Good times in the tiny kingdom of Emara: During the reign of King Thedorius the Wise, wars, uprisings, and other inconveniences became a thing of the past. Thedorius always cared more for the well-being of his subjects than for power or riches. Therefore, only the nobleman who is able to care for Emara's citizens as well as Thedorius himself did shall become Thedorius' successor and wear the Crown of Emara.
To test the skills of all aspirants, Thedorius and his counselors issue a challenge of practical use: Whoever can persuade the majority of the newly arrived citizens in the capital to support their claim shall become the future king of Emara. To achieve this, players have to cater to the citizens' needs and — most importantly — offer proper housing for everyone. This means that promoting the building activities in town will be one of the major tasks of the candidates.
Crown of Emara skillfully combines card actions with worker movement actions, allowing players to plan their turns carefully during their downtime. The two counselors available to every player move in two separate roundabouts, requiring players to optimize every move. Additionally, two scoring tracks lead to a multidimensional playstyle as only the lower score counts towards victory and thus both tracks have to be advanced equally.
- card-driven rondelle with multiple tracks
- strong parallel to other card-driven rondelles
- requires careful deck management and planning
- Scorpius Freighter
- Vi Counts of the West Kingdom
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deck of three cards drawn per round — You place cards onto your board to activate actions; you can plan around the number above the card.
- Personal rondelles — Each player has two personal rondelles that can be advanced with cards to trigger different actions.
- Two rondelles with card-driven movement — Two central rondelles; cards in front of you drive movement and actions.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm using pretty loose definitions of rondelle
- I cluster New York Zoo, Murano, and Scorpius Freighter because all of these have neutral pawns
- this is a mancala style game
- there are modular boards and looping action tracks
References (from this video)
- engaging rondell scoring system
- variety of resources and powers
- could have more player powers for depth
- resource collection and rondell mechanic
- ancient jewel-themed realm
- multi-category scoring via rondell system
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Compound Scoring — spend and gain resources; scoring categories determine final score; two scoring tracks
- Rondell/resource cycling — spend and gain resources; scoring categories determine final score; two scoring tracks
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is such a wonderful game
- I had a huge Monopoly on the money generating Viking
- it's such a great little programming game
- I like this little Jewel Rondell system