Using cards with various Ideas, Things, and Words, players combine these concepts, or memes, to create new inventions. In a sense, the game play is brainstorming with a scoring mechanism.
Each player takes turns as Storm Initiator, and plays a card (meme) from their hand. Other players then propose another card from their hand that might combine with the Storm Initiator's card to create an interesting idea. The initiator chooses one, and those players then take a few minutes to develop the idea. The initiator keeps the resulting idea.
Play then passes to the next player. After each player has two such ideas, he chooses one to be scored. Each player distributes points to the other player's ideas, and the IDEA that collects the most points is the winner.
- Unique mosaic drafting with distinctive scoring
- Appealing theme and tactile feel
- Can be dense for new players
- molecules and color blocks forming patterns
- puzzly mosaic drafting with a scientific motif
- light, cerebral puzzle
- Calico
- Cascadia
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- color-grouping and mosaic building — points come from connecting color chunks in specific shapes
- tile drafting and placement — draft hex tiles and place them to form color groups on a personal board
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's going to be a long one because I have a lot of games to talk about.
- I really enjoyed Sir Ocelot's Cave.
- Faeya's Swamp is fantastic.