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Description
Patterns: A Mandala Game is another area-control design by Trevor Benjamin and Brett J. Gilbert. Patterns draws you in as you take turns swapping tiles from the large mandala at your table. Each player tries to mark contiguous colored areas as territory. Start by spreading the unique tea towel play mat first and creating a mandala by all but 2 out of 54 colorful mandala tiles. Whoever claims most point in the end, wins.
Year Published
2023
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 2
This page: 2
Sentiment:
pos 2 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–2 of 2
Video x6M-6arZ_jc
Board Games Hitting My Table general_discussion at 5:41 sentiment: positive
video_pk 12836 · mention_pk 37478
Click to watch at 5:41 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
highly positive
Pros
- regarded as near-perfection in two-player abstracts
- tight, cerebral tension with simple rules
Cons
- might be too cerebral for casual players
Thematic elements
- patterning and set-building
- Abstraction with patterned token groups
- highly cerebral abstract puzzle
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- abstract strategy — manipulating tokens to form groups of the same type
- set collection — the first set is worth fewer points, the last set is worth more
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- this is going to be one of the coolest examples of a programming game that you will see out there
- Wallenstein has become one of my favorite games of all time
- it's beyond genius
- Tower Up is fantastic
- it's pure system
- this is one of the most overlooked games from the Oink brand
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video YgrY-kmAr3A
Unknown Channel game_review at 0:02 sentiment: positive
video_pk 8872 · mention_pk 26166
Click to watch at 0:02 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Elegant, minimalistic rules with deep strategic and tactical decisions.
- Measured pacing around ~20 minutes with strong tension.
- Innovative blend of abstract play and mandala-style scoring.
- High replayability as players refine strategies across games.
- Production respects the Mandala aesthetic and fits a compact Lookout box.
Cons
- Visual presentation can feel drab; color palette could be more vibrant.
- Color-blind accessibility is not perfect; some tokens may be challenging.
- Potential for analysis paralysis if players plan too far ahead.
Thematic elements
- Pattern formation, territorial influence, and regional control with scoring gradients.
- Two-player abstract strategy focused on color regions and mandala-inspired scoring.
- Abstract
Comparison games
- Mandala (original)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Basic rule economy — Two core actions keep rules simple and elegant with no fiddly exceptions.
- End-game scoring by token values — At game's end, tokens are moved to scoring piles; tokens in a color chain score according to their order.
- Region creation — On your turn you can create a new color region by placing a color token not yet used.
- Region expansion by flipping — Flip a token of your color adjacent to your existing controlled region to extend influence.
- Region expansion by placement — Place a new token adjacent to existing tokens of the same color to extend a region.
- Token swap from supply — Swap a token from your pool with one that is on the board before placing it.
- Turn-based tension and opportunity cost — Only one token is played per turn, creating tension between expanding and flipping.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I absolutely love this game.
- This is one of my favorite scoring systems of all time; the mandala-style scoring is brilliant.
- A completely different game, but it preserves the Mandala feel through scoring.
- There are an abundance of meaningful decisions from start to finish.
- Elegant rules overhead—no fiddly rules or exceptions.
- 20 minutes to play, but it’s rich in decisions.
- Head and shoulders above any other two-player game in 2023.
- It’s a fantastic design and a complete triumph of design.
- Patterns could reach the level of the original Mandala; it’s that good.
- Patterns is undoubtedly one of the best games of 2023.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
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