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The Rockwell company wants to develop drilling activities, but does not have the necessary teams in-house. Rockwell has decided to buy into specialized companies. In order to determine which one it will put on the most advanced and most profitable projects in the future, Rockwell has elected to make them work together on a single important project: drilling through the depths of the earth’s crust to the core. The company who demonstrates the greatest expertise in the technical and financial management of this contract will ensure a bright future with Rockwell.
Goal of the Game...
Acquire the most Renown points at the end of the game. There are three ways to achieve this:
accomplish achievements (nine in total),
make investments,
get majorities after the game.
Gameplay...
Acquire more prestige than your opponents by the end of the game. The prestige is acquired through Production and Delivery tiles, as well as in the final scoring, which will award prestige points for different majorities.
The game is divided into three phases that are repeated as many times as necessary until one of two conditions endgame is met:
a majority of the players have reached the center of the earth with a drill crew
a player has completed the nine Achievements.
Then the current round is completed before determining the winner.
Each player has two vice presidents he will deploy to act in Phase 1, 2, or 3, in order to perform actions. The order in which the players’ vice presidents are deployed is determined by a closed-fist auction.
This is the main phase. Players will move their drill crews are at a rate of one per round (there are four rounds before Phase 2). Depending on the position of your vice president, if you deployed him to act in this phase, you can corrupt opposing drill crews (in order to attract them to the same tile as your active drill crew) or hire a subcontractor (to increase your drilling power).
Each tile of the earth's crust has a value indicating its resistance to drilling. If the sum of the drill crews who are present equals or exceeds this value, the tile is excavated and turned over; then draw an Extraction card to see what resources you discovered, which is evenly split between the players who participated in the drilling. The indivisible remainder goes to one of those players (prioritized by whoever has a mine on the tile, then the player who has the greater drilling power, then the one who ttriggered the drilling).
Finally, after the four rounds, the mines laid on drilled tiles provide the resources printed on the back of the tile.
Players with a vice president here can perform market transactions, which is to say that they can buy or sell resources.
In this phase, players can make investments to get renown points and improve their drilling conditions in different ways…
augment the drill crews’ power (maximum = 4),
place mines in the game
(maximum three mines),
improve mine safety (in order to avoid wasting resources at extraction time),
improve the movement of drill crews.
Inkwell Board Game Review
- Curious about the theme.
- Theme fits the speaker's preference for book/manuscript/library themes.
- Do not know a lot about the game beyond the theme.
- Completing illustrations for manuscript pages to impress the Abbott.
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I think it's going to be very cool, very immersive.
- It sounds like it has all the, you know, all the ingredients to be pretty pretty darn cool.
- These card games are like the perfect weight for tons of different situations. They are thinky and they're fun and they're fast and I'm excited for this one.
- I want to see the booth. I want to see the booth.
- I love bizarre history themes.
- Um and while it's unsolvable in the real world, here in this game, you get to solve it. You get to feel clever. You get to be the one that pulls it off.
- But I think this game is fantastic. It is already in the running for my top game of 2025.
- It is such a clever, smooth, cool card game that plays um you know up to eight players each.
- I think this is the kind of game that can kind of transcend the hobby a little bit.
- Sign me up. I am ready for this game. I take my money. Yeah, just take it. Just take my money.
- So, the fact that I can get all those same feelings in half the time, oh my gosh, this is an absolute home run for me.
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Remember, you are somebody's reason to smile.
References (from this video)
- Painting
- Azul
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Drafting — It's a drafting game where you're going to be taking different inks to finish paintings and getting different abilities to level up and build a small engine to facilitate completing paintings as quickly and efficiently as possible.
- Engine Building — It's a drafting game where you're going to be taking different inks to finish paintings and getting different abilities to level up and build a small engine to facilitate completing paintings as quickly and efficiently as possible.
- Set Collection — It's a drafting game where you're going to be taking different inks to finish paintings and getting different abilities to level up and build a small engine to facilitate completing paintings as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Hopefully these first impressions will introduce you to a few new games as well as give you some interesting insights into whether or not these games may or may not be for you.
- So, this one did not make the cut since it was just a very simple play within a certain range, play higher, play lower.
- Let me know in the comments down below, what's your favorite new game you've tried recently and what's your least favorite game you've tried recently?
- So, if you're looking for those specific games or just some great prices on new and used games, please feel free to check them out.
References (from this video)
- Engaging theme
- Satisfying engine building
- Accidentally upsetting the Abbot can be detrimental
- Creating illustrious manuscripts
- The Abbey of Iona
- Monastic artistry
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Engine Building — creating an engine of learned skills as you go.
- Resource Management — collecting ink, gold leaf, and new techniques of special powers and effects.
- Set Collection — Completing pages
- Worker Placement — members of the Abbey add to its collection
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It can honestly be pretty overwhelming, which is why we've compiled our top picks, some games that are back with a new twist, and more.
- this is our board game buyer's guide.
- Teddies versus Monsters, a fast-paced, real-time, frantic card game for two to four players.
- It's a game of hidden roles and deception for a large group of daring spies because this one supports four to eight players.
- Pirates of the High Teas, a whimsical set collection worker placement game where pirates compete to serve their captain the most delicious cup of afternoon tea.
- Moitara is an area control game where two chieftains scheme to take control by accessing powerful deities to spread influence across the land.
References (from this video)
- Beautiful game
- Chill drafting game
- Enjoyable game type
- Has a solo mode
- Less complex than initially thought
- writing manuscripts
- Zool
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Drafting — Players draft colored cubes from different areas.
- open drafting — A style of drafting where players select items from a common pool.
- Set Collection — Players collect specific colored cubes to complete manuscripts.
- solo mode — The game includes a mode for playing alone.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Hey friends, it is Jenna. What is up?
- And welcome back to the board game garden.
- June ended up being a very board game-filled month.
- I still can't get over the fact that we're still playing trick- taking games that are completely different than all other trick- taking games, but I feel like overall the base game of trick taking works really well with being changed and manipulated in different ways.
- Oh my goodness, this thing broke me.
- Remember, you are somebody's reason to smile.
References (from this video)
- Accomplishes great things due to its unusual tempo.
- Every draft has multiple consequences.
- Nuance to each choice makes it feel like you're doing more than just taking a needed cube.
- Powers are fun and tow the line of feeling game-breaking but aren't too much.
- Artistic charm with satisfying moments.
- Puzzle is doable and the hook of the game.
- Great pace enjoyable at all player counts.
- Nice relaxing mellow experience as a solo puzzle.
- Quaint and satisfying head-to-head or with more players.
- Does everything it sets out to do precisely right.
- Doesn't do anything wrong for its kind of game.
- One of the best for its size and form factor.
- Heat drafting could happen, but is not seen much due to the tight tempo and many considerations.
- Doing something just to mess with an opponent may just be a waste of time.
- Completing works of art
- Azul
- Corvids
- Pax
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action Timer — A clever built-in timer that moves when the board has to be refilled, which is only when one type of draftable set of cubes runs out.
- Built-in Timer — A clever built-in timer that moves when the board has to be refilled, which is only when one type of draftable set of cubes runs out.
- Card Drafting — Drafting cubes from different clusters in a race to complete works of art.
- Compound Scoring — Scoring your piece once ready, with the player having the most points after three pieces are done winning.
- Cube Drafting — Drafting cubes from different clusters in a race to complete works of art.
- scoring — Scoring your piece once ready, with the player having the most points after three pieces are done winning.
- Set Collection — Collecting various sets for different values of points in order to complete paintings.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- And that is a really quick summation of what you're going to be doing in this game.
- But the whole point of this is that there are a lot of elements here that coalesce in a way that makes Inkwell stand out in the crowd.
- It accomplishes great things due to its unusual tempo.
- This means that every draft that you do has multiple consequences.
- There's so much nuance to each choice.
- There's an artistic charm to what you're doing in Inkwell that has a lot of satisfying moments.
- But here in Inkwell, not only is it doable, but that puzzle of clever timing and drafting is the hook of the game.
- And thus, I really appreciate the flow of this game, the mechanisms of the drafting, when the market gets refilled, and so on.
- everything it's setting out to do, it does precisely right.
- For this kind of game, what you would be looking for in a drafting kind of puzzle-filling kind of game, it doesn't do anything wrong, either.
- For me, Inkwell is a solid 8.5 out of 10.
References (from this video)
- solo mode
- Vivid manuscript theme
- strong design pedigree
- puzzle-forward discovery with manuscripts
- manuscripts and parchment in a scholarly setting
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- End Game Bonuses — endgame scoring tied to manuscript collection
- Endgame bonuses — endgame scoring tied to manuscript collection
- open drafting — draft cards from an open pool
- Pattern Building — build patterns with card sets
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Stem and Branch is in a different language here on the box.
- Three Sisters the Harvest Edition includes a solo campaign, which I am so excited about.
- Compania is a very cool game where you are placing out your workers and revealing behind a screen.