OK.

Being that no one else has written a review on this game I'll write one from memory of the ten or so games we played last year.

Television Empire is a Kiwi game for 2-6 players, based up developing your television network an plays in about 40+ minutes.

What's in the box?

The game comes neatly packaged in a small box (about the size of a double deck of cards) which belies the fact that it is crammed full with the following goodies:

120 slick looking cards:
40 Red TV Programs (2 of each program series)
20 Purple Network Assets (2 or 3 of each)
10 Green Anchors
50 Blue Action cards
$1 and $5 bills
6 unique dials for recording your current Network rating.

The artwork on the cards is exceptionally good. The Red cards show one of twenty tv programs that look like an angled view of a large flat screen tv with a photographic still shot, typical of the tv series that it is potraying. If you turn the card upside down the same picture is represented in greyscale to denote that it is being shown as a Re-run.

It's easy to see which TV series is being portrayed without it ever being named: Friends, The Simpsons, Star Trek, Oprah, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, CSI, plus many more common themes relating to Mafia, Law firms, the History and Nature channels and sports round ups including the one off lucrative World Cup events. With 20 diverse programs, there is something for everyone here.

The cards are split into 2 decks:

The 50 blue action cards
and 70 Resource cards with a mixture of 40 tv programs, 20 Network Assets and 10 Anchors.

Each of the resource cards is clearly marked with a green purchase price in the top left corner and a yellow rating value in the top right.

Setup

Each player receives $10 to begin purchasing his network.
5 resource cards are laid face up and the player decides which, if any, of the resource cards they want to buy and can afford.
Each time the Resources are replenished to 5 cards, so there is often a good selection to choose from.

Each player also receives a hand of 3 blue action cards and may play one each turn.

The game is played over a number of rounds until one player has a network rating of 30 or more at the start of their turn.

The turn sequence is:
1. Draw currency equal to your Network Ratings
2. Draw Action cards if holding less than 3
3. Replenish the Resources Pool back to 5 Resource cards.
4. Purchase any resources
5. Optionally, play an Action Card
6. Adjust you Scoring Wheel to reflect your new Network Ratings

The cards look really cool. The red TV cards are particularly great as they remind you of so many popular TV series. There is a very real sense that you are hosting a network of great TV series that everyone will want to watch. You can't help but look at everyone's line up of programs and imagine who is offering the best channel for your own personal tastes.

The TV cards cleverly depict the series being Premiered at the Red top end of the card and, if you are showing the series as a repeat, then you turn the card upside down to reveal the same image on a shaded grey background.

The game has an unbelievable amount of theme; I would say more than any other game that I have in my collection.

So how does it play?

Well, I really like this game with one minor exception that I'll come to at the end.

There is very little down time and everyone is engrossed in everyone elses actions.

There are usually a fair number choices to be made each turn. How best can you spend your limited cash to achieve the best long term increase your Network ratings? And each of the three Resource card types play very differently.

One choice you have is whether you screen that new costly Premier series of Star Traveller, Criminal Investations or the Holiday Program, or do you screen last seasons cheaper repeats. Each of the programs has a different ratio of cost to ratings benefit. They offer between a 1:1 and a 4:1 cost/ratings ratio. Natural World; costs 2 and adds 2 to the Ratings but the Disaster series costs 4 and adds a Rating of only 1.

Similarly, some of the repeats represent good value but require that someone screen the costlier and less efficient Premier first. Anyone ready to oblige?

Other choices you have are whether to add the Purple Assets cards to your network. Here lies the games only flaw for me. The decision is a no-brainer. All the Assets are generally higher in Ratings value (3-6)than the tv programs (1-4) and offer a guaranteed and highly effient return of 1:1. Clearly everyone wants to buy these cards. But in the standard game, only those lucky enough to turn over enough of these cards (in the Resource Refresh phase) will be able to do so. If you are lucky enough to turn over more than your rivals, you will most likely win the game. (There is an easy fix that I will discuss at the end of this review).

Another choice you can make is whether to employ one or more leading Anchors on your network. This is a third very different resource. It's different in a number of ways. Anchors are the costliest cards but also offer the highest rewards in Ratings to your network. Their base cost is 6-10 and they add between 4-8 to you ratings. However, there is a big catch. Anchors have no loyalty and can be easily poached from you by another player offering about 80% more than you paid.

This is a wonderful feature of this game because you can only win if your ratings are 30+ at the start of your next turn. If you rely on Anchors to get you your 30+ ratings, your opposing networks will do everything in their power to poach your prize Anchors from you before you can achieve that winning target.

So non-poachable Assets represent the best way to achieve that extra 15+ ratings that you will need to add to 15 or so Ratings that you will pick up from your lineup of tv programs. But sometimes Anchors can win you the game because poaching takes a lot of cash out of the hands of your opposing networks. Eventually, they may not have enough funds to poach any more and your persistence with your Anchors, pays off.

Action Cards

One other major part of player's turn is to decide which one of three action cards to play from their hand. The Action cards are very interesting and very varied in effect. Here's a flavour of what you can achieve:

Economic Recession, Sun Spots and Strike - prevent all your opponents from earning ratings (and therefore money) from TV shows, Assets and Anchors, until you next turn.
Tax Audit - removes all players cash.
Ratings Slump cards forces players to discard named tv programs from their schedules and you can even lose your right to screen the World Cup.
Archive Fires, forces everyone t discard re-runs.
Inappropriate ... - There are heaps more but my personal favourites are the one's that cause a network to get heavily fined due to a particular Anchor man's inappropriate dress or bad language: Anchor men: Mini S Kirt and Bal Ding are a few high risk characters that you may want to reconsider bringing to your network

Quite often, you will find that holding on to powerful action cards (that can adversely affect you), is as much a part of your card management strategy, as which card to play.

Player interaction

There is plenty of player interaction in this game. All the player's are involved in each player's Resource purchase phase. Each player has limited resources and the decision about what you want to buy has to be balanced by what you cannot afford to leave for other players. Other players will naturally have a great interest in your decisions here. Moreover, many of the Action cards do affect all the other players.


Conclusion

I think this game is great fun to play. It's TV theme is extremely popular and it gives you a chance to select the kinds of TV programs that you would like to see on your channel, if you owned a network.

I love the way you can easily relate to all your favourite TV programs: like the 'Nuclear Family - a cartoon satire' aka The Simpsons.

There's plenty to do on your turn about which type of resource card to invest in, all with their own individual pros and cons. And the Action cards too make this interesting enough for strategic gamers wanting something more from their fillers.

Asset Card Fix

But there's just that one flaw in this gem regarding the Asset cards.
So now to the much needed fix. Assets are just too useful and cost effective in this game for them to be allocated by the luck of the draw. Furthermore, you can almost always afford them as you can sell anything at face value and without penalty in this game.

I therefore recommend that no player should be able to directly buy any asset. Instead, a player can put one Asset up for a 'Once around' auction, starting with the player to the left of the active player. The minimum bid that can be made is the face value on the Asset card. Players can either raise the bid or pass. Finally, the active player decides whether to purchase the asset for one more than the highest bid; or, if no bid was made, they may buy the Asset at face value.

Without this fix, I would rate the game experience about a 6. Too many games were decided by the luck of the draw. But using the Auction mechanic to purchase an Asset makes it that more interststing and ensures that no one gets an Asset too cheaply. This variant raises the whole game experience to an 8 for me.

So Television Empire is a family and friends game that almost anyone can have fun with. It has lot's of interesting card types and features a number of small but significant strategic and tactical options.

It's a unique enough game that I will be holding on to for many years to come.

Summary:
Components 8/10 very functional and appealing
Artwork 7/10
Theme 10/10
Fun 10/10
Strategy (6/10)
Luck 8/10 (base game); 4/10 (auction variant)
Replayability 7/10 the combination of the tv series and the diversity of the Assets, Anchors and Action cards, in particular, should ensure that few games are alike.