Gain resources, expand your empire, and advance your civilization!
Stonemaier Games definitely has a home in my collection, as Tapestry is one of my favorite games. In this game, players attempt to advance their civilization from the past all the way to the future and into outer space! Players take turns conquering lands, exploring new territories, inventing new items, and researching the unknown.
Some may focus on building the world map to score points, while others will create new technology. Being the fastest-growing civilization rewards players with complex structures to construct on their land, which will gain them resources and points on their path to victory.
Most gameplay experiences are flat, with artwork on a game board and players moving a pawn around. Tapestry brings your civilization to life with 3D models of actual buildings that can be discovered throughout the ages. Even the pawns landing on the world map are towers instead of simple meeples. Every component has you immersed in your civilization, where the buildings constructed on your land fit the theme of your chosen path!
Mechanics: Area control, Resource management, Autonoma (solo play) mode
ART: 8/10
I love bright, fun, paint-like art styles. The civilizations, city mats, cards, and box art have moderate realism, with lovely color blends to create texture. The board, however, takes a quite different style: almost a cartoonish map with crisp lines and vibrant colors.
The graphics on the board and mats are extremely clear and tell you the game's rules without even having to read the already small rulebook. The capital city mat looks like a cartograph which also is very thematic given the evolution of a civilization.
STORYTELLING: 5/10
This all depends on how much you like to use your imagination. Some may feel like they are just spending randomly shaped resources to get the most points. The tapestry cards (era cards) thoughtfully express historical events that have happened throughout the centuries. The core actions on each improvement track feel like acts that would be taken to improve a civilization (conquering, exploring, innovating).
The 3D buildings also help you feel like you are actually “building up” your civilization. The core mechanics behind the faction you choose also feels thematic and might drive your gameplay a certain way. All of that aside, most of the time I feel so focused on optimizing a myriad of actions that I don’t really think about the theme behind it.
COMPONENTS: 10/10
This game went above and beyond with its components, including 3D models of real-life buildings from the past, present, and future, as well as 3D mini-income building huts made of various resources (brick, wood, hay, stone). Each civilization, income, and capital city mats have a rough texture, giving them that archaic feel.
The backgrounds of all three player mats blend together when laying them all side by side to provide a cohesive look. The acrylic tower tokens are textured and thematic, all with a nice vibrant color. The resource tracker tokens are also acrylic with bright colors and different shapes.
The dice used in the game are colored and engraved, which, as you may know by now, is something I always look for in a game. Cards are of average quality, hex tiles are smooth with crystal clear artwork, and the board is very thick and double-sided for varying player counts. I can’t find a single reason to dock points in this category.
COMPLEXITY: 5/10
I’m notorious for over-simplifying games, but I got a couple of friends who don’t play games often to play, and they picked it up really quickly. Sure, there are a lot of actions available to you (i.e., hard to master), but logically, if another player is way ahead of you on one track, your choices are narrowed down significantly.
You spend resources to advance on tracks and then gain the benefit. Ideally, you should be trying to gain more resources to take more actions than the other players. Maximizing your ROI is the challenge, but playing the game is so simple that the rule book is only a page or two. Most of the rules are displayed on the board itself.
TRAVEL-FRIENDLY: 0/10
Nope. This game takes up too much room and deserves the infamous title “tree in a box.” It is cumbersome, and you don’t want to damage it since every component is exceptionally well-made.
UNIQUENESS: 5/10
There are many exploration and civilization games out there already focused on expanding your empire, and a majority of games also have to do with Resource management. Even the advancement tracks exist in other games today, but this one feels the most simplified. Where uniqueness comes to mind is on the capital city board and its Tetris-style gameplay. I’ve played a few block placement games before (the most obvious being Blokus), but this one intrigues me.
You have to acquire buildings before other players that vary in size. But just like in reality, you cannot build on wetlands; therefore, you must strategically place your building on land only. The grid is laid out like sudoku, where completely filled rows and columns earn you points, and complete squares give you free resources. I find this additional layer of gameplay super rewarding if you plan ahead, and I’ve yet to come across anything like it.
Final Comments
I will say that I always play this game the same way every time. My husband plays the same way every time. The one time he tried to pick a different advancement track to focus on, it did not pay off, so he went back to the strategy he had before. One of the tracks feels significantly weaker than the other three making for a poor experience for those trying out that path.
Despite the moderate lack of replayability, I do love this game. I have fun working with the strategy I have and making sure to optimize every move. Playing with three or more players impedes my strategy, which adds to the fun by forcing me to try and recover from my losses.
I have yet to play this with five players, but I am sure that would be even more chaotic, and I would love to give it a shot. I think this game’s components and artwork draw me back to it every time, and the urgency I feel racing on the advancement tracks allows me to learn more of the ins and outs of the game.
Mash Up Of: Scythe, Civilization, Carcassone, Tetris.
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Publisher: Stonemaier Games
Game(s) Pictured: Tapestry
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