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Game Info
Year
2022
Collection
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Description
The ground trembles under a thousand angry hoofbeats. Wheels creak and reins pull as racers drive their horses forward in a panic.
You are a charioteer in the Circus Maximus, the greatest raceway in the ancient world.
A crescendo of noise builds with each lap. Chariots collide, whips crack. The crowd cheers for a surprising breakaway, rumbles as a favorite is damaged and falls behind. From the imperial box, the emperor laughs and shouts. Clouds of dust obscure the bright banners of the four factions.
Three hundred thousand fans are on their feet as you turn the final corner. This is not the finish they expected. You lead by a length, and only one rival remains; each throws the last of their energy into one final sprint. Many thousands are despondent, other thousands exultant and joyous. Their shouts become a roar, a long scream, as you surge for the finish line. Another hundred yards will make you a hero.
Charioteer is a new game from Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan author Matt Calkins. Like Matt's previous games, Charioteer features simple rules, quick play, and novel mechanisms.
Charioteer is a strategic racing game that plays in one hour. Each player controls a chariot in the Circus Maximus of ancient Rome. There's lots of action, and it happens quickly, with simultaneous move selection.
Movement is determined by melding sets from a hand of cards. Every card does more than one thing, and it takes multiple matching cards to make a move. Choosing to use a card in one set means deciding not to use it in another. Timing when to make a critical move is as important as knowing what move to make.
Moves come in four colors, and each has a special advantage. Play a red move to attack your opponents, yellow to recover from disruption, black to turn a sharp corner, and green to sprint.
Each racer begins the game with different abilities, and they improve their skills as the race progresses, leading to big bonuses in their favorite types of moves. Show the emperor the kind of move he prefers, and a racer's skills will increase even faster.
Players deploy tokens to give their moves a special bonus. More tokens can be earned by impressing the crowd with large matching card plays. Players may choose to delay using their best sets until they're big enough to qualify for a fan token.
Some races will be violent and others calm, depending upon whether the players and emperor behave disruptively. Attacks cause damage, which reduces movement speed. Players who specialize in recovery moves may overcome damage quickly. Others may need to carefully deploy their shields on turns when violence is expected.
It's not always clear who's winning the race. Being in front of the pack may not be as important as developing a critical skill, collecting powerful tokens, or keeping damage low. Whip icons allow those who have fallen behind to surge back into competition.
Charioteer is easy to learn. It can be played by bright kids as well as adults. Despite its accessibility, it is a game of skill.
—description from the publisher
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 5
This page: 5
Sentiment:
pos 3 ·
mix 2 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–5 of 5
Video gjoO9OrlvPc
Rolling Dice & Taking Names Discussion at 3:43 sentiment: positive
video_pk 93450 · mention_pk 252834
Click to watch at 3:43 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Went over very well with most players
- Not a hard game
- Surprising simplicity from GMT Games
Cons
- Son-in-law felt kind of bored with it
- Felt like it was just playing cards with no strategy
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- you have suffered through another year of rolling Dice and taking names
- let's see if we can make it through another year together
- I'm enthused you're enthused I tell you what it was it was a struggle
- the enthusiasm is not there
- it's kind of like go ahead and whamageddon me let me I'm out of this
- this is one of their games and you wouldn't expect that from them
- this is right up there with um as far as Pillars of the Earth as far as understanding
- I mean from the style you need something like that to keep everybody involved
- We were done in under 30 30 no 40 minutes on the easy board with five people wow
- nothing says the holidays like despair crushing defeat like Robinson cruso
- I don't know what this is it's not an marit trash game it's not a Euro game I don't know what you call it which is why I was so intrigued about it and why I liked it so much
- it's not a resource management game at all there you know there are no resources it is it is so cleverly done and it's one of those I just wanted a different experience I didn't want to just be collect cubes and turning in cubes for victory points I wanted something else
- this is a heavy game
- The setup y'all 30 minute setup something like that
- it is a process let's just be honest it is a process
- I think this game is brilliantly designed
- The twist is you're literally playing three tricks per round
- it's a lot of mechanisms they list here cuz I guess they they do list worker placement I guess the worker placement is placing your students in your classes yeah or the buildings that you put on the board allow you to do something at that section
- Prestige is coming from everywhere so you got to watch that
- this is one of those games that falls in a weird spot for me
- it's elegant there's a great flow to the game
- The production is topnotch
- use our code if there's one on sale you get the sale price throw in our code you're going to get 30% off that so it's a great deal
- New Year's resolution
- not to make mistakes anymore while we're recording a podcast as that'll never happen
References (from this video)
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Video ydg7VEvHffI
Rolling Dice & Taking Names Review at 76:58:32 sentiment: positive
video_pk 93441 · mention_pk 252788
Click to watch at 76:58:32 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Easy to teach to non-gamers.
- Simultaneous play makes the game fast and engaging.
- Satisfying card play mechanics and skill progression.
- Thematic integration is strong.
- Low downtime.
Cons
- Can feel a bit long with six players.
- Luck of the draw from the common deck can be a factor.
Thematic elements
- Competitive chariot racing
- Chariot racing in the Roman Forum
Comparison games
- Gladiators
- Ticket to Ride
- Zlator
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Drafting — Players select cards from a central pool to use for movement and actions.
- Combat (indirect) — Players can play damage cards to hinder opponents.
- Hand Management — Players must strategically manage the cards in their hand.
- Player Progression — Charioteer skills can be upgraded throughout the game.
- Set Collection (minor) — Players play sets of matching cards to perform actions.
- Simultaneous action selection — Players choose their actions at the same time, reducing waiting time.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Rolling Dice and taking names
- Don't stop us now
- I'm tired of giving out $5
- This is the next level to me in a non-trick-taking game
- The greatest showman on Earth
- My one movie is equal to one of yours
- It's just constantly moving until somebody eventually ends the race
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 2Nt3qcS3goI
Zilla Blitz Discussion at 1:20:42 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 85742 · mention_pk 220423
Click to watch at 1:20:42 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Good game
- Would gladly play it again
Cons
- Not my style of game
- Didn't quite resonate with the types of things I like in games
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- It's really exciting to me. It's a card-driven racing game that's just incredibly fast-paced.
- Ark Nova is a really complex game.
- The Great Western Trail is a big euro-style game.
- Pax Pamir is a political game.
- Cascadia is an incredibly relaxing game.
- Terraforming Mars is still a great game.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video t0Jz-sAi8u8
BoardGameBollocks Review at 0:58 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 84578 · mention_pk 215043
Click to watch at 0:58 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Exciting and fast-paced gameplay
- Occupies a happy medium between simpler and more complex chariot racing games
- Satisfying experience when making large moves
- Rewards add an interesting and progressive element
- Grandiose production with a large board and nice components
- Slick, exciting, and balanced gameplay
Cons
- Visually bland with muted colors and uninspiring artwork
- Basic gameplay that doesn't always match the grand production
- Extortionately expensive at full retail price
Thematic elements
- chariot racing
- ancient Rome
Comparison games
- Ave Caesar
- Chariots of Rome
- Twilight Struggle
- coin series
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Play — Movement is instigated by playing matching sets of cards with colored symbols and numbers. Different colors have different effects: green for sprint (movement), red for attack (damage), yellow for recovery (remove damage), and black for cornering (faster movement around corners).
- damage mitigation — Players can take damage tokens, which hinder movement. Damage can be removed via recovery cards or by bringing the chariot to a stand.
- Dice Rolling — Used to determine the emperor's request each turn.
- End game triggering — The game ends after three laps are completed and one chariot passes the finish line.
- Hand Management — Players select their move cards from their hand.
- Movement — Movement is determined by the sum of played cards, tokens, and skill track advancements. Players move their chariots forward on the track.
- Push Your Luck — Playing cards and adding tokens can lead to bombing ahead of other players.
- Race — The core objective is to complete three laps and be the first to cross the finish line.
- Set Collection — Moves are made by playing matching sets of cards.
- Tie-breaking — If there's a tie, the player who moved furthest along the finish line wins. If players finish on the same space, the one closest to the inside of the track wins.
- Track building/improvement — Players move hex cylinders up skill tracks on their player map to improve cornering, damage mitigation, etc.
- Variable player powers — Different colored cards played affect movement and can grant special abilities or rewards.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- So, remember, if you're new here, please consider subscribing to this channel with the like button, all that YouTube [ __ ]
- So, Charioteer, how do you play this game?
- Moves in this game are made by playing matching sets of cards.
- I've never seen a chariot move back in my entire life.
- And then you'll set up for the next turn because otherwise not going to be playing the [ __ ] game, are you?
- Everyone's going to take a damage token and put it on their player map.
- You know what I mean? Every turn, the emperor is going to make a request.
- So, the first thing that we quite like about this is that the game is actually quite exciting and fastpaced.
- It sort of sits in the middle of those two. It occupies a happy medium.
- And once you get the hang of it, turns do move pretty quick and it is quite a satisfying experience chucking these cards down and bombing like 20 spaces ahead of everybody else and watching their faces go, "For [ __ ] sake, how we going to recover from that?"
- So, the second thing that we quite like about this is that rewards add a much needed interesting element to what would otherwise be quite a bland game.
- I mean, the board is absolutely [ __ ] enormous.
- I mean, if you sell a tape this together, I'm sure you could take this to [ __ ] Maui and rival Patrick sees in the final scene of Point Break.
- So, the first thing that we don't really like about this game, and this is in stark contrast to the final positive point that we made in the last segment, is that the game looks [ __ ] bland.
- So, the second thing that we don't like, and it's not the fact we don't really like it, it's just something that I don't really understand, is that this is a huge grandiose production, but the game itself is actually pretty basic.
- But really, when you open the box and peel back all the layers, it basically is a roll and move game with cards.
- So, the final thing that we don't really like about this game is that it is absolutely extortionately expensive.
- Would you pay 85 quid for this? I know I didn't. I got it in a bargain bin for 29 quid, which seemed like a bit of a bargain.
- 85 quid for a basic chariot roll and move style game is just batchy.
- So, we are going to say no.
- See you next time.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video AsYKnYGr-3U
The Discriminating Gamer Top List at 14:07 sentiment: positive
video_pk 83645 · mention_pk 211252
Click to watch at 14:07 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Fantastic
- Great racing game
- Super fun game
- Students love it
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Chariot racing
- Ancient Rome
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Play — Uses cards for movement, special abilities, and player interaction (damage/healing).
- Racing game — Players match cards to gain movement points on a track.
- Variable player powers — Wooden blocks provide special abilities, adding strategic depth.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the discriminating gamer.
- My top 50 GMT games of all time, 30 to 21.
- This is really the game, I think, that I cut my teeth on coin with um and really learned how to how these systems worked.
- It's not as difficult as and and and treacherous to learn as I thought it would be.
- And I really loved that tension of trying to to to do as much as you can, but having to really pick and choose because at any moment, the game could end.
- But critically, even though the game looks like a civilization building game at its heart, it is a take that game. You are constantly playing take that here.
- And it is hilarious. It is so much fun trying to build things up and then you're playing these cards and your opponents are just swatting you down.
- It's a very unusual game. I don't know that I've ever played a game quite like Atlantic Chase.
- I really felt bad about it. This is one maybe I need to require at some point.
- So, you've got to be very careful as you play this game because the cards you play to help you can end up helping somebody else.
- This is probably the most popular game when I take it to my West Civ one game nights.
- Well, what do you think ladies and gentlemen?
- If you really like what we do here, please check out my other channel that is Cody Carlson PhD where we talk about history, military history, books on history. I even post some of my lectures on there.
References (from this video)
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