The card game "Carnival of Monsters" is the latest trick by cult author Richard Garfield, who launched a completely new genre in the 90s with the trading card game Magic the Gathering. His new work, which was published by Amigo Spiele in Germany, is again about cards, again about monsters, again about countries - but there are no fights. The following review reveals whether the idea still works and entertains.
Carnival of Monsters' journey from prototype to finished product was rocky. The first Kickstartercampaign, the card game was originally only supposed to appear on the US market and be financed via crowdfunding, but was not successful. The card game finally made it to the market - and it was even published in German by Amigo Spiele.
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Infobox
Number of players: 2 to 5 players
Age: from 12 years
Playing time: 30 to 45 minutes
Difficulty: medium
Long-term motivation: medium
Publisher: Amigo Spiele (German version)
Author Richard Garfield
Graphics: Dennis Lohausen, Claus Stephan, Franz Vohwinkel, Loic Billiau, Martin Hoffmann, Oliver Schlemmer, Michael Menzel
Year of publication: 2019
Language: German
Cost: 35 Euro
Conclusion
As a long-time Magic lover, I was delighted to finally get a "real Garfield" back on the gaming table. Even the first impression was convincing: the visual brilliance of "Carnival of Monsters" picked us up straight away and motivated us for the first game. It's fun to look at the cards and so that something remains of this motivator in the long term, we refrain from simply leafing through all the cards - so there is always something new to discover. There is a lot going on on the table anyway, due to the structure. The menagerie is packed with coins, cards, dice and tokens - awesome!
The monstrous draft card game gets you started quickly. The set of rules is straightforward, and the editorial work-up was successful. The first drafts are completed quickly and the fear of loss is always a factor. Choosing something at “Carnival of Monsters” always means making a decision against something else. You can't save everything as a player and so you try round by round to make a selection that you are satisfied with.
The more experience you gain, however, the more obvious are possible strategic decisions, including about which source will probably get the most points at the end of the game. The predictions don't always come true, the drafted cards are too uncertain, but that is exactly what makes up part of the appeal. "Carnival of Monsters" is not a playful sensation, but a card game with a solid, functioning mechanism that does not make any major mistakes. The game entertains, creates frustration and joy and repeatedly prompts decision-making. The decisions are also influenced by the seasonal goals on display: sometimes monsters from the waterlands grant bonuses, sometimes other countries are the focus of lucrative strategies.
All actions are embedded is the knowledge that every game game is tightly limited and finite. Four rounds are played, players can optimize for four rounds, then it's definitely over. That is a good thing, because it turns “Carnival of Monsters” into a manageable card game that not only encourages decision-making, but also makes it necessary.
