In this article you will find the Review of the the board game It’s a Wonderful World where we are going to reveal all its mechanics, as well as photos of all the components included in this Card Drafting game.
INTRODUCTION
In It’s a Wonderful World you will have the objective of obtaining the highest possible number of victory points. A game lasts four rounds. Each of the rounds is made up of three distinct phases: selection, planning and production. Once the fourth round is over, the game ends.
The game contains 150 development cards.
Each player starts the game with an empire card. There are a total of five: Aztec Empire, Republic of Europe, North American States, Asian Federation, and Pan-African Union. As important information about empire cards, say that they have two faces: A and B. The difference between the two is that the A side of each card produces different resources compared to its B side (indicated in the upper right corner) and that in Side A indicates an extra way to score points at the end of the game, while Side B does not. During game setup, players will have to decide which side to play on their empire cards and everyone must play the same side.
GAMEPLAY
As stated above, a It’s a Wonderful World game consists of four rounds. In each round the players will carry out the following phases in the order indicated here.
1. Selection phase (draft): Players receive 7 development cards that they will have to choose or transfer.
2. Planning phase: Players decide which development cards will play or discard in exchange for resources.
3. Production phase: Players receive resources that they must invest in their development cards to improve their empire.
END OF THE GAME
After finishing the fourth round the game ends. Victory points are earned directly by the development cards, either using a fix number or a multiplier. Players also get points for tokens that represent financers or generals.
The player with the most victory points wins the game.
DATA SHEET
- Name: It’s a Wonderful World
- Date of birth: 2019
- Place of birth: La Boîte de Jeu
- Son of: Frédéric Guérard (Designer), Anthony Wolff (Artist)
- Genre: Board Game
- Age: 14+
- Players: 1-5
- Time: 30-60 min
Its a Wonderful World in Game Travel Bag
ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
FREAKISM (Originality, Theme):
When I received It’s a Wonderful World and opened the box, the first feeling I had was honestly pretty bad. I saw that he had many cards. Later, I looked at the rulebook and when I started to read I thought “here we have another 7 Wonders that will not bring anything new to the gaming world”. Well, this feeling changed after playing two games, one with two players and the other with four.
Yes, it is true that mechanically it is a draft and therefore it is excessively similar to Sushi Go !, 7 Wonders and Carnival of Monsters, at least at this point. However, for me It’s a Wonderful World is above the previous ones. I consider that although it is a simple game, it has more strategy than they appear at first glance. Of all those mentioned, in my opinion it is the one with the most brain, in which you have to think more about which card to choose during the draft. And for me, games that makes you think and stay absorbed analyzing what to do at all times are my favorite.
Freakism score:
HYPE (Excitement, Replayability):
Playing It’s a Wonderful World is to think about building strategy-chains and development card combos. Which cards do I select during the draft and which of these will I sacrifice as recycling and which ones will I build, taking into account what I currently produce with the cards I have already built and what I will be able to produce thanks to the cards I just built in the current round?! For all this, It’s a Wonderful World has made me fall in love and I have put this score in this section. That anxiety of wanting to play one game after another is latent in me.
Hype score:
SANITY (Difficulty, Rules):
No, this game is not a problem learning or playing it. Myself and my partner got the concept after the first round of our first game and we realized right away what the issue was. And yes, the second game, which we played with four players, we began to build development cards combow. We only had a small mishap with the rule that indicates that resource cubes must be assigned as soon as they are obtained from the empire card or development cards that are under construction, that is, it is not possible to leave them “set aside” for in future phases and rounds assign them where we want. It was explained somewhat briefly. I have not tried the solitaire mode either, so the score in this section is based on what I have understood from the manual for playing two and four players, which has been excellent. Add that the manual itself summarizes in diagrams what is explained in an extended way, so it greatly helps to understand the text.
Sanity score:
DELUXE (Components, Design):
The insert of the box, which is decorated and not at all bland, further thematic of the game, is divided into four spaces in which the leftover material fits, including the cards. Of course, keep in mind that the cards are a little larger than the standard measurement, so you have to pull covers of at least 65mm X 100mm.
The game board is not really necessary, since in the end it happens as with the Carnival of Monsters, which seems more like a mat on which to put the tokens. Without a board you can play perfectly. At least they have deigned and put a considerable thickness on it. In fact, on the whole and except for the game box, which is somewhat squishy in my opinion, all the material is decent and good. I would say that some materials, the character tokens to be more specific, are overproduced, because even four players did not get to use half of them. On the other hand, the red cubes of Krystallium we were about to run out of physical supplies, although the manual already indicates that the materials, in practice, are unlimited.
Deluxe score:
GALLERY
It’s a Wonderful World displayed on our board game mat:
Game board and tokens. The colored cubes represent the different types of resources used on the development cards.
The Empire Cards are based on the great world powers:
Some development cards are reminiscent of fantasy and science fiction novels and movies:
CONCLUSIONS
Despite the first negative feeling I had when I received the game, It’s a Wonderful World has become one of my favorites in just two games. For me, it far exceeds the aforementioned Sushi Go !, Carnival of Monsters and 7 Wonders, as long as you look for a game that offers the possibility of more strategy compared to these. If you have not tried it yet and you like the draft, I recommend it without a doubt.
It includes a solo variant that I honestly haven’t tested yet. I have played two players and it also entertains me and I did not find it lazy. To four players, which is the number that we went during our second game, we did notice a bit more aggressiveness in the draft and when determining who received the different bonuses for resource supremacies in each of the rounds. Obviously, these types of games work well for four and five players, but I insist that two players did not leave a bad taste.
Our BGG Final Score:
The Doctor Frikistein® reviews are made without any sponsorship and with games purchased for our property.
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