Time Agent...a game about editing Time in your space faring species favour; and then breaking time machine invention so it's all good for you and no one else. Sounds simple and it probably is, but 6 of us played this game from from 8 until gone 1am and still it wasn't resolved. I think there is a reason why "chit" type of games of this type died out in the 90's. The idea of the game was to use chits of individuals and groups to go back in Time to lots of LetterNumbered hexes which have either coloured lines on or an Event. The aim of the game is to find Events and get them flipped to the side you need them flipped (from a Chart) that shows how it affects your species and those around you. You can also get hexes rotated to break lines to prevent technologies and even time travel itself from being created, all of which have positive or negative effects.
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And prize for a board game that most looks like
it's based on the Periodic Table goes to... |
The game suffered from an unfortunate
Monopolyism. Monopoly for me has a massive problem in that it is a game without end or one that the end is so hard to reach, people tend to give up and wonder why they played. This happened with Time Agent by 1am.
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Going back in time (the hexes) to change Events (little hexes with text) or
rotate to break coloured lines to prevent major inventions being invented. Or something... |
Eurogames and others like them have an inbuilt mechanism that provide a defined end point - a turn counter, limited cards, an event that happens. This game could and should have had one of these end game mechanisms, but it didn't, relying on the players to play the game well to end the game.
Unfortunately it'll mean I'll miss this game if it is played again.
