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Babylon

Game ID: GID0035373
Collection Status
Description

In the 6th century BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, wanted to honor his young wife, Amytis of Media, with magnificent gardens featuring a multitude of beautifully scented flowers, so he called on the most eminent architects in his kingdom to test their ingenuity and realize his vision of creating what would become one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

In Babylon, you take on the role of an eminent architect. Dig the quarry for the best materials, and use them wisely to build your gardens. At the end of the game, the player who unveils the most impressive design before the king will be declared the winner and crowned the greatest architect in the kingdom. Although Babylon is accessible to the whole family, it is also very popular with heavy gamers, due to a large number of optimization possibilities.

The game box, representing the quarry from which you will draw your construction materials, is placed in the center of the table. On your turn, take a Terrace tile of your choice from the quarry and receive, depending on its location, a variable number of pillars. Use these pillars to place your tile on your personal board and, if you can, beautify your garden with different decorative elements. Build your terraces to go from floor to floor and decorate them as much as possible. At the end of the game, each decorative element will give you victory points depending on the floor where it is located.

—description from the publisher

Year Published
2024
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 4
This page: 4
Sentiment: pos 4 · mix 0 · neu 0 · neg 0
Mentions per page
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Showing 1–4 of 4
Video Hb4tb3Cf4JQ Good Morning Society convention_recap at 20:01 sentiment: positive
video_pk 13164 · mention_pk 38511
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Click to watch at 20:01 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Multiple strategic layers
  • Interesting tile placement mechanics
  • Unique gameplay elements
Cons
none
Thematic elements
  • City building
  • Architectural tile placement
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • tile placement — Strategic placement of tiles with multiple layers and requirements
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • 71,000 attendees
  • I was working at a booth that's insane Insanity
  • This is my first RPG ever
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video cVEiP1WJTvo Going Analog general_discussion at 3:51 sentiment: positive
video_pk 12402 · mention_pk 36213
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Click to watch at 3:51 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Visually stunning, highly attractive table presence
  • Accessible entry with crunchy spatial puzzles
  • Expands well with additional cards and potential future expansions
Cons
  • Potential analysis paralysis on early draft choices
  • Replay variability depends on tile drafting; base game can feel similar over time
Thematic elements
  • Architectural construction and skyline-building
  • Ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon; multi-level garden construction
  • Abstract spatial puzzle with stacking and connection rules
Comparison games
  • Abomination
  • My Father's Work
  • Dread
  • Night Cage
  • Werewolf
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • 3D spatial construction — place pillars, bridges, fountains, and statues to create multi-level platforms
  • scoring by level and connections — points based on the level of features and how effectively you connect or bridge gaps
  • tile drafting/placement — draft and place tiles to build layered garden structures on your own board
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • it's visually gorgeous game
  • it's a really gorgeous game
  • it's not a long game you know which I think is also fun
  • I definitely wanted that game because it's so pretty
  • the end of the game you do activate all the plague that's still there which is actually like a really nice kind of climax
  • this is one of those games where it's like for as long as I've known Dan ... it's always looking for an excuse to play RTIS
  • the artwork's so beautiful
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video xZzT0pCMTSM general_discussion at 31:05 sentiment: positive
video_pk 11284 · mention_pk 33159
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Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • impressive presence and components
  • ambitious production
Cons
  • very large footprint
  • heavy weight may deter some players
Thematic elements
  • court intrigue and grandiose display
  • ancient Babylon with grand production
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • heavy-weight Euro / area control — Bulky box with large components encourages deep strategy and heavy decision-making.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • It's almost Christmas time
  • Monkey Palace is off the chain
  • Babylon is wild
  • Wednesday is our new game day
  • We are going to play the hamster roll
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video NKXxTzf0hTA Unknown top_list at 43:47 sentiment: positive
video_pk 2318 · mention_pk 6747
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Click to watch at 43:47 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Visually gorgeous and beautiful
  • Deceptively crunchy gameplay
  • Satisfying building and tower creation
  • Unique multi-level stacking mechanics
  • Engaging visual puzzle
Cons
  • Fiddly with small pieces
  • Can be fragile if pieces bumped
  • Two-player game takes longer due to more rounds
Thematic elements
  • ancient Babylon
  • garden construction
  • city building
Comparison games
  • Terraforming Mars
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • life is too short to worry about games that don't work very well
  • all of these games are really really cool in various ways
  • Rich and deep and complex
  • phenomenal
  • no surprise that Designer artist Ryan Locket
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
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