First Play Review of Eminent Domain by Tasty Minstrel Games

This is a first play review (FPR) of Eminent Domain. This review will contain the details of the game from Theme, Components, Rules and overall play. There will be a follow up review after playing the game with varing group sizes and multiple tests.

Theme: Eminent Domain is a Science Fiction themed game of space exploration and colonization.

• FPR: This theme is light, and will not scare away anyone who is not a Science Fiction Fan. This theme could easily have been exchanged with a civilization based theme or Fantasy. The theme is cohesive and does work well in the game. The good part is that even though it is light it does not feel as if they pasted on a theme. Overall good simple theme that adds a little fun for those who like Science Fiction while not scaring away those who don't.

Components: The game components are playing cards, central board, plastic counters, wood counters and cardboard counters. 

• FPR: The art work and components are of good quality. The cards are thick which will help them to last for more playing. The text on the cards and playing board is an easy to read font with good contrast between black and white for the majority of the text. The important rules text is high contrast, while the flavor text (planet names, special ability text etc...) varies color to fit with the art work.The imagery on the cards is easy to decipher and looks good. This game uses iconography, which is the uses of icons or symbols to represent a phrase, action or word. This is similar to street signs using a red octagon to represent a stop sign. Good news is that there is a very small amount of iconography to learn, and with it being used heavily in the game most players will learn the icons quickly. The icons/symbols are easy to see and have good contrasting colors allowing for quick identification.The plastic ships are black and only black. This does ruin some of the detail that can be found on the ships, but is of little importance to the game. And only minorly affects the overall look. The ships do vary in size allowing for more fun during conquering by using an armada of ships both large and small. The wooden counters are nice and vary in a muddy color range. The central board is nice has some good artwork on it and helps to organize the playing area.

Rules: The rules are very concise, and for the most part very clear. The book has a good layout, is easy to read text with good contrast and fits in well with the rest of the artwork used in the game.

• FPR: Rule books are very hard to review as many of us read, understand context and structure of written documents differently. Even a minor difference in understanding can cause a big difference in play. The rule book is easy to read, and flows very well. Allowing for quick setup of the game. As you read you will think this game is very simple in play and should be great fun. Explaining the game however can be a little bit harder. I wonder if it is harder to explain because the rule book is so simple that there is just not a lot of things the instructor can take out without loosing the group. And of course each audience being different the instructor may have to spend more on one area of the rules than another. I would advise that you use the simple rule book (or a guide like this one on Board Game Geek (Summary Teaching Guide)) to make sure you explain the details, not answer any questions (except the what did you say ones) during rule explanation and then answer everything after. This will help the flow as well as allow everyone to understand how simple the play is. Often questions during the explanation cause more confusion when the play is simple. After explaining the complete rules then answering the questions will provide the clarity the group is looking for. Things I would have like to see in the rules would be examples. Especially examples of uncommon but potent combinations. The last item I would add or change would be implied rules. I will get into the details in a moment in over all play, however I will touch on it here. It would be nice instead of leaving us with no specifically stated guidance on role cards counting when selected, to have a rule stating that the role card symbols add to the cards played.

Overall Play: 

Theme: Light

Depth: Medium

Strategy: Medium Heavy

Luck: Moderate

Playtime: 45 minutes up to 2 hours depending on group size and experience

Setup: Easy 5 to 10 minutes (if you are meticulous)

Clean up: Easy 5 to 10 minutes (depending on how you organize items in the box)

Quantity of components: Moderate amount (See components for details)

My ranking: Really liked it (4 out of 5) or (8 out of 10)

Eminent Domain is a smooth game, and plays very quickly.  The game has interaction between players but the interaction does not generally impact you in a negative way or hamper your plans. This makes it easier for you to plan your actions and actually follow your plan. The game will not have a lot of variety in what it presents but does have a lot of variations on ways to win. This is a great game if you have one to one and a half hours available for play (depending on experience and number of players).  Eminent Domain would fit nicely in the gateway games category, it is more of a game for gamers but is easy enough that most casual or non-gamers can pick it up and have fun.

• FPR: There are moments where the game slows down because you are anxious to make your next move, however this does not make the game lag. This game is definitely a unique twist on the deck building games currently out. Deck building games start you off with a standard set of cards (your deck), that match every other players cards. Then through some actions you add cards to your deck. At the end of any deck building game you will have a deck that is different than all of your opponents. And if you did a good job building your deck, you have a winning deck that is better than your opponents. Although the game did not completely WOW me in the first play (which was with 2 players) it was definitely a fun game to play.  I really enjoyed the role choice and actions within the game, this unique take really added a lot to the strategy of the game. I like the game and I am excited to play it again. Other positives for the game is that it has a small foot print allowing it to take up only a little table space, it is easy to teach and learn and has some depth to it. Check out my next entry to find out how to play the game. Hopefully in less words than it took to review the game.