I have to agree that the lack of new cards is rather distressing. I'm not really interested in the blank cards and expect most of the players out there agree.

But like many I will pick it up. The new cards are a must and what I'm spending the $25 for. The solo sounds like it might be fun and the goals I'm on the fence. But will try them to see how much they bog down the game.

I'm sure if this expansion was $10 cheaper people wouldn't complain so much. Players want the new cards, the rest is of lesser value so the high price is turning people off.

I imagine that I'll be saving the blank cards for when they release previews of the cards for the next expansion.

Thats pretty vague:

The problem is we've paid for those blank cards to be printed as if they were useful. The card design is the cheapest part of the manufacturing process and (for us) the most valuable. In essence we are now paying more for a worse product.

My thoughts exactly.....if they had provided blank cards in the original set, then I would be using them right now to try out the cards for the new set (which would sadly almost be able to cover the whole set) while the game is working it's way through the distribution chain for the next month or so.

The blank card thing is starting to look like one of those "good ideas" that just doesn't fly well with the consumers.....but then again, all this griping is going on before we have had a chance to use then.....like before expansion set 2 comes out.....then we may like them a little more. And who knows, the community may come up with good design ideas. So for now, I guess I'll work on keeping my emotions in check.

How many games with and without the expansion had you played at the time you wrote this review?

It seems our initial impressions of the interim goals are the same. I wonder if that will change with more play. I hope so. The playtesters seem to think it is a huge improvement - of course, relying on them could be a little bit of backwards thinking as their preferences helped to shape the final result.

To be honest not many save Carcassone, Alhambra, Power Grid and some others.

Ah my avatar doppleganger again!

Thanks for the review Anders. I think most will agree regards the overpriced and 'underdelivered' nature of this expansions contents but the game is just too good for most of us to say no too.

I guess one upside is that the base game and expansion will fit in one box for transport. Then again that initial box will likely hold the base game and all 3+ expansions if they are all sized like this...

Cheers for the Doh! video too. Had my 3 boys laughing away for 4 x 58 seconds!

Thanks matey, we're getting some good results lately, spare the dreadful stoke game!

I'm not convinced that 17 blank cards adds much at all to production costs. I think that manufacturers usually sell the cards in specific quantities, so whatever you don't print on and sell is wasted excess. They are just passing these extras along to the consumer. I mean, let's be reasonable. How much does it cost to produce a BLANK card? No more than a few cents I'm sure. They would probably offer it at the same price even if there were no blank cards and other components remained the same.

Quite a lot of the price is not a matter of material components (twice as many components does not mean twice as much to buy). There are also costs associated with designing and testing the game, producing art assets, publishing and advertising, shipping costs (you pay for it to come to your door, but they pay for it to arrive from overseas). And is it unreasonable for them to expect some kind of profit for their efforts and investments?

Maybe, maybe not. But is it also unresonable to expect the developers of the game to ask the question "What's the smallest number these cards are printed in?" and when they found out that it's 17 more than the number of cards they had planned go back and create another dozen or so for the set?

I guess he meant how many play of RftG you already have. You know according to my experience most of the hardcore Racers don't allow you to have an opinion on the game if your plays are below 100. Thats why I never picked it up and always laugh when I see it on the shelf.

I have a feeling that these 17 blank cards were meant to be playable game cards until someone said:

"Hey, why not move these 17 cards in the next expansion so we can design one more expansion?"

Ah, in that case I would figure that I have about 150+ matches under my belt.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2680887#2680887 and the following post.

You may believe them or not, your choice.

One day, actual authentic blank RftG cards will hot auction items. People will sit on great card ideas for years before finding a blank at auction or in a dingy copy at a yard sale. Others will pay as much to simply order a print run of their card, but it won't be the same. As for me, I'm saving my blank card to get it autographed by the designer. That way, when someone draws it from the deck, I can be all like, "how did that get in there...?"

I wouldn't want them to just throw in 17 more cards because of logistical reasons. The number of components was chosen for gameplay reasons and I, for one, am thankful to be getting a well designed expansion.


To each their own. Race is our favorite and most played game. I simply couldn't imagine not getting the expansion. With the amount of plays it will be getting, it's probably one of the best deals for us out there right now.

Your feeling is wrong.

The original talk was for two expansions, but as of the Gathering it suddenly became 3....

The original design for the first expansion was always quite conservative in terms of number of cards and new powers.

Why? Because we wanted it to work for new players, as well as experienced players. That's why we provide a fifth preset hand with the first expansion. Adding lots of cards with lots of complicated powers wouldn't allow us to do this. As it is, you can play with first expansion cards (but not goals) with brand new players and it doesn't overload them (any more than they are overloaded by the base game). We did this a lot during playtesting.

By contrast, if you try playing with both the first two expansions and new players (or even experienced players), it's overwhelming for many (but not all) players. We also observed this during playtesting. I think players are underestimating the "absorption" factor involved in adding lots of cards to the game.

Further, adding lots of cards means we would have to add more explore powers to a bunch of them in order to counteract the increased streakiness of the card draws. That means more multi-function cards which defeats our goal of making the first expansion work for new players.

Some observers have looked at some of the first expansion card translations (without actually playing the expansion) and have reacted "Ho Hum". However, I think some of them may be surprised when they actually play with them. For example, take Smuggling Lair. It's a dead simple Rare Windfall military defense 1/1 world with a power, to consume a good for 2 cards, we've seen before on New Vinland. However, in play, having this on a military world turns out to be very, very sweet. Often, a military player can put this down on turn 1, when Alpha Centauri or Ancient Race is likely to call Consume, and get two cards from it without having to call Trade (on a later turn). Then, as the game progresses, having military windfall goods just turn into cards in hand (as other players consume) to fuel development placement is very nice. This is an example of a very simple new card that opens up new play tactics.

The number of blanks was mostly determined by production numbers and a desire to provide "nice" blanks (with windfalls and production symbols for all four kinds, some 6 developments with areas to write VP effects, etc.). That took us up to 11 blanks, so we just rounded the set off to 50 cards by providing another 6 blanks. We thought we were doing a nice thing for our customers. Who knew that we should have just provided two blanks and just 35 cards total...

Tom, thanks for the input. I think you may be right that once we start playing then maybe we will see the beauty of it all, and how the cards bring new dynamics/strategy to the game(but for most of us right now, all we can do is check out the cards online, drool, and whine....because we would rather be playing).

In the same way, as players start using the goals, and potentially need to adjust their tried and true strategies, there will be some level of grumbling and discomfort. (kind of like when we first started playing the game, and struggling with how to pull different strategies together.

It is pretty hard with a game like this to see how things will work out without a game or twenty.

....so relax everyone.....or maybe I just need to tune-out of the forum for a month or so, until people have had a chance for the expansion to settle in a little. :p

(.....wishing I had some blanks to try out the new card ideas with. I just don't think poker cards will work :p )

I am sure that this trend will not hold out forever, but I have now played 11 games with the expansion (9 2PA, 2 3P) and the winner in each game had the most or tied for the most points from the interim goals. Many of these games were decided by less than 3 points.