Oct
13
2016
0

10 Minute Heist: The Wizards Tower – Review

Designer: Nick Sibicky

Artisit: Denis Martynets

Publisher: Daily Magic Games

Number of Players: 2-5

Duration: 10 minutes

Daiy Magic Games very kindly sent us a copy of 10 Minute Heist which is now fully funded on Kickstarter, there is still time to back it here.

10 Minute Heist sees players working there way through a tower and trying to grab as much loot as they can. It is a super easy game to pick up and play with the rules being simple to learn and teach – which is always a bonus for a new game.

The simple premise of the game (without writing the rule book here), is to take a card that is on your floor and then move to a lower floor on your next floor again taking a card. Each card has a suit that it belongs to and some cards have special instructions. The first two players to exit the tower win additional points, and then the player with the most cards in each suit will get points as well. Player with most points win.

The game is almost a perfect information game, you see everything that is going on and know every card that has been taken. All expect on card, which os given in secret to each player at the start of the game, and could be the card you need to win a set.

There is however a major problem with 10 Minute Heist, and this is really only a problem for those who are playing with just two players. There are special set up rules for the game, which limit the number of cards in use – however tht doesn’t resolve the problem that is at hand. The game does not scale down well. The major problem being that this is a set collection game where all the information is clearly laid out for all players (except one hidden card). You know every card that you oppoenent is grabing and as the game is so quick (10 minutes, its in the title) its pretty easy to remember what cards they have grabbed. All this means is aoid those and go for a different set. Which is easy to do as thee are a lot of cards to chose from.

The kickstarter page does raise this problem, and the designers and publishers being top lads have listened to the critics out there and made some tweaks (so hats off to them). The change in rules defineltly tightens the game up a lot as it does limit the cards avaliable to you, and with basic tactics you can elimiante the crossover cards that will cause you problems. However, it doesn’t really resolve the problem. I really am struggling to recomend this as a two player game – and as that is how I play the bulk of my games that is a problem for me.

As far as the art goes, it is very appealing and fits the wimsical theme of the game. Denis Martynets does an excellent job in creating a world of intersting artifcats that are both elegant and light.

I really don’t want this review to be a complete downer, as I can see this working better with more players and it being more competitive when choosing hat cards to take, but as it stands as to player this doesn’t work for me.