Board Gaming - Grog Island

Grog Island

A couple of weeks ago to fill time after our main game of the night we played this game, and while it was introduced as just a filler game and 'I picked it up for $10 in a sale', it was pretty quickly apparent that it was worth that price.

^{The board late in the game. Buildings in the main bit of the board, and the benefit of building in each row above them. Bidding area in the middle with the dice, and the trade market area below them. Public money on the left and score track on the right}

It's a pirate game. There's buildings to take control of, and resources to gather, which might be used for taking control of buildings or for gaining points depending on what secret mission cards you started with or collected during the game.

Each round of the game starts with the coloured dice being rolled, and then players can bid for what they want to do by positioning the dice in descending order in the bidding track, with each position allowing for certain actions. The bid is actually the value on the dice you chose, and while you're allowed to bid up to your theoretical maximum (total of your public money and 3 times the treasure cards you have), if you can't afford it, you don't get any of the actions, while your opponents that passed all gained resources and trade actions.

The goal in the end is to score the most points, some of which can be earned during the game though most are from the cards collected and what you score from them.

For a simple game, this was a lot of fun, and at around an hour to play as new players (who may have been over-thinking things quite a bit) it didn't outstay it's welcome.

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