This game has been one of our most-discussed and played games in the past, and of course there is the computer conversion by our Westpark member Günther Rosenbaum. So everybody was happy to get this game back on the table, in its shiny new version with added expansions and new tactical possibilities.
St. Petersburg is still an excellent game and has lost nothing of its original appeal. It merges an accessible and easy rules system (which is – despite the theme – a completely abstract empire building style card game) with a fast playing style that gives many options for the players. The main new addition is the “market”, which is a new victory path that players can either concentrate on or that can be combined with other victory paths.
The new rules integrate seamlessly into the system and really add something to the game, so it can probably be forgiven that the mini-expansion that was only available for Kickstarter supporters of the new addition is a bit lame. St. Petersburg is still alive and kicking and can be wholly recommended!
If someone had told George Orwell in the year 1948 that humanity would deliberately try to create the perfect dystopia in the future, he would have thought they are mad.
„Discovery“-Games have always been one of the holy grails of game design – how can one design such a game without putting through much stress on luck (when one doesn’t turn over the „right“ discovery tiles)? The new game by Marcel-André Casasola Merkle tries an interesting path here by making the victory conditions variable through cards, but also makes these same cards available for drafting, which can turn the luck of one player against him/herself in the next round. Through this there is more interaction and competition than in other “discovery” games, and also the game length hits a good and comfortable mark. For us this is one of the real “discoveries” of the current games on offer!