is placed on each side of the wall places (or if the wall is on the board's edge the player selects one of the two houses depicted). A tower is placed on the end of the wall and if the wall has another unoccupied space for a tower the player may select a tower of his choice and fill the unoccupied space. If an enclosed area has not been created then the turn ends. If an area has been enclosed then scoring occurs (and houses within the area can be upgraded to palaces). Guild cards are used for scoring, the cards will score for one set of pieces of the construction (ie houses, towers or walls) or they will score similarily for pieces that are not part of any completed area on the board. The game ends when the last wall, the last tower, the last house, or the last palace is placed from the supply.

Now the parts of the game that make it truly unique. Players start with five cards, this in itself is not unique, but when an area is completed each player must either play one or two cards to score points. The player recieves one new card. Alternatively, a player may discard a card and gain two cards, but no points. This mechanic works very well as you are penalised for playing two cards as you reduce the size of your hand, also you cannot hoard good cards for a big score as you must play at least one card either for scoring or as a discard. This mechanic works very well and keeps the game from slowing down as there is a constant turnaround of cards.
Another great rule is that when you complete an area, if it shares a common wall with another completed area you can open the two areas into one and score for the whole area. This rule allows players to score more points, but it can also help their opponents to score more points as well.
Finally after a scoring round is complete the player who is in last position can discard from their hand and gain replacements. This rule gives the player in last place a chance to catch up if they have a hand with a few cards that will not score greatly. I originally thought that playing with this rule in a two player game would hurt the leader too much, but after playing without the rule for a couple of times it was discovered that the leader can stretch their lead pretty quickly, so this rule makes the game a much more balanced encounter.

Overall I enjoy this game alot as it has a depth of strategy yet it plays in under an hour. It is my one of my favourite games to play with two players. The rules are consisely written and have good illustrated examples. The game is simple to grasp, so much so that it would be suitable as a 'gateway' game, but still has enough going on to keep more experienced gamer occupied.

It has a trait that I have noticed in all Leo Colovini games that I have played: where when playing for the first time you don't have a clue what you are doing for much of the game, then you hit the point of realisation "Yes! I understand what to do now, I can influence this, or that..." you have your turn and then before you can have your next turn the game has finished! I love this about a game because you want to play the game immediately again to try to understand it more and because the game is short it is simple to get another play whereas, with a heavier game you cannot ask for another game as others in the group may not wish to spend another three hours while you come to grips with the game.

I sometimes play with a variant where rather than the game ending when the last wall, tower, house, or palace is placed, the game ends after the last wall is placed or the last tower, house or palace of a color is placed. This variant causes the game to be much quicker (sometimes 20 minutes) but it also can give the chance for a player to get a quick lead and force the game to end prematurely by concentrating on exhausting a specific colour of piece. What is good about this variant is that players only have a limited control in exhausting a specific color as the results are determined from dice rolls, but I feel it just gives the game a bit more tactics to play with.