My Take on Tower of Babel - Communal Competition

Reiner Knizia has designed a lot of games. He’s to board games what Tom Vasel is to board game reviews. And for me personally, I just can’t keep up. It’s rare that I try out a new Reiner Knizia game. But thanks to our local Knizia-phile (I’m looking at you kasuga3) I have ample opportunity to do so whether I want to or not. And thanks to kasuga3 I have tried out some good ol’ Reiner games that I probably wouldn’t have given a second glance to otherwise. Of important note for now is Tower of Babel.

In Tower of Babel players help each other to complete the seven Wonders and/or the tower of Babel. But just as the tower of Babel was interrupted in its construction, so may the construction of any of the Wonders in the game.

Components:
This game is up to the high standard Hans im Glück big box quality levels. The board is lavishly illustrated and depicts the seven Wonders of the ancient world and the tower of Babel. If the board is turned over, there is actually a rendering of all the Wonders there as well if, for some reason, a player wanted to just look at the back of the board instead of playing the game. Additionally there are two decks of cards (the small HiG size of course), a load of wooden Houses for each player and a plethora of thick cardboard disks. Each player also has a wooden column.

The Game:
The cardboard disks come in four types and have numbers from one to three on them. Three are placed with each Wonder. The main deck of cards also comes in four suits that match the four different types of disk.

On a players turn they can either draw a card or attempt to build one of the three disks on a Wonder. If the player chooses to do the latter, they put the disk on their column and all the other players decide how much they are going to help. In light of such they simultaneously reveal a number of cards. The number of cards equal to the number on the disk and of the same suit have to be used. For every card used to build the disk a House is placed on that Wonder by the player who contributed the cards.

The player whose turn it is can choose which, if any, of his opponents offers to accept, but the entire offer has to be accepted or rejected.

If a disk is completed Houses are placed and the player whose turn it is takes the disk. Players, as part of their offer, can tender a Trader card. If this offer is accepted the offering player takes the disk and the accepting player places Houses.

The final twist is that if an offer is refused the refused player gets a point for every card he offered.

At the end of every turn, everyone draws a card.

The game ends when all of one type of disk is removed from the board. Points are awarded through out the game when a Wonder is completed based on who has the most, second most and at least one House in the Wonder’s space. At the end of the game sets of disks are worth anywhere from 0 to 20 points.

Game Play:
Tower of Babel is an interesting fish. Players are trying to read what the other players want, and make offers based on how much they may want or not want it. They also need to keep in mind what the other players will offer. Players have to help each other to do well at the game, but there can be only one winner. The right offers have to be tendered at the right time.

The area majority aspect and set collection are rather straightforward and game strategy is basically a choice of either focusing on getting House majorities, sets of disks or some combination in between. Players can also control when the game ends and the point values for majorities go up as more Wonders are completed so there’s an element of timing.

My Take:
The game mechanisms are pretty pedestrian in a lot of ways. But I find the communal competition and the need to help, but not help too much to be wonderfully implemented. That, combined with the desire to try and constantly read everyone else’s mind to make offers of maximum benefit, makes the game unique and fun experience in my opinion. I, however, never play the game with 5 players. Under such circumstances, all the players would have to be fairly experienced to keep it from being a total chaos-fest as a lot can happen in four turns and a player can easily get shut out.

You’ll notice I have not mentioned the function of the second deck of cards. That’s because I’ve decided I don’t like them. These cards provide bonus powers for players who complete the final disk of a Wonder. I think they get in the way of the timing element of the game. In a lot of ways it almost makes it a no-brainer to complete a Wonder if the opportunity arises because they can be quite powerful. Thus there’s less of a give and take on when to actually complete a Wonder.

Tower of Babel is not deep mechanically, but it does what it does well and in an interesting fashion.