Greedy Greedy Goblins Review

Richard Garfield is arguably the most influential modern board game designer. Heck, even if he had just designed Magic: The Gathering that would still be true. But he’s actually put out a modest set of children and family games since Magic hit it big, and they often explore some interesting and unique design spaces. They’re always highly interactive and usually a pretty good time, and all of them bear the trademark Garfield focus on fun and interaction. (We’ll forgive you for Rocketville, Richard.)

Greedy Greedy Goblins, Garfield’s latest release from publisher AEG, is no exception. The game takes a helping of Galaxy Trucker, a pinch of Welcome to the Dungeon, and a big glop of zaniness and mixes it all together in a family-friendly package. It’s a superb and silly little game that will constantly challenge players’ bluffing skills, reaction times, and willingness to risk it all.

At its core, the game is about building a set of tiles that you want to take before anyone else does, while poisoning the well of your opponents’ juicy piles of goodies. You’ll grab tiles from the middle and put them in one of the different hidden stacks that are constantly growing around the outside of the play area, and when a pile looks really promising, you’ll slap one of your control markers--your “goblin miners”--on it. You’ll want to keep an eye on what the other players are doing, of course, because there’s a good chance they have a tantalizing load of points hiding in one of the stacks near them. Savvy players will find just the right time to horn in on those stacks to score big points at the end of the round.

If you were waiting for the catch, here it is: this all happens in real time. The game doesn’t look like much on paper, but in play, it’s a whole different animal. You’re staring down the other players like that scene at the end of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” just waiting for someone to make the wrong move so you can poke them in the eye. “Add one more gem to that pile--I dare ya!” you’ll think just before you slip in and claim a juicy mine as your own.

Of course, during the scoring phase, you’ll then discover that the mine was poisoned with three or more dynamite sticks, which blows the whole thing sky-high and penalizes your gang of goblin miners. The push-your-luck element is augmented by these little dastardly TNT sticks. They are a real nuisance--but if there are only one or two sticks in your mine, the treasure becomes that much more valuable as the dynamite acts as a multiplier.

So the game challenges you to build the very best set of treasure tiles for yourself, all while convincing your friends that it’s really not a good one for them to claim, all while eyeballing their piles to try to yank them at the best time, all while deducing which mines have just one stick of dynamite too many. As you can see, there’s actually a lot to think about despite the simple structure of the game’s rules, and there are several sneaky tactics you can employ that may not be apparent right away.

The game also includes special power cards you can grab throughout the course of play, cards that will help you earn more points, or avoid dynamite, or make a mine more worthwhile for yourself. They’re not particularly off-the-wall or inspired, but they do help to make the game that much more enjoyable for an audience of seasoned gamers who expect that kind of thing.

Despite my overall enjoyment of the game, I do think its pacing is a little off-kilter. You can knock out a round of the real-time play in just a minute or two, and then the scoring can take five times as long as players begin to build up more and more power cards to calculate in. It’s really not all that bad and doesn’t become too much of a chore, plus it’s exciting to watch other players’ mines either cash in or cave in as they reveal the tiles they claimed. But it can cause the game to lurch a little bit like an off-balance mine cart rather than purr like a… goblin kitty.

The production leaves a little to be desired, as the tiles have generic icons on them instead of full-color art. But they’re hefty and enjoyable to handle, so it’s something of a wash. The plastic goblin markers look like something out of an old Milton-Bradley game rather than a modern production and they’re just crying to be replaced with cute goblin miniatures.

But the gameplay’s the thing here, and it’s done really well. If you like real-time games that find their success in a high level of interaction and backstabbing among players, Greedy Greedy Goblins is the sweet spot.