Century: Golem Edition by Plan B Games is a straightforward game to learn and play, a nice revelation in a market brimming with games that take about as long to learn as they do to run. This edition of Century combines a resource draft mechanic that is reminiscent of Splendor with mild elements of a deck builder. Each player starts off with two cards, one to acquire gems and the other to upgrade them. Other cards are purchased with gems that give access to better gems or trades. The ultimate goal is to get the most points by drafting golems.
The game is delightfully tactile. The gems included are not cardboard punch-outs, but plastic. They come in four colors. Players upgrade gems to purchase cards and golems. A player can only have ten of these at a time. This limit keeps the player balancing the need to accrue gems to buy cards with the need to upgrade to purchase golems. Purchasing cards involves placing gems on prior cards in the purchase row. As an example, buying a card towards to end of the row means placing up to five gems, one gem on each card leading up to the one you want. If you have upgraded most of your gems to values above yellow, that can be a very expensive proposition. The cards by themselves do not count for any points at the end of the game, but they can drastically speed up a player’s ability to collect higher valued gems.
The actions a player can take are dictated by the cards in their hand. Once a card is played, it can’t be used until a player rests, effectively taking no action that turn except to pick up the cards they’ve used. Some cards give gems when played. Others upgrade those gems. The final kind of card allows gems to be traded for other kinds of gems.
The artwork really makes this game. Aside from the mechanics, the golems are well depicted and I found myself going for particular golems not for their points, but for the aesthetics. It makes for a calmer game experience: a nice break from the darker themes and settings of my group’s favorite games.
I’d recommend this game for people who enjoy Splendor and other similar drafting games. The upgrade mechanic allows for deeper strategy around trading. It also never feels like someone will run away with the game. Finally, it’s not a hard game to learn, and once you have the rhythm it moves along easily.
Ross Blythe is a Chicago based gamer interested in all things tabletop. He enjoys reading history as well as fiction, and so has a soft spot for historical wargames like Pike & Shotte. For the campaigns he runs as a DM he often looks to history for inspiration, for the lessons of the past to challenge the players at his table.
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