Cardboard Corner: Review of Seasons

I don't know what the source game is, but there is certainly a sub-set of board games today in which players duel, spending resources to play special (often magical) powers in an attempt to drain their opponent’s life meter or achieve the most points. (Poker? No…) Magic the Gathering may in fact have been the first such game, but is at least the game that popularized the concept, and as a result there have been numerous games developed in the mold since. And there have also been games that play with the mold. Seasons does so by adding big, chunky, satisfying custom dice and limiting the card pool.

In Seasons, two to four players take on the role of magicians competing to earn the most prestige. They do this by kicking, fighting, clawing, and clambering—with cards and dice—to the top of a points ladder. At the outset, a card draft is held to determine who gets which cards, after which players divide their cards into three piles/years. The first player kicks things off by rolling the first season’s dice (winter), and selecting the die they want . Not your grandpa’s dice, Seasons’ dice are six-sided but otherwise have nothing else in common—more in a moment. Each player thereafter selects one of the remaining available die. Play then returns to the first player to use their die as they see fit—play cards into their tableaux, draw cards, etc. This repeats itself through winter, spring, summer, and autumn for three years. Different seasons having different dice and different matrices for transmuting resources into prestige, the years constantly evolve. Fast-paced with tight decisions and a splash of luck, the seasons turn until the end of the third year, at which time prestige is added up, and the player with the most, wins.

The dice. Each face displays a variety of information, including resources (earth, air, fire, or water), stars (to increase the number of cards able to be played), the option to draw a card, the option to transmute resources into prestige, and pips which indicate how far the seasons’ marker will move around the track at the end of the round. Cards requiring resources to be played, players must accumulate the needed resources and have the requisite number of available slots (granted by stars) to play a card. Cards where the game’s power play is, each should be played at the appropriate time and place to gain maximum effect. Dice usage and card play are the heart of Seasons.

There are several positive aspects of Seasons. The first would have to be how little (if any) effect is had on the game by changing player count. Scaling is great: two plays exactly the same as three or four. Secondly, set up time is amazingly quick. Take the boards, cubes, and dice out of the box, shuffle the cards, deal nine cards to each player and you’re off. Thirdly is the depth of the game. With dice and card draws, an element of luck certainly exists. But at the same time, a veteran player will always beat a newbie regardless of luck. Cards which at first seem singular, powerful entities, take on new aspects as combinations become apparent—this, leading into that, which allows me to… is a satisfying feeling. Adding to the depth is the limited card deck. Unlike Magic where seemingly any card can appear even as new packs are made available on the market, Seasons is an out of the box experience. Players with many games under their belt come to know the Seasons deck, and can therefore play games within games, which can lend itself to a silent knife fight in a phone booth. He knows I have that card because of the card draft and that I would likely play it in year #1, so I’ll hold off playing it to year #2, and instead try to pull off this other combo…

If I had any bones about the game, one would be the art style. I fully, fully appreciate that the designers were looking to get away from the tried-and-true Medieval motifs of Gandalfs, zip-zapping with lightning blasts in stone circles atop mountains. I respect them for trying something new. But the choice that was made is characters that could be Saturday morning cartoons or anime baddies, just as easily as “battling magicians”, leaving me to wonder what this game would look like with a different motif. Druids, pagan shamans, Vikings, or Shaolin monks seem better options. Art, thankfully, is largely preference based, so I assume for other players what exists in Seasons may in fact enhance play.

The other quibble I have is components. As mentioned, the dice are chunky, feel-good, great. The art on the cards, regardless whether the motif is liked or not, is good. But the remainder, particularly the player boards, wooden cubes, and tokens, are serviceable. Meatier components would go a long way toward making this game feel complete—something a touch more 3D that allows the cubes to fit into slots so they don’t slide around at the slightest bump, or that give the player boards a complementary feel to the chunky dice. I understand that designers could not predict the game would be a success, and therefore likely did not want to risk investing money in better components. But now, given the game is a success, it may be time to publish a deluxe version. I would buy one.

Despite the incongruous art (my opinion only) and the merely serviceable components (spoiled gamer?), at its core Seasons is solid, solid. A game that offers more with each step taken in the learning curve, it is just as enjoyable as a new player as it is a veteran. It’s just plain dependable. When things are up in the air, I know I can pull this game out and people will enjoy it. For care bears, be warned this game can get feisty. While take-that is not the name of the game, there are certainly cards which bring about negative effects on opponents, up to and including laying a spot of hurt on somebody before ending the game without them having a chance to fight back. That being said, veteran players will be aware of those possibilities and mitigate—the spot of hurt part of the learning curve. All in all, if designers were aiming for a dynamic version of Magic the Gathering with dice, then they wholly succeeded. Seasons is a winner. I await the deluxe version.