Santorini in about 3 minutes

welcome to Santorini in about three minutes this is a game for two to four players there is no solo mode playing time is around twenty minutes it's a really simple game On the sunny Greek island of Santorini a battle for supremacy is underway in this abstract game you'll place buildings, maneuver workers climb towers and gently shift the board state in order to take a decisive winning action.

all in a matter of minutes the winner of this game is the player whose worker reaches a third level of a tower first but you can also lose the game if your workers can take no valid action competitive only one person can win this battle of wits tile placement each turn your place building parts on the board for the basic game set up the board and then one player places their two workers the second player places theirs next on your turn you must move one worker one space in any direction and then place a building tile here are the possible spaces you can move note that you cannot move into an occupied square once you have moved you must place a building in an adjacent region as shown here you cannot place a building in an occupied area once you have placed it is the next players turn buildings consist of three levels and a dome can be placed on top of them they must be placed in order when you move you can only move up one level per move but you can move down any number of levels as the goal of the game is to get to the third level if you are in this position you could win next move but your opponent can block you by moving adjacent to a level 3 building and placing a dome on it a building with a dome on it cannot be moved into and the dome cannot be removed that's enough for the basic game the advanced game adds variable powers one player chooses god cards equal to the number of players and the other players choose which god to play each god changes the rules for that player for example Artemis allows you to move two spaces instead of one and placea block after you move whereas Apollo allows you to move into your opponent's Square and swap places with them play continues back and forth until someone reaches a third floor or a player can no longer make a valid move why would you like this game?

There is the saying "minutes to teach and a lifetime to master" and few games i've played epitomize that idea more than Santorini looking at the rules it doesn't look like much but once you're locked into the back-and-forth of the game it becomes a mighty battle of wits and yet this game can still be taught to and enjoyed by children much as checkers can be and there's a mighty collection of gods with different powers who ensure that the game plays differently each time oh and the little blocks and towers are pretty damned adorable but the best thing about this game is the intense back-and-forth and then realizing that in three moves you can win and you don't think they can stop you however the game says its for two to four players.

it really isn't it's a two-player game at its core if you buy this for a four player experience it might be a little underwhelming and it is an abstract and while it's got some visual theming if you want a game that tells a rich story this is not for you Santorini scratches a lot of the same itches as chess does but without the scripted openings and having to deal with really serious chess players and if you like abstract games and want something that's better for groups I recommend checking out Azul Santorini what's checkmate in Greek?

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