Euphoria Essential Edition A new streamlined version of. Euphoria: Building a better dystopia Published by Stonemaier Games in 2013. The feel of the game is the same, but some of the smaller additional details have changed, as well as the graphic design of the board. I played the original a few times a few years ago and I think the new changes help with the playability and the graphic design makes it easier to play and understand what to do in the game. Euphoria Essential Edition is for 1-6 players, takes just over an hour to play, and is recommended for ages 14 and up. The game was designed by Morten Monrad Pedersen, jamie stegmeyerand David J. Studley.
What’s inside the box?
- 102 recruitment cards
- 36 artifact cards
- 6 reference cards
- 1 board
- 24 worker dice
- 6 heart-shaped tokens
- 6 Knowledge token in the shape of a face
- 45 resource tokens
- 72 product tokens
- 4 progress tokens
- 3 miner meeple
- 60 star authority tokens
- 6 player mats
- 34 Market Tile
- 8 rotating loyalty bonus markers
- 3 Unavailable action space markers
How about playing?
This is a worker placement game where you use dice as workers. Players start with two dice and can earn more through their actions. On your turn, you can choose to place one available worker, or take some or all workers on the board. Options open up with different types of spots on the board where you can place dice to perform actions. Players also start with two recruit cards that give them unique abilities. One is placed face up so you can use it from the start of the game, and the other is placed face down and must be unlocked to gain abilities. The faction associated with the recruit will likely also be an area to focus on using their actions.
The game is played in rounds and you try to place 9 of your authority tokens on the board. This can be done through various actions depending on how you play the game. You focus on building markets, collecting artifacts, and collaborating with factions that match your recruit cards.
There are plenty of action spots to take your employees to, each located in one of four different faction areas. Resources must be earned to be used to pay for actions. There are also morale and knowledge tracks that need to be managed. The more you know, the more likely you are to lose workers. This is because every time you roll a die, removing or retrieving it, a knowledge check is made, so if the value of the die plus the knowledge value exceeds 16, you lose a worker. There are ways to use resources to get that worker back, but this introduces a slowdown within your strategy. Morale determines the number of artifact cards you can hold. Artifact cards are very valuable in this game and can be used to place authority tokens.
Taking actions will slowly displace miners who are trying to access another faction’s resources. When a miner arrives at a specific location, anyone with a recruit card that matches that faction can flip it over and use the new ability. Once a miner reaches the end, players with recruits for that faction will have access to new worker placement spots, making it easier to acquire resources for that faction.
There is a construction site where you build a market, and anyone who contributes to the completion of a building can not only place one of their authority tokens on that building, but also unlock actions that others can perform. Other spaces help you manage your morale and knowledge. Another will give an extremely valuable artifact.
As players take actions from available Worker Action Spots, Loyalty Progression Tokens are moved, providing more resources and helping to optimize the player’s actions to give more resources. Recruit cards can also be unlocked in this track. Once you get the tokens to the end of this track, you can also place one of your authority tokens on a matching Recruit card.
Ultimately, there are many ways to place authority tokens, and the player who places the ninth token wins the game.
verdict
Overall, the game has some changes from the original, but the changes are minimal and the game presents a more streamlined version. You’ll be placing dice, removing dice, and hitting other players’ dice while keeping morale high and knowledge low. Building buildings, trading artifacts, and placing authority tokens remain the focus of the game.
The board changes and all worker placement spots are more clearly visible, making it easier to play, but the board changes and the changes dilute the thematic nature of the game. There are other slight changes to the rules such that the game ends when a player places their ninth authority token, after which everyone gets a final turn.
My favorite part of this game is the building construction involved. Because you can place authority tokens to get closer to victory. It also removes any negative effects that exist on everyone except those who have authority tokens on that building, essentially making it closer to victory while making it harder for everyone else.
You work on increasing the number of faction tracks that match your recruits, and eventually allow you to not only earn stars from them, but also bonus abilities. While doing big jobs, you’ll also need to manage your resources, make sure your subordinates don’t get too smart, and keep morale high so you can keep more relics that can be exchanged to place more authority tokens. Yes, at the end of the day it’s important to have more permission tokens in place.
Again, the new tweaks make it a bit lacking in theme, but the game is more polished and has little rules here and there that distract from how the game actually works, making it easier to play over and over again. So this is a dice placement game and you’re trying to place authority tokens from several ways to win the game.
As a side note, you can check out some of the other Stonemaier Games main mechanics, such as getting permission tokens to win the game. It is similar to Chicte. The dystopian theme isn’t bad. We all know many favorite stories with similar themes. The components are high end and there is nothing wrong with it. The new version is better gameplay-wise, but it’s a little less focused on themes, but that’s not a big deal for me. Because I played the original and already understand and know the theme.
Image via Stonemaier Games
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