There seems to be 3 strategies to winning this game. A) Creating a money/mint creation engine. B) Creating a Star creation engine (some buildings increase the stars they provide as time goes on or other buildings are made. C) Blocking others while minimally helping yourself
Components:The instruction manual doesn't fit in the tin, so you have to cut the corners. No big deal, but the one downside to this product.
Rules:Whoever gets 7 stars first wins. In the case of the tie, the tied person with the fewest buildings wins
Player Interactivity:Being first player is really an advantage. It is always worth it to spend a mint to become the first player
Decar and I played a couple of games of this a few days ago and I really enjoyed it. I think it's fair to say that when we first tried to set it up and learn the rules I wasn't expecting much, and it took us a few "practice games" to get to grips with the rules properly, but once we knew what we were doing it turned out to be a fantastic little game. Very little in fact.
The instruction manual and the reference sheet do just about fit into the box I have, but only with a little bit of persuading. I don't think they would stand up to being taken out and put in again many times over, but I haven't had to resort to cutting the corners off yet!
My understanding was that since the number of stars aren't evaluated until the Upkeep phase, you might be the first to get 7 stars but if another player gets to 8 (or more) during the same turn they would beat you when scoring takes place. Is this correct?