Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I had the chance to get a copy of Photosynthesis and meet the designer for a few minutes at the Blue Orange booth at GenCon. Hjalmar Hach was incredibly nice and described the game as a "gamer’s game", probably not for my family with young kids. Things I liked: Beautiful Artwork – It’s a game about trees! Yet, each of the four players have their own unique tress, making up a forest tableau in front of them. The tree components and the board look good, box cover is cool. The game just pops with bright colors, like a fall forest in Northern Michigan (my home state). Mechanics Fit the Theme – You are collecting sun to grow trees, chop them down and score them. Clear as day. The sun goes around the board in a predictable pattern. Trees block sun from other trees. When explaining the game rules, things will “make sense” because people know how trees grow. Unique Spatial Engine Building – The best part of the game is deciding where to plant your trees to gather sun from the six spots around the board. You’ll want to look for straight paths to the sun, avoiding your neighbor’s trees. Ultimately, you are thinking about the next SIX spots the sun will be…That can take a lot to think about, making this game better for older kids/adults. Simple, yet Meaningful choices – Each tree can do one grow action per turn. The iconography is clear, you pay sun points to purchase seeds and trees, you spend sun points to throw seeds and grow trees. There is one currency, sun. You want as much as Might not be for everyone: Aggressive Play Benefits – The best moves are when you can block your opponent from getting sun, or block them from a key spot in the forest…while also greatly benefiting yourself. This could frustrate people who like more solitaire game experiences. You are fighting for light in this forest! No Luck – You will win or lose based on how well you placed your trees, how efficiently used your resources to build an engine and score some trees, and how whether you got blocked a bunch. Generally, speaking we all cut down three trees. The winner cut down four trees to edge out a victory. Calculating Sun – You’ll get better, but calculating how much sun you got on a turn can be mistake prone in the beginning. A tall tree blocks three spaces behind it, a small tree one space. You’ll get the hang of it and be producing 10 sun points by the third round. Other thoughts: The game works at all player counts. Two is sort of weird since you go as first player, then the next player goes…becomes first player and goes again. But, it works. Three is probably the sweet spot cause the board is TIGHT at four players blocking each other out. Overall: Photosynthesis is a beautiful game that will catch your eye if you were walking past a game. It’s unique theme fit the game perfectly, and helped make the rules explanation fairly easy. The mechanics are simple enough that you can pick up on things by three or four turns and not have any questions. The game benefits from well thought out aggressive play, luck is not a factor. You’ll make some great moves, you’ll likely get screwed over a couple times. And, you’ll have a cool forest to look at when the game ends.