The history of humankind has been written down for thousands of years. Our technological achievements, geographical discoveries, and the will to prosper are woven into intricate threads spread throughout books that tell the story of our time on Earth. Now you have the chance to shape this story.
Books of Time puts a unique and exciting twist on tableau building, allowing you to construct three great books, each with their own sets of special abilities that you can write, thereby creating incredible combinations. The story of a civilization is now truly at your fingertips.
Three types of pages go into player books: trade, science, and industry. During the game, you add pages to these books to create powerful combinations of actions that you can activate. You need to efficiently manage your resources to create the books that will meet your personal objectives and score you the most points.
—description from the publisher
- Innovative components (binder clips)
- high production value
- Binder clips can be fragile; more expensive components
- time, literature, binding books
- Binder-book tableau-building
- thematic, educational
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- binder-clip resource management — binder clips serve as a core resource across rounds
- scoring via binding quality — points for how well you compile your books/tableau
- tableau building — players build books using binder clips as pages
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's live folks it's live
- the cute factor is off the charts
- binder clips... off the charts
- I can't wait to see that too
- it's so cute and you've got your little board that's got the that moves you can put the little trays in there
- the year of the card games
References (from this video)
- Unique book-themed mechanic
- Engaging puzzle feel
- Accessibility for new players may be challenging
- book/page-turning narrative interface
- Similo
- Dixit
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card placement — placing cards in a book-like structure and turning pages to reveal interactions
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- five times if you don't you got to get rid of those games
- you're going to pick which pile I have to play five times or else I'm getting rid of that pile anyways
- my board game collection this is my board game shop
- Wingspan killer did I say that cuz I meant it
- it's a unique game where you're placing cards and literally a book and then turning pages
- thank you for watching
References (from this video)
- novel and tactile mechanic
- potential for interesting design space
- execution felt abstracted; not fully realized in this iteration
- book manipulation as action economy
- Book-world mechanic with pages and a flip-book action surface
- physical book interaction driving actions
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- book actions — open pages, insert pages, flip through to perform actions
- page manipulation — flick and reconfigure the pages to reset and modify effects
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- these awards are 100% my Awards
- Acropolis is a very fast-paced tile Drafting and set collection game
- three-dimensionality... stacking things up in the game does get you more points
- this game does very little that is original that hasn't been covered in other games before
- it's such a nice tight package of a game everything is just in there
- I'm a massive Motorsport fan
- Heat Pedal to the Metal is our game of the year; our solo game of the year; our patron's choice
- the best New Zealand game of the year is Scholars of the South Tigress
- the fact you get a limited number of cards but everyone gets the same card so it all starts off from equal positions
- it's fast it's vicious, backstabbing, and it's clever
- this is such a cool racing game that feels like a racing game
References (from this video)
- Fresh and intriguing book-based mechanics that differentiate the game
- Central book design provides a unique home for actions and decision points
- Book format allows exploration of new ideas and mechanics within a single framework
- Varied actions per turn and potential for interesting pacing and strategy
- Potential for strong longevity and replayability depending on player preference
- Books can be awkward or cumbersome to use for some players
- Iconography is not the most user-friendly, contributing to a steeper learning curve
- Theme of building a civilization isn’t strongly communicated or thematic within the pages
- Initial novelty of the book mechanic may wear off for some groups
- Knowledge and literacy as the engine for societal development
- Civilization-building through written word across eras
- Book/page-driven actions that feed drafting, scoring, and progression
- Seven Wonders
- Scholars of the South Tigris
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action selection via central book — On each turn, players choose actions from a central 'book' that drives resources and VP
- drafting — Draft Pages for your history books from a face-up display; pages contribute to scoring and resource generation
- Open/close book and page-bonus mechanics — Closing a book yields a bonus; turning pages grants bottom-of-page bonuses
- Page turning / book progression — Turning pages within books to advance progression and trigger bonuses
- Resource management — Gaining pens and paper when adding pages; folders act as wild cards for both resources
- set collection — Collecting sets of pages with symbol variety to unlock scoring opportunities
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Books of time is something a little different and its book based mechanics are very fresh and intriguing
- the central book and how it has different actions you can select each turn
- I also really like the central book
- the best thing about this game is how the book format allowed it to explore some new ideas, it's Unique
- the books take a bit of getting used to and some players found them awkward and cumbersome to use
- probably my biggest issue is while the books are a cool idea I just don't feel the theme of building a civilization comes through it all
References (from this video)
- Novel tile-placement through book actions
- Interesting assassination tile concept
- Rulebook gaps and awkward endgame pacing
- Time manipulation and family legacy
- Future characters travel back in time to shape events
- Story-driven, probabilistic/world-shaping
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- engine-building via books — Place action cards into book pages to enable actions
- time-changing events — Assassination tile mechanic and event manipulation
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's really quick it takes around an hour to play feels like this epic scope
- the coolest part is during some of those phases you will also activate all the robots in a single line and they have different powers
- it's one of my favorite Euro games
- I would put it into another person's collection
- we played it just last week
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