Game Info
Year
2025
Players
1-4
Age
14+
Playtime
120 min
Collection
Mechanic profile
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Description
From the heart of Prague’s Old Town, the ancient Astronomical Clock, known as the Orloj, marks the passage of time with its intricate mechanism and enigmatic figures. A marvel of medieval technology that has endured to this day.
In this game, you take on the role of a master builder competing to leave your mark on history by adding the legendary and majestic calendar to the ancient Orloj. Precision, balance, and knowledge of the cosmos will be the keys to completing this complex task.
With every gear, sphere, and zodiac sign you assemble, you will be one step closer to finishing this masterpiece that will mark time in the city for generations.
Each turn, players will place workers on the clock's dial to gain resources and perform actions with the goal of building the Orloj calendar. In addition to hiring assistants, during the game, players will construct the apostles' carillon and develop their knowledge across three tracks where experience will enhance their abilities.
The game will end when the calendar is completed. The player with the most harmony points will win the game.
—description from the publisher
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All mentions
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
Showing 1–4 of 4
Video k9HFt91kjCA
Rules Teach at 0:02 sentiment: positive
video_pk 67981 · mention_pk 164303
Click to watch at 0:02 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Satisfying combo turns
- High replayability due to variability
- Elegant complexity despite a busy appearance
- Excellent production quality and art
- Innovative take on worker placement with entwined drafting and worker bumping
- Makes worker placement feel fresh and exciting
- Good balance of strategic depth and accessibility
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Upgrading the Prague Astronomical Clock
- Mid 1800s Prague
Comparison games
- Phoenix New Horizon
- Cascadia
- Euphoria
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — The movement of the clock's hands dictates available actions, and players can 'break the clock' to manipulate movement and access desired actions, though this incurs negative points (deviations).
- Objective Fulfillment — Players race to complete various communal objectives for points and bonuses.
- Push Your Luck — The 'deviation' mechanic allows players to move the clock hand beyond its normal limit at the risk of negative points if not repaired.
- Resource management — Players gather and spend resources like lumber, iron, paint, and gold to build upgrades and complete objectives.
- set collection — Players collect stained glass pieces, and potentially assistants, which provide end-game scoring or bonuses.
- Track advancement — Players advance on mastery tracks (Precision, Innovation, Observation) which provide various benefits and unlock new abilities.
- Variable player powers — Players can upgrade their building abilities and utilize special workers like the sculptor, which have different levels and capabilities.
- worker placement — Players deploy workers to take actions on the main astronomical clock or recall workers for bonuses. The host describes it as 'a worker placement game. We've got a bunch of workers here ready to go. And on my turn, I'm either going to deploy one of my workers... or if I want to, I can spend my turn recalling workers.'
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This is the best game of 2025 I have played so far. Flat out, this is my number one game of the year.
- The game looks pretty. The silk green meeples are great, the art is great, and while it looks very, very busy, all the information here makes it very easy to play.
- The brilliance of this and Phoenix New Horizon before it is it has the feel of a big crunchy meaty overwhelming euro... but it doesn't play like that it's fast it's elegant.
- It is a master class of how to do a modern feeling euro... that pushes things to the limit without overwhelming players.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 6hMos51vNuo
Discussion at 0:04 sentiment: positive
video_pk 67478 · mention_pk 163598
Click to watch at 0:04 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Visually appealing
Cons
none
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)
- what is your game of 2025 that got away?
- I really want to play it.
- I don't know if we even have access to it.
- I've been hunting for it.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video WUvccV0I9QM
Review at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 67292 · mention_pk 163252
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Beautiful looking game
- Unique clock worker placement mechanic
- Player controlled game end
- Mastery tracks are vital and offer strategic depth
- High variability appeals to complex game players
- Tight competition at higher player counts
- Breaking gears is an intended and strategic part of the game
Cons
- The pass action can feel stunted if player hasn't advanced on the track
- Balance issue for two players making it feel less tight
- Two-player game offers a very different experience than three or four players
- Can feel inefficient if gears are not managed correctly
Thematic elements
- Refacing or resurfacing the Prague Astronomical Clock
- Prague
Comparison games
- Terracotta Army
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- engine building — Players build up their efficiency through track advancements, cards, and other bonuses, leading to more powerful turns.
- Gear Manipulation — Gears can be broken to allow for greater manipulation of the clock hand or fixed to reset them. There's a limit to how many can be broken.
- Hand Movement — Players must move a hand on the clock at least one space when placing a worker, with options to move it further or backward by breaking gears.
- passing — Players can choose to pass instead of placing a worker, with the benefit of the pass action determined by their position on a specific track.
- Round end trigger — A 'rooster call phase' acts as a round end when triggered by certain actions or when the rooster marker reaches the end of its track.
- set collection — Collecting apostles and workshop cards provides bonuses and scoring opportunities.
- Track progression — Mastery tracks influence various aspects of gameplay, such as moving the clock hand further, improving pass actions, and influencing bonuses from moon or painter movements.
- variable setup — Scoring tiles, goal tiles, card availability, and starting clock positions vary each game, requiring strategic adaptation.
- worker placement — A unique clock worker placement system where a hand on the clock dictates available actions and must be moved each turn.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This is a pretty meaty Euro. I would say it's medium to heavy weight Euro.
- This is one of those games I wanted to make sure and play before we organize our top 10 list because it seems like the likely candidate for our top 10 list.
- Number one, I think it's a great game, spoiler alert, but number two, it is a beautiful looking game.
- The name of the game is fighting those combos.
- Going up those tracks early is huge.
- This game, um, and I entirely mean this pun, has a lot of moving parts, right?
- There's a lot of breaking the game, like this whole deviation thing with breaking the gears. You're meant to do that. You do not want to end this game going, I did it and I never broke a gear. You just lost probably if you did that.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video _i5MfldWAR8
The Dice Tower Review at 0:10 sentiment: positive
video_pk 36857 · mention_pk 110692
Click to watch at 0:10 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Strong thematic integration with a clockwork mechanism
- High interaction without mean play
- Cascading actions create deep decision space
- Good variability due to setup and clock arrangement
Cons
- Heavy setup and learning curve
- Board can be busy and iconography may be hard to parse
- Endgame scoring and some actions are placed in less intuitive locations
- Blockers on the clock spaces can limit planning in higher player counts
Thematic elements
- clockwork timekeeping with zodiac/astronomical theme
- Prague, Czech Republic; historic astronomical clock
- educational, theme-forward
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — outer and inner actions linked to rotating clock faces guiding player choices
- building clock faces / tokens — placing and upgrading clock-face and zodiac tokens for points
- card market / objectives — gaining cards and fulfilling first-come objectives for bonuses
- endgame trigger — rooster track and round-end mechanics determine when the game ends
- gear deviation / tokens — flipping gear tokens to trigger penalties or rotate the clock
- Track advancement — advancing blue/pink/yellow tracks to gain actions and bonuses
- tracking / track advancement — advancing blue/pink/yellow tracks to gain actions and bonuses
- worker placement — placing workers on action spaces with bump mechanics and recoveries
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Go research the clock, it's super amazing.
- This is a clockwork type game.
- There are so many thematic touches that it feels thematic in the right way.
- It's a lot of game in a little box.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–4 of 4