Squink-Verlag is a young publishing house that was born out of a passion for games. Editor and publisher Claudia Heinzelmann has fulfilled a big dream with the publishing house and has been able to found her own publishing house. The fact that an Uwe Rosenberg game is the first title to be published by the publishing house promises great things! But how good is the title that is being published for the first time on the Game in Essen will be available, really? Find out in this review.
A great cataclysm caused the world of Shadera to shatter. An impenetrable veil divides the home of gnomes, wolper squirrels and mermaids into many different splinter worlds. The Portal Guild was created to open the portals between the worlds and reconnect them. As adepts of the guild, we want to prove our skills after long and thorough training. We compete against each other in duels to open portals through the veil to the splinter worlds. The first person to complete 20 tasks will be awarded Shadera's highest honor, the title of Portal Guard.
instructions from the master
Portals is a tile-laying game for 2 people (including solo mode), in which we try to cleverly line up portal tiles to open portals or activate magic spells. If we manage to do this, we can place one of our 20 portal stones. Whoever places all the portal stones first wins the game.
The game is quite simple. In the middle of the table is a game board with a total of 3x3 fields on which portal tiles are placed. The fields are surrounded by a path that our teacher circles around. At the beginning of our turn, we move the teacher one field further. The active player then takes one of three portal tiles from the game board to place it in his personal display. The teacher decides which tiles are available to us. The row he is standing in front of determines which tiles we have access to.
Open portals & cast spells
When placing the portal tiles, we try to ensure that as many energy fields as possible are connected to the corresponding energy circle. Energy circles are represented by the circle in the middle of the portal fields. Energy fields by the field or fields around the circle. We therefore try to connect tiles we receive with fields or circles that show the same energy. As soon as a circle is connected to four fields, we create a portal and can place a portal stone. The fields do not have to be directly adjacent to the tile with the circle, but can also be connected via other fields.
We can also try to cast spells. To do this, we must complete certain tasks: either create a connected field of 6 fields or enclose a connected field with at least three fields so that no further field of the same energy can be created. If we manage to do this, we can place one of our portal stones on our personal tableau that matches the energy symbol of the fields. This means that you can only cast one spell per energy. A good mix is therefore not a bad thing when it comes to casting spells.
Relaxed solo puzzling
If you don't have a second person to duel against, the teacher will challenge you to open as many portals and cast spells as possible on your own. In a solo game, we play with the back of the playing field, which only has 2x2 fields. So here we only have two tiles to choose from each round. Each field has 12 random tiles, which are gradually revealed. A good mix is important here, because if we empty a stack, we run the risk of not being able to continue playing at some point and having to end the game early.
The game ends as soon as we manage to place our last portal stone. If we manage to place more portal stones than we have on our last move, we can also place stones of a different color. Our own portal stones, together with the number of tiles we needed to reach the goal, give us our final score. The stones of a different color then deduct points. The goal is to stay under 30 points at the end, which is not that easy, since theoretically we only have 10 moves to place all of our portal stones (20 portal stones + 10 tiles = 30 points if we have not placed any portal stones of a different color to deduct points).
information about portals
| Number of players: 1 – 2 Age: from 8 years Playing time: 15 - 30 minutes Difficulty: Family game Classification: placement game Author: Uwe Rosenberg Illustrations: Vincent Modler Publisher: Squink Verlag Official Website: Link Year of publication: 2024 Language: German, English Cost: 39,95 € |
Conclusion
Portals is not the best Uwe Rosenberg game that the board game world has ever seen, but it is not the worst either. It was entertaining and was also a nice, relaxed game to play. You do have to think, but you don't have to rack your brains. It has elements of luck, but also small tactical nuances. For example, there are always two fields that our opponent has no access to. We can save these up and use them when the time is right. We can also deliberately steal our opponent's tiles and really spoil his fun. But this is never really punishing, because every energy symbol is available in sufficient numbers as a field or circle.
Even if the game doesn't try anything new in our opinion, it is particularly suitable as a leisurely after-work game. Even solo it is quite entertaining, if not exhilarating. I personally prefer other games, but the solo mode was still fun. Especially because it is also quick, easy and relaxed to play. Nevertheless, it provides a good challenge.
As the first game from Squink-Verlag, Portals definitely worth seeing. If you are interested in the game, you can get it at the Squink booth at the game in Essen for around 40 euros erwerben. You will find Squink in Hall 5 at Stand 5-E116.
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Edition Playground 59050G Pegasus Games Nova Luna* |
18,32 EUR |
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