Cubyria - Build a Palace like 3D Tetris with Your Client the Mad Vizier
Transcript
Your magnificence. I am Stella, an architect from the prestigious Cubyria School specializing in palaces, towers, and last minute changes from unreasonable clients. What? Why mention that last bit? You think that's going to be relevant here? Are you calling me unreasonable? No, no, no, not at all, your majesty. Uh, I I'm just saying I am extremely dedicated to pleasing my clients. I see. Well, you are one of the five architects I've hired. Yes. Yes. Um, I have taken the liberty of asking your staff what sort of rooms you'd like included in the new palace, a grand library, sculpture gallery, luxury apartment, perhaps tasteful balconies, and a dungeon. Naturally, a dungeon. And a torture chamber. Oh, of course, your majesty. Torture chamber. Dungeon. Got it.
For my enemies and disappointing architects. [snorts] Very forward thinking. Also, I want a clock tower, a secret passage, a rooftop aviary, and a room devoted entirely to mirrors. Uh, excellent. Excellent. Um, where would you like those? Yeah, I'll decide after you built them. Now, get to work. Uh, I knew I should have gone into board gaming reviewing instead. Cubyria Architects of a lost city place one to five players with mechanics such as tile placement in three dimensions contract fulfillment and pattern building. The game is of light to medium complexity. Welcome to Cubyria Architects of a Lost City where you are one of the greatest architects in the ancient world hired by the Mad Vizier to construct spectacular additions to his palace. Your goal is simple. Build what you have strategically to score the most points while fulfilling the Vizier's secret and everchanging whims and ideally remain employed which means not imprisoned in the building you designed.
The centerpiece of Cubyria is this rotating circular board onto which everyone constructs one shared 3D palace. On your turn, you'll build parts of buildings, roofs, balconies, staircases, helper structures, following the building placement rules. As many structures as you want and have you score everything that you build on your turn, then you draw two more structures, maximum seven. Optionally, discard and draw structures two for one exchange. Or you can just draw two structures on your turn. then it goes to the next player. Simple. Yes and no. It's easy to plop a structure somewhere as long as you follow the simple rule that the new building must be connected to an already placed structure through doors or secret entrances. This palace has so many secret doors. I don't want to know what they for. But to maximize the score, what needs to be adjacent to what? what you should build them on and fulfilling the Vizier's everchanging whims. That's your way out from the torture chamber and dungeon. Once you're done with your turn, count how many points you score for the structures you place this turn. Points are shown on the card depending on what level they're placed on. So, this colonate, the higher the floor, the higher the points. There are also
structures that have negative points if placed on certain levels like the alchemy lab, grand apartment of the Vizier or dungeon. So unthematic, isn't it, to have a dungeon on the upper floors, the prisoners would have the best uninterrupted view of the palace. You know, if the view weren't interrupted by solid thick walls, connecting rooms with the same affinities gives you extra points of their base value. I mean placing dungeon and torture chamber next to each other is efficient for everyone involved in the torturing business and therefore worthy of extra points. There are also rooms to close off the tops for points and support structures. They are helpful but with no points like internal stairs and support columns and grand external staircases which joins your room and double their points. Oh, you think this place is so big that I'd never bump into my competitor. It's all right. It's all right. I'm just on my way to build over here.
Well, wait for your turn. I'm building upward. Sure. Uh, I'll wait. Yes. Yes. And then I'll build something above it and get even more points. Excuse me. On top of my architectures. Hey, nothing personal. Oh, it's personal when you set even more points. Whimsy cars are fun for the Vizier. Their demands you can fulfill. Place your client with their sometimes disturbing requests. Complete one to double the points for your whole turn. And once you fulfill it, you and everyone else discard their whimsy cards and draw a new one each because the mad Vizier is well, mad and is constantly changing his mind about how he wants his palace to look done. A stack of three balconies right above each other and overlooking a fourth balcony. Sure, sure, sure. Just put them over there. But what I really want is an aery next to the kitchen so that I can eat while I orize. The game ends when the last structure card is drawn. The rest of the cards, including helper structures, get drafted to everyone and build. Negative points for unbuilt structures.
The highest point is the architect that keeps their job and their life. There are plenty of opportunities to spot big combination turns. Double them with whimsy cards. Everyone constructs the same palace, but you're only scoring the pieces you personally add. Like Scrabble, you can set up structures on the common board, ready for your next big turn, waiting to have seven structures, and build them all at once as long as the best slots aren't filled first. Cubyria also has sudden death mode. If at any point before the end game, a player falls more than 100 points behind the current leader, that player is immediately eliminated. Their remaining building cards are shuffled back into the building deck and their whimsy card is also returned. Looting the dead player is kind of thematic for the Vizier.
The palace that we use in this video is the ice palace, the stretch gold version of the project. This is the other version of the palace. I'm never getting out of this palace. This is basically IKEA, but with more stairs. Hey, you helped to build it. It is literally your fault. I was building for points, Tarrant, not for ease of navigation. And to think you set out here to avoid the dungeon, yet inadvertently trapped yourself in a prison of your own making. How very ironic. Well, if you think you can design a better palace. Excuse me. Well, you know, without the risk of being beheaded by the Mad Vizier, then check out Cubyria on crowdfunding. My palace has exits. Then why are we still here? Because I'm admiring my work, right? Shut up. You lose, architect. Now it's time for the torture chamber.