Collect magic keys and use them to open portals to other worlds!
If anything draws me to a board game, it’s the box art. Immediately mesmerized by the vibrant, trippy color scheme, I knew Portals was a game I would want to check out. At PAX East, the publisher set up a booth to demo a bunch of their games, one of which was Portals. With so many copies on display, I figured I should try it before buying it.
Deciding to take part in the free-to-play tabletop section, I found this game among the many tables of games to choose from. How perfect? There isn’t a better time to validate your game wishlist by playing tabletop during PAX weekend. Upon opening the box, I was a bit concerned as it looked like Azul, a game where I always beat my husband.
Though similar, Portals adds an interesting layer to Azul, making strategizing more complex and enjoyable for my husband. Rather than placing tiles in the same spots on their board, players vie for locations on multiple boards to place their elemental stones. Also, when placing your stones, they get laid in interesting positions rather than just a straight line. These position cards are the keys that open portals to new realms.
Mechanics & Categories: Tile Placement, Abstract, Puzzle, Drafting, Pattern, Set Collection
OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD STYLING
Portals allow you to travel to different realms and unknown worlds. The art of this game most definitely reflects that feeling. The box art is stunning to look at. I am mesmerized by glowing dust, clouds, and vibrant colors, looking at a castle in the far distance. With rocky terrain, gnarly roots, and flowing leaves, I feel like I am on an adventure exploring the elements the world has to offer.
Every elemental stone is a bright pop of color: green, purple, white, blue, and orange. Each has an elemental symbol on top, which is great for accessibility. I love it when developers are thinking about this level of detail. The large cardboard grids of elements also display those icons in matching colors. However, they look carved in stone, a bit more rustic to add to the adventurous vibe.
The key cards appear electric and glowing with an intriguing spiral portal in the middle, enticing you to place your stones and enter new worlds! The iconography clarifies to players how many stones would be required to power up that portal. On the edges of the cards are glowing squares; two, three, or four of them represent the difficulty of the key! Every tiny detail a designer can put into the game to save a player from reading the rules is a massive plus.
TACTICAL VARIABILITY
Let’s face it: There are many games out there where you ignore the other players when they take their turn while you focus on your next action. Sure, the players who pay more attention in these cases might fare a bit better, but it doesn’t often make a huge difference.
Portals punishes you severely for not paying attention to everyone’s plan. Since everyone is placing stones onto the same-colored grid, whatever plan you think you have can be easily foiled by someone placing their stones before you.
The key cards allow players to score points. Each card, however, has a number on it that determines the stone placement order. Those who have fulfilled their key card pattern will place stones onto the board. However, whoever has the lower number of key cards will place first.
In each game, different portal tiles are placed between players. In each round, new stones are randomly drawn to draft from. You can see how different each game can be. Being able to anticipate your opponents’ actions will give you a leg up in this game, which is very similar to chess. Adapt to someone taking your matching spot by trying to leverage points from adjacency.
A PUZZLE FOR ALL
Whether you want a strategic player-versus-player matchup, a complicated set-up with three other friends, or just a crunchy solo session, Portals has adaptations for any group size. Try to beat your score by playing solo!
Placing stones can be done in a myriad of ways. You score points for matching colors in the correct spots, but you can also score for matching neighboring stone colors. Trying to balance the benefits of each strategy becomes an exciting puzzle. Sometimes, placing a stone in the wrong spot might be far more beneficial if similar stones are already placed on the board.
Players can also place more stones than required to power a key card. Usually, to lay stones, you must select stones to place onto your key cards in the pattern shown, and once that is complete, you must place those onto the main portal boards. However, if players wish, they can play extra stones on that card to increase their chances of scoring additional points.
All of these considerations must be taken into account to win. Regardless of player count, you can see there is an interesting puzzle ahead. The puzzle only gets harder when you try to anticipate your opponents’ actions!
Final Comments
While I enjoy Azul, Portals has a really refreshing strategy component that stands out. As someone who loves a challenge and learning, Portals scratches that itch but remains simple enough that newer players can still try it out. It almost feels like vying for territory. The sense of urgency and the challenge of optimizing my score is exactly the kind of puzzle I am looking for.
Portals is an excellent choice if you are looking for a medium challenge and a game that doesn’t take an hour just to set up. It appears to be a lesser-known game, but surely you won’t want to miss this one. Bite-size, puzzle fun that can be done alone or with a few friends in under an hour! There is no major con to Portals. It would be a great addition to your shelves that can improve your strategy (and paying attention skills) and could help you in all other games you play!
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Publisher: CrowD Games
Game(s) Pictured: Portals
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