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Let’s Review More : The Royal Limited

Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1 Player

Designer: Scott Almes

Artist: Taylor Stone

Publisher: Button Shy Games

About the Game

The 5th game in Scott Almes partnership with Button Shy of solo only games with simple rules and deep game play, The Royal Limited has some big expectations on it. How successful this little train game is?

Solo Gameplay

Timer of the game

On this properly named game, you have a very limited number of turns, 4 to be precise, where you will take actions with a hand of 5 cards. You can either play trains, discarding cards equal to the value, or adding passengers to a train with the same color and activating it. You will also have two specially passengers that have their own unique set of placement rules. When you’re done, you draw 5 more cards and advance the timer. On the end, your score is the number of unused cards and train cars, and your goal is score 0.

Components

Royal Limited cardback

Aside from the usual great wallet with great quality cards, I really enjoy the art style of the game. It walks a fine line between elegant and cartoony, which works well with the theme.

The train and passengers are a little wordy, and because the art takes a good space it’s a little crammed. Nothing too bad, but it’s not the best.

Conclusion

The Royal Limited is a very quick but surprisingly thinky game. You have very limited choices, and each misstep is a point you have to deal at the end of the game. On that, there is an incredible elegance in balance. Since there are only 3 colors and 4 unique values, every resource you use you have to account for in terms of opportunities later.

Comparing to the rest of the line, I feel this is on the middle of the pack. Which, on a line this good, is a big big compliment. But, of all of them, I feel this one has the most potential of growing on me, specially as expansions start to come.

Score: 8.5/10

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First Impressions: Disney Lorcana

Luiz Gustavo Mendes

On Mondays I usually do my quick reviews, but today I want to talk about a TCG, so it’s a totally different beast. Lorcana is Disney’s entrance on the TCG market with a game thwt is a big deal, allied with Ravensburger. As a veteran of TCGs myself, I had to check it out.

Gameplay

Lorcana Gameplay

The goal of the game is to be the first to 20 lore. To do that, first you go through the usual steps of untapping your tapped readying your exerted cards and drawing one from the deck. Then you can play a card that has a spiral in its cost as ink, the game’s currency, then proceed to play your cards.

There are basically 3 types. Actions, that do something and go away, items that have ongoing or activated abilities, and characters. Characters can be exerted to quest for lore, challenge (aka attack) other exerted characters, or activate abilities.

If everything sounds familiar, it’s because it is. Lorcana uses heavily the Magic The Gathering formula, following some clues from newer TCGs as well.

Components

Lorcana Cards

I’m going to disregard the tokens and mats that come with the pre-made decks. Those are flimsy, yes, but nothing unexpected.

It’s a card game, so how are the cards. Well, for a TCG they feel good and durable, the layout is clean, modern and easy to understand, and the art is fantastic. It’s not stock images or movie stills, but custom artwork and it has Disney level quality.

Conclusion

First of all, is this a threat to the big three, Magic The Gathering, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh? Not by a long shot. Even with the Titans at Disney and industry veterans at Ravensburger, this game is too close to Magic, but without decades of fanbase and growth.

But it’s a good game. Very good. My impression is just from opening the pre-made decks and doing some very light deck building. There is plenty here, and there is a lot of room for growth. Additionally, Disney has an incredibly vast source of movies, shows and whatever else to draw from.

Just talking about it as a game, the influences of Magic are there, but it’s all streamlined. Not oversimplified, mind you, it’s not a silly game. But there is no action on another players turn, no specific resource cards, and the win condition is achieved on your own instead of dealing to another. Very Disney take, by the way. But the elements are all there, just in a child friendly form.

And that’s where I think Lorcana has a niche. Pokemon is proof that a child friendly game can not only achieve success, but have big tournaments and attract all sorts of players. And while I doubt Lorcana will rival it, by the sheer strength of the Disney brand it can sell well. Any store that has a Disney section is a possible outlet.

For now, I will keep watching and playing casually. It works for me and the kids, as both gamers and Disney fans, even better than Pokemon did. Let’s see how the next year will roll out.