Micro Reviews of Board Games From a Non-Competetive Perspective: Small World

Time for another board game mini-review, this time for: Small World.

Small World is a very popular board game that's been around for a few years, but yesterday was the first time I've played it.

A quick video review from our friends at Starlit Citadel:


I played a 2-player game with a friend and we had a great time with it even our first time learning the rules and playing.

Perhaps what surprised me the most about the game is that I tend to shy away from games where there is direct, repated player conflict/confrontation, especially when it comes to "area control" mechanics (like battling over spaces on the board).  Games like this (risk, etc.) feel much too confrontational to me, and they completely stress me out and make it so i don't have fun.  If i am losing i feel nervous and if i'm winning i feel guilty.  But Small World, which is based on such a mechanic -- was somehow free of any real confrontational "feel" -- which was wondeful.  If you have a friend (or friends) who might tend to shy away from competitive type games, I recommend you give it a try.

One of the hallmarks of the game is that players take control of special creatures whose unique special abilities are mixed and matched, so every game is a bit different.. It's an incredible achievement in terms of game balance and entertainment.  I think part of why it doesn't feel so confrontational is that over the course of the game, your chosen creatures (tribe) will suffer and you basically "retire" them when you want, and pick up a new set of creatures to control -- so in a way you're kind of happy to see them go into decline so you can play with a new set of creatures with new abilities.  It's incredibly fun.

One caveat to this game is that, while the rules are fairly simple, you'll constantly have to be reading a large sheet that explains powers and abilities, which can sometimes be a little tricky, so you might very well have a problem with smaller kids, especially if you don't know the powers by heart when you try to teach them.

Highly recommended: 5 out of 5.