I love this game. The secrecy and puzzle solving plus going after different goals is why I would love to play over and over again. It's on my most wanted as of now. Thanks for this video
Well my friend thank god you made this because I was quite confused with the rules. So much so I almost thought about trading it lol! Your run through helped put it into perspective though. Very much appreciate you creating this.
Welcome to the hobby! Rahdo is one of the reason I got so into the hobby in the first place. Keep Watching his videos and you are definitely going to more and more games your going to want to play until your house is full of them!
Having struggled to curtail the use of electronics during game nights I was loathe to encourage it with a weird "+app" game, but it has had some interesting and unexpected benefits: it serves as a 'patch' for those players that absolutely can't enjoy a game without staring at a screen occasionally, as well as convincing curmudgeons like myself that there is a happy medium where apps enhance the experience. I am definitely more open to this twist in design, but I still enforce Airplane Mode lol.
***** nope, alchemists came out 6 months before xcom. Also, they both lose to Scotland Yard Master which has an AWESOME app integration with augmented reality (it's cooler than alchemists and xcom combined, IMO). It came out a year earlier than either of these but is unfortunately only available in German :( ruclips.net/video/OU76HWjcE-c/видео.html
Hi! I've just have a question, related to debunking my seal. Imagine that I atribute one seal with doubt in green alchemical symbol (Green + ?) and also the respective alchemical to a certain ingredient, and that in the next round I conclude that I've hit with my guess, and now i'm interested in remove my doubt seal (Green plus ?) and replace it for one Gold-starred seal. The problem concerns the fact that even managing to disprove my theory by playing the action "debunking", it's impossible to show that any one of the alchemicals are wrong, because they are all right! I would be grateful if anyone could explain me how to replace a seal by another , without being able to prove that the alchemical is wrong. It is a game of slow understanding, but addictive! Best Regards!
+Hugo Brito interesting... you might want to ask that question on BGG, because i think you might be right, that you can't debunk to prove yourself 'righter' and you have to live iwth the fewer points. but i could be wrong, it's a complex game! :)
If you don't like cellphone apps in a board game then don't buy the board game. I personally think this is wonderful and makes certain mechanics available that were impossible before. I'd love to see more of thus type of thing. I also think this video does a good job explaining the pros and cons.
I've played it twice now. Yes it's innovative, yes it's gorgeous, but it does feel very short playing only six rounds. Another thing my wife and me experienced is, although she had done 9 experiments, and I had done only 5, I knew the solution to 2 of the ingredients. She wasn't even close to one. So I don't know if that is based on luck or on not using the system to its full potential. I try to overlap at least one ingredient I already tested with others. She did too, but kept reusing the same one, where I shuffled a bit. Sure you can guess and publish, but it is a BIG gamble. Because if you get it wrong, you're punished. Which makes sense thematically, but it feels super harsh when playing and trying to catch up. Overall good game, pushing boundaries with the app and use of deduction as a mechanic, great with 2 players, but could turn out to be a bit unbalanced. I have to get some more plays.
Jan Van Hoef wow! i wish it was short... for me and Jen I imagine it'll probably run about 2 hours on average (maybe 90 minutes if we play it a lot and get really good)
Second playthrough of the apprentice variant took us 90 minutes. And this was including setup and cleanup. My definition of short may differ. Each week at game night we try and play one new game with 4. Including rules explanation this takes 2-3 hours every time. Although I like it a lot. Dungeon Petz is still my favourite CGE game.
The thing that makes me wonder about that is once you use the same ingredient 3 or 4 times you should have a pretty good idea of what it is...by the 6th time it is almost impossible to not be 100% sure of what the item is. Also other experiments can teach you things about ingredients not in them. So if she used the same ingredient 9 times it would be impossible to not know the exact properties of that one.
Mr. Terraria you don't need the app. you can use the website instead alchemists.czechgames.com/ or if you like, one person can replicate the function of the app, but they can't play
Again thank you, it's just I've just started getting into proper board games! So far I am in possession of and have played Risk, Pandemic (Also a Z-Man game like Dungeon Lords), Dead of Winter and the Arkham Horror, and I want to expand and play a lot more!
Mr. Terraria I'm definitely getting Dungeon Lords, it looks amazing! I'll tell you how it goes when I play my first few games with my friends and family!
I've written a book called Pan: Pan vs. Echidna, it takes place after the titan and Typhon wars of the Olympians. Pan is born to the god Hermes and a nymph named Dryope, He is raised by nymphs and one day falls in love with a nymph named Syrinx. She is killed by Echidna, a child of Tartarus when she sends her fiends out to attack Arcadia. Pan goes on an adventure in search of Syrinx and into a war with Echidna. This story has a lot of mythical creatures and deities in it. The book is only $2.99 on Amazon Kindle.
Darth Araknus yup, but i don't seek out 3p games in the first place because they're very difficult for me to get played in the first place, as there's just me and my wife (the beagles aren't very good opponents IRL) :)
***** I think Tula might be hurt by that comment :D. By the way, Thanks for rekindling my love for board games after I forgot about them during my childhood since we couldn't afford them.
After seeing your play through i actually bought a copy, game is indeed very interesting and have unique mechanic but as i figured out on a long run , somehow it got to the highest shell and got dust on it...hard to explain but somehow (mostly because it needed the phone) after a while my friend and i lost interest in it :(
Unless you have a butler, I don't know who you're going to get to GM this game and stare at that dopey triangle for an hour. Hahaha They should have just put a sticker on the box that said, "if you don't have a device, put this game down and go back to churning butter, or whatever it is you do."
Brian Blackwell actually the box is very clear that you need to download the app. in fact, it's brilliant - there's a QR code on the box that encourages you to download the app there in the store, while you're looking at the box. once it's downloaded, it gives you stuff on the box to scan to start playing the game before you've even bought it. really smart stuff! :)
nanorider426 Why draw the line at smart phones? It seems rather arbitrary, considering you have no objection to a computer on your desk but oppose having one in your pocket.
I apologize in advance. Rant incoming: rant/ I oppose having a phone that can be hacked and having the net everywhere I go (facebook and the like). I like to walk in the forest or in my neighbourhood without having my phone on me. Everywhere I go people sit (or walk) staring into a smartphone instead of looking where they go or talk to each other. Every other day I see a person walking or cycling and staring into a smartphone without looking at the traffic. Once in a while I see people like those have near fatal accidents because of their smartphones. Over half of my country has a smartphone but recently some people are turning away from them because they get stressed being always online (mostly young people). They get no sleep, or very little sleep, because they are on the social media 24/7. I like having a mobil (a cell); a camera - a real camera; and a pc or a laptop. I dislike having them in one item. A smartphone can't do it like those other items; it can only do it halfway. I don't care what other people want. If they like it they can have it, I will have nothing of it. Some people (NOT everybody) are controlled by their smartphone; looking up emails or facebook or other things while they are talking with you. It can be SO irritating! I don't want to be like those persons. I like to be a person that can focus my attention on you! The one I'm talking to. /rant *sigh* I really needed to get that off my chest. So smartphones are not for me, but if other people like them it's fine by me - if they control the smartphones and doesn't let the smartphones control them. :)
Fair enough,I still think it needed a bt of structure! Which is odd considering your other vid are great! I'm not trying to be a smartass,just giving some feedback!
I understand why this game is one of the top and most expected games of 2014. The idea and the concept are both very good, but...............is just a simple NO. Board games are played on the board or completely digital.......
Fighting change isn't going to stop it. Why don't you try it. It would be kinda neat to put some old smartphones in wifi mode without a carrier and uninstalling everything BUT these game apps. IE. They would just be game table smartphones. No twitter, no facebook, no browsers.
I have to tell you, Rich, I can't stand this idea. I get that devices can facilitate aspects of the game, or even bring in elements that would be impossible otherwise, but following this logic, why not just make the whole game an app and be done with it? Is there anything left on this planet that doesn't require you to have your face in that goddam phone? They should be piled in a bucket by the front door on game night. First you're looking at it for gaming purposes, then when it's not your turn you're sneaking a peek at whether anyone's bidding on your eBay auction, or if Rahdo uploaded any new videos, or a million other things. To each his own, of course, but I see board games as an escape from electronic devices, and never the two shall meet at my table.
You can't be more right. Nothing annoys me more when "one guy" haven't even noticed that it is his turn, because he is checking his phone for some reason. I have to use my phone and computer for almost everything these days, and this one night a week I just want to forget about it, and throw some dice, draw some cards, move some tokens. The more fiddly game the better! Finally I got something real to do with friends and family, use our imagination. I'd rather do the Arkham Horror level bookkeeping, than have an app to do it for me, that makes me more involved and immersed somehow, bu that is just me.
Brian Blackwell "why not just make the whole game an app and be done with it?" they do that already, it's called a videogame! :) no one is talking about videogames here, but boardgames, with real tactile components, and real people sitting around a table, sharing the experience together. nothing in alchemists digital gets in the way of that. "Is there anything left on this planet that doesn't require you to have your face in that goddam phone? They should be piled in a bucket by the front door on game night. First you're looking at it for gaming purposes, then when it's not your turn you're sneaking a peek at whether anyone's bidding on your eBay auction, or if Rahdo uploaded any new videos, or a million other things." like i said in the video, if you're genuinely concerned about that, put the phone in airplane mode when the game starts. problem solved, mischief managed :) "To each his own, of course, but I see board games as an escape from electronic devices, and never the two shall meet at my table." You will be missing out on some absolutely awesome entertainment then, but I suppose a lot of people refuse to watch TV or movies too, for the same reasons. "Books are all I need!" type stuff :)
Wojciech Król i guess my question is, what's the difference between looking up a result on a table in the back page of a manual, vs looking up a result on a PDA screen? neither of these takes you away from what you're looking for in your social around-the-table gaming...
***** I know, I know, I'm too young to be making the "kids today and their i-paddles" argument. Hahahaha You're right, it need not interfere and can be useful, but I can't help but feel like if there's anywhere sacred, where we could benefit from leaving these devices at the door, it's in tabletop gaming. I used a pdf for the charts and rulebook for the print-and-play solo game, Barbarian Prince. It was just for reference, but soon I found myself in zombie mode staring at that screen because the app closed unexpectedly, and so I thought maybe too much stuff was running, so I went to close other apps... so on and so forth, and down the technological rabbit hole we go. I wished I had just printed out the tables. I'm with Wojciech; I use the phone a lot, and though nobody's putting a gun to my head to do it, making a clean break every now and then is just what the doctor ordered for me personally.
The unfortunate thing is that although this game looks amazing, ultimately the intrusion of computing into board games will eventually kill board games. Won't be long until microtransactions and pay-to-win mechanics start creeping in, as those are the very mechanics that will draw hundreds of thousands of new players into the hobby. How long until you're playing Agricola and you have an app that says "take one vegetable or pay 5 cents and take a second"? And if the current publishers are unwilling to do this, then other companies certainly will, as that is where the real money is to be made. Just like in video games, never has that industry been so filthy rich and yet produces nothing but garbage.
Arachnopud boardgames already have micro transactions... they're called promos. it's not hurting the industry as far as i can see. :)freemium games work on the concept that the game is complete, and 100% playable "out of the box" and if you want, you can pay additional money to get additional items/benefits/etc. promos do the same thing with boardgames. :)
I don't think microtransactions will ever arrive at that point in board games. The competitive nature of the game being around a single, physical table would prevent it, because it would cause in-person arguments which would drive people away from those games because people don't like conflict in person. Conflict online is completely impersonal, but when you are at a table together, you would quickly find that game in the trash because no one would want to deal with the drama, and people would be wary to ever buy another game with that mechanic.
The game looked great from the first 10-15 minutes, but the deduction part is what makes it great imo. It makes the experimental part feel so alive..
I love this game. The secrecy and puzzle solving plus going after different goals is why I would love to play over and over again. It's on my most wanted as of now. Thanks for this video
Well my friend thank god you made this because I was quite confused with the rules. So much so I almost thought about trading it lol! Your run through helped put it into perspective though. Very much appreciate you creating this.
thank you! I'm a visual learner so the the instructions made no sense! now I can play this game!
i love this video. i never played a board game in my life and i want to try one. i love how you explain it.
Welcome to the hobby! Rahdo is one of the reason I got so into the hobby in the first place. Keep Watching his videos and you are definitely going to more and more games your going to want to play until your house is full of them!
"They would not be able to play the game, because they would know the secrets to the universe." - Radho
lol I need that shirt
Yes! This is the game of the year for me.. I can't wait for it to be available.
I guess this run-through can keep me going just a little longer
"If you don't have a phone, laptop, or computer" .... and, what, are reading a transcribed version of this RUclips video from their tech savvy nephew?
Negative negative plus @4.30. (couldn't see notes in Klingon or how to add)
Having struggled to curtail the use of electronics during game nights I was loathe to encourage it with a weird "+app" game, but it has had some interesting and unexpected benefits: it serves as a 'patch' for those players that absolutely can't enjoy a game without staring at a screen occasionally, as well as convincing curmudgeons like myself that there is a happy medium where apps enhance the experience. I am definitely more open to this twist in design, but I still enforce Airplane Mode lol.
Glad to see this! I am very interested in seeing the game play. Thanks, Richard!
Thanx for making me want this game....NOW!!!! :)
looks pretty overloaded
That mushroom looks funny when it's head down.))
Interesting that you attribute digital assistance to Alchemists - I believe it was in XCOM first.
***** nope, alchemists came out 6 months before xcom. Also, they both lose to Scotland Yard Master which has an AWESOME app integration with augmented reality (it's cooler than alchemists and xcom combined, IMO). It came out a year earlier than either of these but is unfortunately only available in German :(
ruclips.net/video/OU76HWjcE-c/видео.html
Hi, nice video. Can you tell me how many cards are in the game?
Riccardo Pinna boardgamegeek has the answers! boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/thing:161970:moreinfo :)
Hi! I've just have a question, related to debunking my seal. Imagine that I atribute one seal with doubt in green alchemical symbol (Green + ?) and also the respective alchemical to a certain ingredient, and that in the next round I conclude that I've hit with my guess, and now i'm interested in remove my doubt seal (Green plus ?) and replace it for one Gold-starred seal. The problem concerns the fact that even managing to disprove my theory by playing the action "debunking", it's impossible to show that any one of the alchemicals are wrong, because they are all right!
I would be grateful if anyone could explain me how to replace a seal by another , without being able to prove that the alchemical is wrong.
It is a game of slow understanding, but addictive! Best Regards!
+Hugo Brito interesting... you might want to ask that question on BGG, because i think you might be right, that you can't debunk to prove yourself 'righter' and you have to live iwth the fewer points. but i could be wrong, it's a complex game! :)
hey rhado what happens if we both wanted to wake at the same time?
+NytStrykr you can't. 2nd plyear has to choose a diff time
oh thanks, also the player whose goes first alternates per round?
+NytStrykr iirc it's a bit more complicated than that. i did demo it in the runthrough :)
thinking of buying this game. Will definitely re-watch this. Thanks a lot for all your effort man.
If you don't like cellphone apps in a board game then don't buy the board game. I personally think this is wonderful and makes certain mechanics available that were impossible before. I'd love to see more of thus type of thing. I also think this video does a good job explaining the pros and cons.
Robert Masson I disagree. One shouldn't not buy the game just because of that.. Analog is still there
You made me want to buy a game after watching two other reviews making me not want it lol. GJ
It looks as much fun as doing some very colorful homework tbh
I've played it twice now. Yes it's innovative, yes it's gorgeous, but it does feel very short playing only six rounds. Another thing my wife and me experienced is, although she had done 9 experiments, and I had done only 5, I knew the solution to 2 of the ingredients. She wasn't even close to one. So I don't know if that is based on luck or on not using the system to its full potential. I try to overlap at least one ingredient I already tested with others. She did too, but kept reusing the same one, where I shuffled a bit. Sure you can guess and publish, but it is a BIG gamble. Because if you get it wrong, you're punished. Which makes sense thematically, but it feels super harsh when playing and trying to catch up. Overall good game, pushing boundaries with the app and use of deduction as a mechanic, great with 2 players, but could turn out to be a bit unbalanced. I have to get some more plays.
Jan Van Hoef wow! i wish it was short... for me and Jen I imagine it'll probably run about 2 hours on average (maybe 90 minutes if we play it a lot and get really good)
Second playthrough of the apprentice variant took us 90 minutes. And this was including setup and cleanup. My definition of short may differ. Each week at game night we try and play one new game with 4. Including rules explanation this takes 2-3 hours every time. Although I like it a lot. Dungeon Petz is still my favourite CGE game.
The thing that makes me wonder about that is once you use the same ingredient 3 or 4 times you should have a pretty good idea of what it is...by the 6th time it is almost impossible to not be 100% sure of what the item is. Also other experiments can teach you things about ingredients not in them. So if she used the same ingredient 9 times it would be impossible to not know the exact properties of that one.
Sounds cool, but this reminds me of VCR games.
AND WINDOWS PHONE! Thank you
Please answer as I'd like to get this, you don't need the mobile app at all?
Mr. Terraria you don't need the app. you can use the website instead alchemists.czechgames.com/
or if you like, one person can replicate the function of the app, but they can't play
Thanks, also would you recommend Dungeon Lords, because it looks amazing!
Mr. Terraria well i've done a runthrough for that already so you can watch the final thoughts here: ruclips.net/video/wvivxNR2iZk/видео.html
Again thank you, it's just I've just started getting into proper board games! So far I am in possession of and have played Risk, Pandemic (Also a Z-Man game like Dungeon Lords), Dead of Winter and the Arkham Horror, and I want to expand and play a lot more!
Mr. Terraria I'm definitely getting Dungeon Lords, it looks amazing! I'll tell you how it goes when I play my first few games with my friends and family!
But FF has already announced a board game that uses an smartphone, computer, whatever to play at GenCon (XCOM: The Board Game)
forget it... I just watched the final thoughts... (where you talk about it)
:)
I've written a book called Pan: Pan vs. Echidna, it takes place after the titan and Typhon wars of the Olympians. Pan is born to the god Hermes and a nymph named Dryope, He is raised by nymphs and one day falls in love with a nymph named Syrinx. She is killed by Echidna, a child of Tartarus when she sends her fiends out to attack Arcadia. Pan goes on an adventure in search of Syrinx and into a war with Echidna. This story has a lot of mythical creatures and deities in it. The book is only $2.99 on Amazon Kindle.
Who’s Jen??
faq.rahdo.com #1 tells all :)
Oh my!
Hey rahdo! Can you do a runthrouh of LORDS OF XIDIT please! :-D
Jonathan Delrosario sorry, it's a 3p minimum game, so won't work for me and jen
***** But don't you use Tula when you demonstrate 3p games?
Darth Araknus yup, but i don't seek out 3p games in the first place because they're very difficult for me to get played in the first place, as there's just me and my wife (the beagles aren't very good opponents IRL) :)
***** I think Tula might be hurt by that comment :D. By the way, Thanks for rekindling my love for board games after I forgot about them during my childhood since we couldn't afford them.
After seeing your play through i actually bought a copy, game is indeed very interesting and have unique mechanic but as i figured out on a long run , somehow it got to the highest shell and got dust on it...hard to explain but somehow (mostly because it needed the phone) after a while my friend and i lost interest in it :(
Unless you have a butler, I don't know who you're going to get to GM this game and stare at that dopey triangle for an hour. Hahaha They should have just put a sticker on the box that said, "if you don't have a device, put this game down and go back to churning butter, or whatever it is you do."
Brian Blackwell actually the box is very clear that you need to download the app. in fact, it's brilliant - there's a QR code on the box that encourages you to download the app there in the store, while you're looking at the box. once it's downloaded, it gives you stuff on the box to scan to start playing the game before you've even bought it. really smart stuff! :)
***** Smart for sure. That's a nice touch to help you make your decision.
I don't have a smartphone and I plan never to have one....and I'm a computer programmer.
nanorider426 Why draw the line at smart phones? It seems rather arbitrary, considering you have no objection to a computer on your desk but oppose having one in your pocket.
I apologize in advance. Rant incoming:
rant/
I oppose having a phone that can be hacked and having the net everywhere I go (facebook and the like). I like to walk in the forest or in my neighbourhood without having my phone on me. Everywhere I go people sit (or walk) staring into a smartphone instead of looking where they go or talk to each other. Every other day I see a person walking or cycling and staring into a smartphone without looking at the traffic. Once in a while I see people like those have near fatal accidents because of their smartphones.
Over half of my country has a smartphone but recently some people are turning away from them because they get stressed being always online (mostly young people). They get no sleep, or very little sleep, because they are on the social media 24/7.
I like having a mobil (a cell); a camera - a real camera; and a pc or a laptop. I dislike having them in one item. A smartphone can't do it like those other items; it can only do it halfway. I don't care what other people want. If they like it they can have it, I will have nothing of it.
Some people (NOT everybody) are controlled by their smartphone; looking up emails or facebook or other things while they are talking with you. It can be SO irritating!
I don't want to be like those persons. I like to be a person that can focus my attention on you! The one I'm talking to.
/rant
*sigh* I really needed to get that off my chest. So smartphones are not for me, but if other people like them it's fine by me - if they control the smartphones and doesn't let the smartphones control them. :)
Just take my money now!!!
I really think my gf would like this mechanic but the theme probably not lol...
Too complicated. Headache =(
interesting
galskap!
The game is Awesome but the review was bad imho,it lacked structure.
Thanos_Lcf it wasn't a review, it was a runthrough :)
Fair enough,I still think it needed a bt of structure!
Which is odd considering your other vid are great!
I'm not trying to be a smartass,just giving some feedback!
I understand why this game is one of the top and most expected games of 2014. The idea and the concept are both very good, but...............is just a simple NO. Board games are played on the board or completely digital.......
Munteanu Catalin i think this game (and Scotland Yard Master from last year, and XCOM and Yoho next year) prove otherwise :)
Fighting change isn't going to stop it. Why don't you try it. It would be kinda neat to put some old smartphones in wifi mode without a carrier and uninstalling everything BUT these game apps. IE. They would just be game table smartphones. No twitter, no facebook, no browsers.
I have to tell you, Rich, I can't stand this idea. I get that devices can facilitate aspects of the game, or even bring in elements that would be impossible otherwise, but following this logic, why not just make the whole game an app and be done with it?
Is there anything left on this planet that doesn't require you to have your face in that goddam phone? They should be piled in a bucket by the front door on game night. First you're looking at it for gaming purposes, then when it's not your turn you're sneaking a peek at whether anyone's bidding on your eBay auction, or if Rahdo uploaded any new videos, or a million other things.
To each his own, of course, but I see board games as an escape from electronic devices, and never the two shall meet at my table.
You can't be more right. Nothing annoys me more when "one guy" haven't even noticed that it is his turn, because he is checking his phone for some reason. I have to use my phone and computer for almost everything these days, and this one night a week I just want to forget about it, and throw some dice, draw some cards, move some tokens. The more fiddly game the better! Finally I got something real to do with friends and family, use our imagination. I'd rather do the Arkham Horror level bookkeeping, than have an app to do it for me, that makes me more involved and immersed somehow, bu that is just me.
Brian Blackwell "why not just make the whole game an app and be done with it?"
they do that already, it's called a videogame! :) no one is talking about videogames here, but boardgames, with real tactile components, and real people sitting around a table, sharing the experience together. nothing in alchemists digital gets in the way of that.
"Is there anything left on this planet that doesn't require you to have your face in that goddam phone? They should be piled in a bucket by the front door on game night. First you're looking at it for gaming purposes, then when it's not your turn you're sneaking a peek at whether anyone's bidding on your eBay auction, or if Rahdo uploaded any new videos, or a million other things."
like i said in the video, if you're genuinely concerned about that, put the phone in airplane mode when the game starts. problem solved, mischief managed :)
"To each his own, of course, but I see board games as an escape from electronic devices, and never the two shall meet at my table."
You will be missing out on some absolutely awesome entertainment then, but I suppose a lot of people refuse to watch TV or movies too, for the same reasons. "Books are all I need!" type stuff :)
Wojciech Król i guess my question is, what's the difference between looking up a result on a table in the back page of a manual, vs looking up a result on a PDA screen? neither of these takes you away from what you're looking for in your social around-the-table gaming...
***** I know, I know, I'm too young to be making the "kids today and their i-paddles" argument. Hahahaha
You're right, it need not interfere and can be useful, but I can't help but feel like if there's anywhere sacred, where we could benefit from leaving these devices at the door, it's in tabletop gaming.
I used a pdf for the charts and rulebook for the print-and-play solo game, Barbarian Prince. It was just for reference, but soon I found myself in zombie mode staring at that screen because the app closed unexpectedly, and so I thought maybe too much stuff was running, so I went to close other apps... so on and so forth, and down the technological rabbit hole we go. I wished I had just printed out the tables.
I'm with Wojciech; I use the phone a lot, and though nobody's putting a gun to my head to do it, making a clean break every now and then is just what the doctor ordered for me personally.
Brian Blackwell You dont need a smartphone to run this game.... just read the whole rules. There´s "something" like a GM (gamemaster).
The unfortunate thing is that although this game looks amazing, ultimately the intrusion of computing into board games will eventually kill board games. Won't be long until microtransactions and pay-to-win mechanics start creeping in, as those are the very mechanics that will draw hundreds of thousands of new players into the hobby. How long until you're playing Agricola and you have an app that says "take one vegetable or pay 5 cents and take a second"? And if the current publishers are unwilling to do this, then other companies certainly will, as that is where the real money is to be made. Just like in video games, never has that industry been so filthy rich and yet produces nothing but garbage.
Arachnopud boardgames already have micro transactions... they're called promos. it's not hurting the industry as far as i can see. :)freemium games work on the concept that the game is complete, and 100% playable "out of the box" and if you want, you can pay additional money to get additional items/benefits/etc. promos do the same thing with boardgames. :)
I don't think microtransactions will ever arrive at that point in board games. The competitive nature of the game being around a single, physical table would prevent it, because it would cause in-person arguments which would drive people away from those games because people don't like conflict in person.
Conflict online is completely impersonal, but when you are at a table together, you would quickly find that game in the trash because no one would want to deal with the drama, and people would be wary to ever buy another game with that mechanic.