There is a shelf on my bookcase reserved for the classics; those iconic games which have stood the test of time and come of age. Games like Puerto Rico (Ravensburger), Stone Age (Hans Im Gluck/Z-Man), Carcassonne (Hans Im Gluck/Z-Man) and Catan (Kosmos) all deserve their place in my collection, even if today they can seem dated. But that shelf does not include the veteran Princes of Florence only because I missed it first and second time around; so when I got the chance to play and review the Korea Boardgames edition, released at Spiel Essen 2022, I jumped at the chance. Is this a classic game that I missed or a dud I ducked?
Princes of Florence is a tile placing strategy game designed by Wolfgang Kramer, Richard Ulrich and Jens Christopher Ulrich. It was originally published in 2000 by Rio Grande, with art by Eckhard Freytag and Franz Vohwinkel. That edition won a number of awards and more followed after it was republished in 2006/7 in multiple European languages by various publishers and again in 2010 in English by Rio Grande. The Korea Boardgames iteration has updated artwork by Lukas Siegmon.
Having missed earlier editions of the game I am poorly placed to comment on how it differs but I understand that the core mechanics remain unchanged and previous expansions are now included. You are still playing as the head of a famous Florentine family and are vying with each other to support builders, artists, poets and scholars to complete the most prestigious works of art. The premise is simple: you control artists that can produce great works but their importance increases if those craftsmen are inspired by you building certain parks or buildings in your province or if they are given certain freedoms of religion, expression or travel. Needless to say all these things cost, so some of the works of art are used to generate money whilst others are exchanged for the elusive Prestige Points (PP) which are the game’s victory objectives.
Each round begins with an auction phase in which players compete to buy one of the seven different 'objects'. These can be landscapes, such as forests, lakes and parks that inspire your artists. Alternatively, you can bid for characters such as the builder or jester that assist in building or increase the value of works of art. Finally, you can bid for prestige cards, which add to end-game scoring, or recruiting cards that allow players to steal profession cards from other players. Irritatingly, the auction comes with strings attached: bids start at 200 Florins and go up in 100 Florin increments, and each player can only take one item to auction. This becomes a conundrum: do you put up for auction the object you desire most only for the price to be hiked up by the other players or do you select the most popular item that will cause your opponents to spend heavily leaving you to pick up what you really want for a snip?
The action phase follows, where each player may do two things: either building, completing works of art, taking a profession card, introducing freedoms for your artists or acquiring bonus cards. Building is expensive without a builder and consists of taking a polyomino to arrange on your player board alongside any landscapes you may also have placed. Frustratingly, the polyominoes never seem to fit together conveniently (but I suppose that’s the point) and cannot be moved or demolished during the game. Completing works of art is the way to generate PP or cash, but each work of art must exceed a Work Value (WV) threshold that gets more and more difficult over the game’s seven rounds. The WV is determined by the profession card that specifies the features needed in the player’s principality, be it landscapes, buildings or freedoms, and is increased by owning those elusive jesters. Hence, throughout the game you are trying to acquire the landscapes, buildings and freedoms corresponding to your profession cards. Finally, after completing a work of art you are faced with the horrible choice of earning money for the work of art, at the rate of 100 Florins per WV or generating PP at the exchange rate of 200 Florins equals 1 PP. This is always Hobson’s Choice where you want the PP to remain competitive but need the cash for the next round where everything just gets harder and money gets tighter. Finally, the player that completed the best work of art gets an attractive bonus of 3 PP. The game ends after seven rounds with the player with most PP winning.
Playing the game feels like a constant puzzle where each and every decision is challenging. It always feels like there are five things you need to get but you can only achieve two. It feels like you are constantly battling the other players during fierce bidding wars, especially for the jesters, and then either running out of money or ending up with something useless. Then there is the frustration of trying to fit landscapes and building polyominoes onto your cluttered player board. It is also a puzzle to obtain the items required by your profession card to complete a work of art. However, finally when you get it all lined up and working, it is incredibly satisfying to complete a work of art, but then of course you are faced with the invidious choice between PP or cash. Don’t be fooled into thinking this game is middle weight and easy, its not. It may be mid-weight but it is complex, incredibly 'thinky' and so hard to play right, but then that’s one of the attractions of Princes of Florence!
So what do I like about Princes of Florence. Well it is a very good looking game, with attractive character art that allows players to choose their colour and gender in a way that I would have called 'woke' in a game with less impressive artwork. The profession cards are all beautiful and the iconography of the game is clear despite its complexity. I like the tense gameplay and the incredibly tight decision space that this game offers. However, the interaction between players is limited to the tense and often frustrating auction phase and the possibility of a 'got you' with a recruitment card. The game design is complex but brilliant! With so many moving parts and conflicting considerations there are many strategies that can be adopted. I found it a hard teach with inexperienced players but the more seasoned veterans at my local games club cottoned on easily to its rules and complexity and they soon drove up the price of those jesters!
What I don’t like about Princes of Florence is that I am terrible at playing it! I have yet to master where to place those polyominoes, I always get beat up in the auctions and I forever miss out on the most valuable work of art… but then I suppose that’s the game. The game definitely works better with four players than five, and tho' I've tried the solo play rules they never really gelled with me. However, my biggest dislike (and the issue that delayed this review) was that for months after playing the Board's Eye View review copy I couldn’t buy the new version in the UK, with only the earlier editions being available. Some vendors still only sell the 2010 edition, but fortunately the bigger online stores now stock the new version and you get a lot of game for the price. The same new edition has also been published this year by WizKids.
Overall, Princes of Florence is a complex, well-designed game. It offers tight gameplay with an attractive look and feel. It is definitely a classic that I missed and wins its place on my game shelf because of that. However, it is not a game for inexperienced gamers or those who want to put their minds in neutral and have an easy ride, so don’t get this out with the family thinking it will serve as a suitable substitute for Monopoly. However, if you want a challenging game to play at a games club then this could be the one.
(Review by Paddy Green)