Trickerion is a competitive Euro-style strategy game set in a fictional world inspired by the late 19th century urban life and culture, spiced with a pinch of supernatural.
Players take on the roles of rival stage illusionists, each with their own strengths and characteristics. They are striving for fortune and fame in a competition hosted by a legendary magician, looking for a successor worthy of the mighty Trickerion Stone, which is fabled to grant supernatural power to its owner.
Using worker placement and simultaneous action selection mechanisms, the Illusionists and their teams of helpers — the Engineer, the Assistant, the Manager, and a handful of Apprentices – obtain blueprints and components for increasingly complex magic tricks, expand the team and set up performances by visiting the Downtown, Dark Alley, Market Row and Theater locations on the main game board depicting a late 19th century cityscape.
The tricks are stored and prepared on the Magician's own Workshop game board, while the performances themselves take place at the Theater in the form of a tile placement mini-game with lots of player interaction. The performances yield Fame points and Coins to their owners based on the tricks they consist of. Fame points have multiple uses, but they also serve as a win condition - After turn 7, when the last Performance card is revealed, the game ends and the illusionist with the most Fame points wins.
The game offers 48 different Tricks to be learned from the Optical, Spiritual, Mechanical and Escape categories, over 90 character abilities, and 40 Special Assignment cards that influence the actions taken at the various game locations. The base game can be expanded with two optional rule modules to add further strategic depth to the game.
The "Dark Alley" expansion included in the base game adds a new location to the game. It also comes with 48 new Special Assignment cards, a new tier of Tricks, and 27 Prophecy tokens that can alter certain game rules turn by turn, giving the game additional variety.
Images
- The game has aged very well over 10 years.
- The mechanics are thematic and interconnected.
- The theme of stage magicians is unique and engaging.
- The collector's edition has excellent storage.
- The magician's workbook expansion is a great aid for new players.
- The Dark Alley expansion is highly recommended and feels integral.
- The game is solid, clean, and thematic.
- The iconography for resources can be a bit weird (stacked instead of numerical).
- The play bill system and performing on different days can be slightly confusing or disconnect.
- The Arcane Arts expansion is fine but not essential, and the reviewer is unlikely to use it often.
- The reviewer can't explain why Thursday performance modifiers carry over to other players' turns on different days.
- Stage magicians acquiring items and practicing tricks to perform them for fame.
- Anacrony
- Valarda
- Voidfall
- Castles of Burgundy
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- programming — Players program their magician, assistant, and specialist by placing cards face down, which determines where they go when revealed.
- Resource management — Players acquire and manage resources needed for performing tricks, with some abilities allowing resources to count as more than their face value.
- set collection — Players acquire resources (wood, metal, locks) to perform tricks, which have specific material requirements.
- tableau building — Players assign tokens to their tricks on a play bill, and the spatial arrangement of these tokens can provide benefits.
- Variable player powers — Players choose a school of magic and can gain specialized abilities through different magicians and assistants.
- worker placement — Workers have action points to spend at locations, with bonuses for going to the first spot.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Maybe just because I don't have it hit the table all that much, but it's still a nine and it's phenomenal.
References (from this video)
- Beautiful, thematic art and components
- Deep, heavy puzzle with meaningful strategic decisions
- Flexible options from expansions (Arcane Arts and Academy)
- Rulebook dense and intimidating
- Expansions can dilute core game flow and increase downtime
- Balance and learning curve can be challenging for new players
- Array
- Theatre illusion world
- Narrative conveyed through play and mechanics
- Dawn of Technology
- Magician's Powers
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck manipulation — Enchantments substitute for components when preparing tricks and provide ongoing bonuses
- Deck/enchantment interaction — Enchantments substitute for components when preparing tricks and provide ongoing bonuses
- Enchantment resource management — Charged shards and arcane shards change how actions yield points or points per turn
- end game bonuses — Endgame scoring includes flags from renovated rooms and majorities on practice rooms/classrooms
- Endgame area majority via renovations — Endgame scoring includes flags from renovated rooms and majorities on practice rooms/classrooms
- Trick-taking — Acquire and renovate tricks, teach or retire them, and place enchantments to modify cost and rewards
- Trick/Trick preparation management — Acquire and renovate tricks, teach or retire them, and place enchantments to modify cost and rewards
- worker placement — Program workers, send them to locations to perform actions and gain resources/points
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The goal of the game is victory points.
- This is an action programming worker placement game where all the players are going to program their workers, then they're going to send them out to do things.
- Arcane Arts is a traveling wagon... move anticlockwise between locations.
- This is two different games.
- This is heavy puzzle, not for casual players.
- Don't play with the dark alley.