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Emerge

In Emerge, from Pandasaurus, the 2-4 players are placing out and expanding islands, and populating them with plants, crabs, turtles, seals and birds, with their actions over eight rounds determined by the six-sided dice they roll and how the dice rolls are allocated.



The animals have to be placed out in sequence (you can't place a turtle on an island unless it already has a crab) and only where there are already plants, so you shouldn't expect to be able to make use of all your dice rolls every turn. On the other hand, dice can be left in situ and so the dice roll carried forward to the next round. This is helpful because you'll often need a multiple of a particular roll to take the particular action you want.


A key feature in Adam DeYoung's design for Emerge is the facility players have each round to modify their player board with card overlays that mean that die rolls have a different effect to that shown on their board. In the early stage of the game, for example, you're very much more likely to be placing out plants than seals. Ordinarily, 1s are used for plants and 4s for seals but by placing a plant overlay on your 4 spot, you can ensure that you can place out plants when you roll 1 and/or 4. The overlays also let you modify a die roll.



Ultimately, players' score for each of their islands will be the wildlife on an island multiplied by that island's size. In addition there will be points for being ahead of others in achieving the randomised objectives set out at the start of a game; for example, for having seals on at least two islands.


Emerge is a game with a distinct arc: it starts slow but builds incrementally over its eight rounds. Tho' you're rolling dice, there are ample opportunities for dice mitigation and manipulation so Emerge doesn't feel like a game of luck: you'll feel you're using the dice rather than being left at their mercy. And anyway you can always spend any two dice to buy one of the 'discovery' tiles from a display of three. These can give you valuable bonuses.


Pandasaurus and artist Tom Goyon have done a great job with the presentation of Emerge. With its long board and increasingly populated three-dimensional islands, this is a visually striking game. It's a light-to-medium weight game that's not hard to teach or learn, and even with a full complement of four players games you can expect to play in not much more than an hour.


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