Do you like logic? Do you enjoy solving puzzles given a limited amount of information and rules to follow? Do you wish that you had a game that could fit in a hand-sized bag (or your back pocket if you have man pants) that you could basically take and play anywhere?
On the other hand, do you like art? Good art? Really stylized and amazing art that will make you want to hide a game away from the world so it doesn’t get ruined?
If you answered yes to either of these questions, then I have a game for you! If you answered yes to both questions, welcome to my hell life.
This game is called The Shipwreck Arcana by Meromorph Studios. It is a very pretty game. It’s a co-operative, logic puzzle. It fits 2-5 players and takes about twenty minutes. This is a very pretty game.
That’s enough of a review, right? You’re ready to buy this game now, right? What? It isn’t? What do you mean you want to know the rules? Look at these cards! Look at them!
They’re gorgeous. Amazing. Don’t you want a set just like them? Look at these tiles. These wonderful wooden tiles.
Imagine the feel as you dig your fingers through the bag of these to draw out the two tiles you need. Hear the satisfying clack as you place these down on the table.
That’s still not enough? That hasn’t convinced you to buy this very pretty game. Fine. Fine. FINE. fine.
In all seriousness, the art style was what initially drew me to the game. While I was temp to buy it just for that, the gameplay is what forced my hand.
To start with, the goal of the game is to get seven points before gaining seven DOOM. This is a cooperative game, meaning you win together or lose together. Each player has a series of colored tiles in front of them, numbered 1 to 7. Four Arcana cards are placed face up on the board with the rest forming a deck nearby. Every Arcana card has a different logical rule.
Players take turns being the soothsayer. As the soothsayer, you will draw two tiles from a bag. This bag will start off with three tiles for each number from 1 through 7, for a total of 21 tiles. Once you have your two tiles, you will have to place one face up in front of one of the face up Arcana cards whose rule it follows. The rest of the players will then try to figure out the value on the tile you have kept. They can use the logical rule that you followed while placing your tile, the logical rules that you could or could not have followed based on your revealed tile, and any other tiles that are still face up in front of an Arcana card. This is where the tiles in front of each player come into play – to track the group’s deductions. The rest of the players can tell you to flip over any of the numbers in front of you that they think you don’t currently have in hand. They can discuss among themselves until they make the choice to guess or pass.
Guessing is straightforward: the players tell the soothsayer which number they think the soothsayer kept. If the players are right, you gain a point! If they are wrong, you gain a DOOM! Either way, the tile in your hand goes back in the bag. Alternatively, the players may choose to pass (in which case, the soothsayer retains their hidden tile for a future round) and play continues with the soothsayer role rotating. When the soothsayer role comes back around to you and you previously kept a tile, instead of drawing two tiles, you’ll only draw one. You will then proceed through the rest of the steps as normal, making sure to keep hidden which was your old tile and which is your new. You aren’t required to play your new tile on an Arcana card, but it usually helps keep the previous deductions relevant. That said, if the only rule that you can follow requires you to put down your old tile, then you have no choice.
“But what if you can’t follow *any* of the rules?” An excellent question! If that’s the case, then you will need to place the tile in front of the score card (known as The Hours). Then, your fellow players can use the fact that none of the rules apply to your tiles to figure out what tile you have. These tend to be the easier, since there are four rules that clearly cannot be followed. After that, the tile slides to the closest Arcana card.
“Wait, why is it sliding?” Because we need to move on to the next stage! The Fading stage. All the tiles have little diamonds on them, and every Arcana card has a number of moon phases on the bottom. If the total number of diamonds in front of an Arcana card are equal to or greater than the number of moon phases on that card, then the card fades. This means four things: One, the tiles below it will be returned to the bag. Two, a new Arcana card is drawn to replace it. Three, the fading card is flipped facedown to give the table some kind of power. These powers can range from asking the soothsayer a question, the soothsayer providing some additional information, or the group being able to make two guesses.
And finally, four, if the group does not guess correctly on a round where an arcana card is fading, they will gain an additional TWO DOOM! To be clear, that isn’t an additional DOOM for guessing incorrectly. That is two additional DOOM for the card fading without a correct guess. If the group guesses and gets it wrong, that would be a total of THREE DOOM! Play proceeds until one of the end conditions is met.
Now, you might be wondering if there is any way to modify the difficulty and the answer is yes indeed! The difficulty is determined by where you start the DOOM token. Easy starts off at 0, Normal at 2, Hard at 4, and Impossible at 6. “6? Doesn’t that mean you can’t get anything wrong?” Most Astute! But fear not, the name is not completely true! I’ve successfully played two games without gaining any DOOM. Perhaps a better name would just be Merely Insanely Difficult?
The closest game that I can compare Shipwreck Arcana to is Hanabi. The primary focus of the game is for the group to accomplish a goal with limited information. However, instead of providing restrictive hints, players use clear logical rules and are able to track their deductions visibly. This removes the need for players to remember everything that they have been told. Instead, the group will have to navigate when the set of logical rules could be interpreted different ways and they need to make a choice.
Unfortunately, the Arcana logic rules can be slightly dense to get during the first two turns, but by the time everyone has had one turn as the soothsayer, the flow of the game tends to pick up. However, the game does have two bigger hurdles. First, some of the logical rules can be incredibly hard to parse correctly. This can lead to players having different opinions on what a card could mean. Second, if most of the cards out are some of the more esoteric rules (like “Any 7 placed here only counts as having one diamond”) then it can be very hard to provide any meaningful hints.
The Shipwrecked Arcana fits in a nice space where the game is straightforward to teach, quick to setup and cleanup, and easy to carry about. It provides enough of a mental challenge without feeling overwhelming. And the art and quality are amazing. If you get the chance to play or buy a copy of your own, I can’t recommend it enough.
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