I talked a little bit in chatroom with Merlin_89 after our Base Game League games a few days ago, and now had another couple of games with my regular game group, after I introduced another group to the game before my chat with Merlin. I played games of 4 and 5 players, and it suits great these player counts, though I suspect, it might scale down to 2 and 3 nice as well. Setup is simple, and you see nicely on the board, how to adept to different size of the group. So far, everybody, I played with, and myself, really enjoyed this game, so I thought, it might be time to share my thoughts here about it.
It is rather unique, because it was initially produced not by a regular game company, but by an institute for historical remembrance, and from these type of games, you would normally expect some recycle of old designs like Monopoly or "Snakes & Ladders" with some pasted on theme. Instead Kolejka is a fresh and interesting to play modern board game, which very well fits the unique theme it presents: queuing in Poland of the 1980s in front of shops, for days, for food, toilet paper and other things of the daily needs.
The game is very tactical. At first glance, I suspected, it might be a pure luck fest, like said biased by the origin of this game. But it offers a good amount of choices, how you can react with the cards you have in hand on the actions of the opponents, also when to pass, and when not. Additionally memorizing the action cards, which had been plaid, and the deliveries, which had been made, can be a huge benefit on the last days of each week. In this regards, Kolejka needs similar skills like Carcassonne, but plays out hugely different nonetheless.
Although the rules are easy to grasp, the game is very deep by thematic means. It is amazing, how historical everything feels. Growing up, I was familiar with Polish folks standing in line for days in front of shops from television, but the rule book makes an excellent job, to set all the cards in historical context, and giving a much closer look at this period. In the three game, I had, there was never a winner by completing the shopping list. Instead, all goods of at least one item was depleted earlier, and the winner was determined by who got most of their personal list. I think, this also reflects a bit, how communism days had been in Poland.
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