Game Info
Year
2025
Players
1-4
Age
10+
Playtime
60 min
Collection
Mechanic profile
Not enough video data yet
Vibe profile
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Description
Day of the Dead card-placement game arranging portraits of relatives on altar boards fulfilling their wishes
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Images
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 2
This page: 2
Sentiment:
pos 1 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–2 of 2
Video b7cmA-QaWVU
Rules Teach at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 69063 · mention_pk 165383
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Super duper smart
- Very fast playing
- Drop dead gorgeous, bright, vibrant, and colorful
- Wonderful to look at
- Incredibly simple, elegant rules
- Challenging and fun puzzle
- Crunchy and puzzly
- High positive player interaction through drafting
- Satisfying sense of pride at the end with a colorful ofrenda
- Strategic depth with many considerations per move
- Appeals to both gamers and non-gamers as a gateway game
- Unique and characterful art on every piece
- Less cutthroat than Azul, more focused on personal puzzle
- Fast play time (12 rounds, 15-20 minutes)
Cons
- Solo mode uses a score chart, which could be more engaging
- The optional variant (public goals) can take the game to '11' and might be overwhelming for some
- Compromises are necessary, and not all cards will score
Thematic elements
- Honoring departed family members by creating a beautiful display (ofrenda)
- Mexico, Day of the Dead
Comparison games
- Azul
- Small World
- Forenza
- Neotopia
- Century Spice Road
- Calico
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting — Players draft cards from a central display, with costs increasing for cards further down the line. This mechanism is compared to games like Small World and Century Spice Road.
- Player Powers (Implied) — Different family members have unique preferences for what they want to be next to or not next to, acting as individual objectives or constraints.
- Resource management — Players manage 'marigolds' (currency) to draft cards and candles, with strategic decisions about spending and saving being crucial.
- Scoring objectives — Points are scored based on adjacent cards, whether they are 'lit' or 'unlit', and fulfilling specific conditions for cards and candles.
- set collection — Players aim to collect specific types of family members (e.g., green, orange) and desires (e.g., sweets, fruit) to satisfy placement conditions and score points.
- solo mode — A solo mode is included where a die roll determines the AI's choices, simulating opponent actions.
- tile placement — Players place drafted cards onto their personal 'ofrenda' board, considering adjacency requirements and potential scoring opportunities.
- Variable Goals (Variant) — An optional variant introduces public goals that players race to achieve for additional points, increasing complexity and strategic considerations.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Azul lovers, rejoice. Your next um super passionate obsession is here.
- I practically melted down.
- This is the one I'm going to play guaranteed.
- The rules for this game, excuse me, could not be simpler or cleaner or more elegant.
- It's the complexity of trying to make sure all every single one of these cards is an objective you are giving yourself and it's an objective based on proximity to other objectives that are their own unique requirements and puzzling that out.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video Y12UkIK2hn0
kovray Rules Teach at 0:00
video_pk 60302 · mention_pk 164469
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
none
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- In Aphrenda, you'll be building an Aphrena, a colorful, inviting altar with offerings to the dead for Dia de Muertos, which is a Mexican festival of the dead.
- The game will end after each player has taken 12 turns, at which point the player with the most points wins.
- Looking for an extra challenge? Well, you can try the common goals variant.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
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