Keyflower Review

Richard Breese’s Key series may have reached its zenith with Keyflower. It takes some familiar mechanics – auctions, route building, pick up and deliver – and blends them together into something that is new and exciting. Not only that, but the experience is very tight and keeps players engaged by requiring careful planning and management.

Players begin with eight random meeples drawn from a bag. They come in red, yellow, or blue and are essentially currency. And they are kept very, very secret. Then, the “Spring” round begins and a number of tiles are put up for auction. To bid on a tile, you simply take a number of meeples of the same color and place them next to the tile. If someone wants it more, they place a greater number of meeples of the same color next to it. Easy, right?

Well, it gets a little more interesting than that. You see, once a blue meeple is bid on a tile, no one can bid anything but blue. In other words, the first bid sets the color for the tile. So there may be a tile that you want very much. But if someone bids two yellows, and you have no yellow meeples, you are not going to get it. Simple as that. At the end of the round, all winning bids are dumped back in the bag.

The result is a fantastic tension. You really want to bid early on tiles because you want to set the bidding color where you are competitive. However, that also lets everyone else adjust as necessary and, if they still have their meeples, maybe they outbid you anyway. So, instead, it may be a good idea to bid later when players have used up most of their meeples and will have a harder time outbidding you. Of course, by waiting until later, you run the risk of someone else jumping onto that tile and bidding in a color where you can’t compete. You can’t do both and this dilemma, and the choices and strategies that come from it, are key (see what I did there?) to enjoying the game.

But even if someone outbids you, all is not lost. While a tile is up for auction, anyone can place meeples on it to use its ability – so long as the color matches any other meeples that are there already. And, if a tile is used in that way, the winner of the tile gets to keep all of those meeples – a great way to give you more bidding power on future turns. Even afterward, you can use tiles that have made their way to other players by placing meeples on them. Those players will keep those meeples as well. But it’s a great way to use meeple colors that are uncompetitive, and can actually be used to stymie a player who purchased the tile. If his tile fills up with your meeples, he can’t use his own tile.

There are only four rounds in Keyflower – Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. And the game changes dramatically over that time. Spring tiles tend to be about resource production. Then Summer and Autumn tiles show up with various different effects – including making exchanges of meeples and craft goods, or even gaining the coveted green meeple. And finally, all of the Winter tiles are ways of getting bonus points at game end. Because, once winter is done, so is the game.

Along with the rest of the tiles, players also bid on the right to select the boats. Each round, the boats are seeded with random meeples. Some have more than others or include craft goods. Bidding to ensure that you get to select the boat that gives you the right color currency is often essential. That is the primary way you get new meeples for the next round. And without them, you won’t be doing much.

With only four rounds, the game is extremely tight. You simply don’t have that much time to build any kind of “engine” that you can run for greater points. Plus, with less than the six player maximum, you will randomly remove some tiles each game. The result is that even if you could build a particular point engine, a critical tile could be absent from the game entirely. Or someone might bid for it in a color you don’t have and your whole system would fall apart. The result is a game that requires long term strategy, but also deliciously tactical means to achieve it.

Keyflower keeps you focused on your larger goals the entire time. There isn’t much opportunity to fritter around with tangential strategies. And, while it lacks a “take that” element, you can do all sorts of things to stymie your opponents. In fact, a late turn move to outbid someone can cause a cascade effect. Maybe they had three meeples and you bid four. Then they take those three meeples and bid them in a place where the winning bid was two. That player then takes his meeples and bids on a tile being won with one meeple. Judging how the players will shuffle bids, and using colors to force other players out of bids entirely makes this title one of the most interactive euros on the market today.

Objectively, the game has few flaws. Still, this may not be enjoyable to all gamers. It isn’t especially casual-friendly, and if you prefer to build up your own little city unmolested by opponents, then this isn’t for you. It also usually requires a play or two to fully enjoy. I’ve seen many players feel the game is lackluster on an initial play. But once it is understood better, the experience improves dramatically. If you are looking for a tight, cutthroat game, filled with tension and engagement, along with a system that allows for deep thought and careful planning, then Keyflower is probably for you.