Average Joe reviews are aimed at the average gamer. You know who you are!

Those of us who:
1) Know what ‘Eurogame’ and ‘Ameritrash’ means.
2) Know that enjoying the game is more important than winning.
3) Don’t own more than 50 games.
4) Don’t consider their FLGS a second home (maybe a 3rd or 4th though).
5) Like to read a review without being overloaded with information.


Goal of Game:
Producing events in your colosseum. Putting on great events will result in more people attending your future events, which brings in more money to create even bigger events. All this will hopefully culminate in one spectacular final show – that will have all the emperors and attendees granting you the honor of having the best colosseum in the land.

Components:
Terrific. Has some of the best components of any game I have played so far. Has a large, well-designed game board. 6 great wooden ‘meeples’, complete with little details to make them stand out in the meeple world (the emperor has a gold leaf crown!), Plus many, many, many cardboard pieces that include: money tokens, event programs, event tokens, and bonus pieces.

The Rules:
Very good. Written to be easily understood – includes a rule summary column for easy lookup. One reading should give you enough confidence to sit down and play your first game with an occasional rule reference lookup. The game comes with good ‘cheat’ sheets for each player that really explain a lot of the game without having to refer to the rule book.

The Game:
Great. There are several different phases of the game, including purchasing, auctions, trades and producing events. As a player, you have to keep in mind your short term goals (putting on a good event) and your long term goals (putting on one great finale for the most points). So you really can’t just run in there, buying and trading willy-nilly… you have to figure out what can not only help you now, but what will also help you later in the game. It is quite fun trying to obtain all your performers and scenery to successfully produce your event. There is a dice roll that controls how the emperor, consul and senators move around the board – but that is the only luck involved in this game, the rest is strategy.

Another thing I like about this game is that anybody can win the game. In almost every game I have played, the winner was not the person who had won the 4 previous rounds (there are a total of 5 rounds). So even a person hanging in the back can pull off a surprise, spectacular win. Like ‘Power Grid’, being first in the round has disadvantages in the next round… so it’s not always best to muscle your way to big events each round.

Downtime:
Average. There is only one time in this game where I feel it has a tendency to really drag, and that is during the trading phase. You will get some people that want to do tons of trades, and others who just want to sit there and be petty about every trade going on. But trading is necessary to win the game, so you just have to trudge through as best you can. The rest of the game goes fairly quick, and stays interesting for all players even when it’s not their turn.

Analysis Paralysis
Big. Even after numerous plays, you will find yourself studying and re-studying your options for future events. Hopefully people will be doing this during other people’s turns and not slowing down the game – but that isn’t always the case. This is definitely a game you will find yourself thinking 5-10 moves ahead of time, and if you are doing that… you are bound to have some paralysis moments!

Game Length:
Very good. There are a set 5 rounds, so you know when the game will end. The game says 60 minutes for game time, but I would put it closer to 90 minutes… especially if you don’t have players that have several plays under their belt. But the game moves along pretty well, and you will find that the game seems much shorter than it actually was.

Finish:
Excellent. As mentioned before, that last round is almost anybody’s to win. There are games I was positive I wasn’t even remotely close to winning (even going into the last round), and boom… I won the game. Don’t ever count anybody out, you will regret it! For this reason, the game stays very interesting until the very last point is scored.

Replay-ability:
Terrific. Another of my games that gets requested on almost every game day. I am sure there are certain strategies people could develop that may make the game boring for them, but there are so many different things that could happen to destroy your best-laid plans… it should stay interesting and fresh each time.

Pros:
Great game pieces
Plays different each time
No obvious winners until game is over

Cons:
Trading phase can get dragged down
Chance of some players to use “I haven’t got anything, there’s nothing I can do”, which of course is false
The dice rolling/moving of figures around the board is frustrating – too easy to lose figures once you move them into your own colosseum

Overall:
Wonderful game. Great theme, every move makes sense towards your ultimate goal. Fun to gather items to make your event better. The events portrayed in the game are real events, so historically it is quite fun. I mean, wouldn’t it be cool to see the event Circus Maximus live and in person? There are many different options each round, so you will never have a ‘must do’ option – various strategies all have various results for various reasons. Your group will enjoy this one a lot.

I give Colosseum a 9/10