Santorini
With the lockdown because of Covid-19, Santorini was one of the small fun getaway games. Since it’s published in 2017, we found out it now comes at a really fun price. So of course we had to add it to our collection.
How to Play.
Santorini is one of the easiest games to learn that I’ve played so far. The rulebook is 2 pages and it couldn’t be simpler. You move, you build, move to the top and win.
You get 2 builders per player to work with. On your turn, you move one of your builders to a neighboring space, and build 1 floor to an adjacent space of your builder.
Your builder can go 1 floor up, 1 floor down or stay on the same level if you move. You can’t move to a tile where another worker stands and you can’t stay in the same space. A full building consists of 3 floors and a roof top. If you can get your builder on the 3th floor. You win the game. However your opponent can always block you with a rooftop so no builder can stand on the building anymore.
If you want to change up the game, you can decide to play with gods. You get an extra card with a god that has special powers. Some gods can move buildings around or make your builders move faster for example.
Playthrough of the game.
The first thing that welcomes you when you open the box of this game is the colorful cartoon cards from the gods. Every familiar god from the Greek mythology made it to the game. We personally love the history of Greece and love to add the gods to the game.
But if you are not in the mood to think to much, playing without the gods is perfect for two people. Unlike other games this game is fast, fun and easy to set up. You don’t have to level up, gather recourses or earn the most points at the end of the game. You can just build houses and climb to the top. That’s what makes it so different and fun to play. It’s also really fun to play with kids. The meeples are well made and won’t break easily and it’s a great way to learn strategically thinking at a young age.
If you decide however to play with the gods, it ads more strategic thinking and diversity to the game. You can have a god where you can build two times at once for example, or you can even have a god power which changes how you can win the game. We also liked to change it up even more and play with two or three gods per player at the same time. It’s amazing how easy you can adjust this game for your right mood.
We wouldn’t recommend to play Santorini with more then two players even when the rulebook says you can play with three at the same time. The board is a little to small to comfortably move around with three players and it’s a little to chaotic in our opinion.
The only thing we are missing with this game is that it’s not easy to take it with you. Because this is such a light easy game to play, I would love to bring it along on vacation for example. But because of the size of the box, this is difficult to do. I would like to see a mini edition of this game that you can easily bring in any suitcase.
Final thoughts.
We love to play this game on lazy Sundays or a rainy afternoon. It’s easy, fun and adaptable to any mood. We definitely recommend to add this game to your collection.
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