I’m sure most of us have heard of Century: Spice Road but have you heard of Century: Golem Edition?! Oh…you have? Well that’s good. I was getting excited to gush about it and tell you a unknown game which I haven’t been doing so good at lately. I’ll do it anyways!

Time to pick up some gems!

Oh so pretty, oh so pretty and bright and fun!!!

I was following this game ever since it was called Caravan: Golem Edition. Then on the internets, a poll was put out on which version was preferred: Caravan or Golems. Golems won and then the company decided they were only going to do a regular version. Well that was disappointing but I heard this was a great game so regardless I bought. I even pre-ordered it with a shirt and playmat.

Well low and behold Golem Edition is announced. I had CJ pick me up a copy and then I ordered a playmat for it. While it will not have a trilogy for it (for now? they did say they weren’t going to make it in the first place…), I still prefer this one and I am happy with my decision.

This version has much brighter and prettier art work. Instead of wooden cubes, we got big, translucent gems! It also contains a much better tray system and insert. Cards still don’t fit that well but fits much better than Spice Road. That said, you can’t really go wrong with either game when you just talk about gameplay since they are the same.

This is another one of those simple to play but offering an incredible amount of depth and strategy. By only doing one action a turn and limiting the action to one of 4 possibilities it helps when teaching. But this is an engine building game. Each time you are building a new and sometimes elaborate one. Only problem is you might make the Rube Goldberg of gem manipulation that will take you forever to reap any rewards. But it sure is fun exchanging all those gems!

Like any good engine builder it, as soon as you got one going the game is over. Because churning through the engine is not really as fun as the setting up the machine. With this in mind, the game doesn’t overstay its welcome. Once you get going, the end comes quick. That just gives you more time to play another game of this one.

The playmat isn’t necessary to play but I like it and makes setup easier.

Century: Golem Edition
Plan B Games
2-5 players
30-40 minutes