The once thriving Roman Empire fell apart. Who can resist the temptation to claim some of the lands for themselves? Do you prefer vineyards or quarries? Or maybe you want a little bit of everything with some olive groves and an oil mill on top? All you need is to make a good trade: offer a beautiful antique theater in exchange or add a few precious diamonds… Divide and swap lands, outguess and bribe your opponents! Create a prosperous domain from the lots of Rome!
Rome in a day is a simple strategy game based on the original "cut-and-choose" mechanic that will win the hearts of aspiring conquerors of all ages.
Before the start, all players are dealt with their personal set of buildings with the card of buildings, a pile of lands tiles (there are 5 types - fields, city, olive gardens etc), gems/cristals, choice cards of smaller and bigger lands, reminder cards and screens.
The game is played in 4 turns.
During each turn, players take top 5 tiles of lands and place them in front of themselves. Then they take 2 top buildings from the building card and place them on the 2 lands from the left.
Next, players take their screens and start divivding those 5 pieces of lands into 2 groups - a bigger and a smaller ones. In any ratio they want (3\2, 1\4 even 5\0). And add 1 crystal to the smaller land.
When everyone is ready, the exchange begins.
Players put the screens down allowing other players to see and choose a land that they have made.
Note: at the first turn players choose the lands from a neighbour from the left, at 2nd - from the right, and then again left and finally right. For the max interaction
When selection is made, players put a choice card reflecting their decidion of lands.
Then, players take the chosen lands from the neighbour from the left and join them to the remaining piece of their own.
Turn by turn, they build their domains, taking the most suitable lands to make their so-called new empire more profitable.
How to gain points?
For every kind of terrain with the corresponding building placed on it or next to it. Then the number of lands multiply with the number of buildings for EACH type of lands.
The crystals gained for choosing smaller lands also bring points - 3 points for each crystal.
The player with the most points wins the game.
- Relaxing, elegant tile-placement with satisfying multiplication scoring
- Two-player focus; fits as a filler or light strategic option
- May feel too simple for some groups
- Subject to opponent choices shaping the board late game
- Ra
- Cartographers
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Split-you-choose tile placement — Tile placement with a split-pool mechanism; players decide which pile to take and which to leave for the opponent.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is where I talk about all of the non new to me games that I have been playing
- thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed this recent play
- it's just a lovely T placement game
- this is one of the best two-play games of all time
- I love this game
- an absolute blast of a game
- the combos are fantastic
References (from this video)
- Fast, tightly designed puzzle with strong interaction
- Flexible map sizes and scalable play
- Accessible, easy to teach and learn
- Can feel deterministic or mathy for some players
- Some players may miss the intended strategic depth
- fast puzzle about acquiring tiles and building a province
- tile-placement around a Roman-themed province with shared tile stacks
- Array
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a breezy filler
- I would happily play almost any time anywhere any place
- one of the most unique games I've played in a while
- World exchanges a fantastic filler game and certainly a well-deserved of a Chairman's commendation
- it's going to get my Chairman's Commendation
References (from this video)
- Extremely light and pleasant
- Charming and simple to teach
- Tile placement and set collection
- City planning/placement with ice-split mechanics
- Light, pleasant, almost educational
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area/ tile placement — Dividing tiles with a clever ice-split mechanic
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- one of the coolest initiative mechanisms that I've ever seen
- this is like an essential because it is that good
- an absolute blast playing these couple of games
- the two-player card game on the market
- Mandala is absolutely smooth as silk
References (from this video)
- Very family-friendly and easy to teach
- Beautiful production; quick to play in multiple rounds
- Very light; may not satisfy heavier gamers
- Long-term replay value depends on group
- City-building/drafting with terrain interactions
- Family-friendly drafting with map-building theme
- Accessible family-weight
- Patchwork
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Drafting with tile division — Choose tiles to place on a map to maximize scoring while balancing terrain types
- Tile division and placement — Ice-split style division to control layout and scoring possibilities
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is one of many games i'm talking about here that i did purchase at the uk games expo
- i think i can give it a 7 out of 10
- it's a very neat game
- it's multiplayer solitaire with a race aspect
- one of the all-time classics
- this is a very well-rounded game
References (from this video)
- Quick gameplay
- Interesting tile placement mechanics
- Building multiplier scoring
- Similar to Carcassonne
- City building
- Ancient Rome
- Carcassonne
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area majority — Scoring based on connected colored tiles
- drafting — Players draft and divide tile groups
- tile placement — Players place colored tiles and buildings
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Is this Latin? Veni, vidi, divisi
- Backend fetch fail
- We keep it real, we keep it real real
References (from this video)
- keeps it simple while remaining clever
- brief four-round structure enables quick play
- could become too gamey if pushed too far
- balance with expansions remains uncertain
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Simultaneous split — Secretly split tiles into groups for opponents to choose from.
- Tile drafting and grouping — Balance distribution to maintain balance and pace.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The artwork is absolutely stellar but not quite my style of game.
- it's four rounds so you can get this played in around 20 minutes.
- World Exchanges is a well-deserved number one.
- Camel Up you'll probably like this one.
- I think this game did a fantastic job of making it feel immersive.
- an amazing temperature, boom boom boom.
References (from this video)
- great for families and casual players
- easy to teach but with meaningful choices
- can be punishing if you misstep early
- area control and set-collection pacing
- light, family-weight tile placement with city-building flavor
- accessible and charming
- Cascadia
- Carcassonne
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- pattern-building and area scoring — points based on layout and adjacency
- set-collection and tile drafting — drafting tiles to build and score blocks
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this game is a masterpiece
- infinitely replayable
- an absolute Masterpiece
- this is such a cool game
- an absolute joy to play
- seven and a half out of ten