Weeks earlier than the pandemic hit, I used to be plotting a course to go to the UK with London as a central vacation spot. And whereas I’ve not had the chance to revisit these plans, the thought of getting out into the world and touring internationally once more has continued to enter my thoughts.

Next Station: London, revealed by Blue Orange Games and designed by Matthew Dunstan, is a flip-and-write recreation that duties gamers with reimagining the London Underground. Even although I’ve not skilled the metro on this faraway metropolis, I can now a minimum of reimagine the zig and zag of multi-colored traces crossing by way of districts and passing below the Thames. It’s time for a bit of revisionist gameplay.

Gameplay Overview:

Next Station: London incorporates a comparatively easy ruleset and motion design house. The recreation performs from one to 4 gamers in about twenty-five minutes. Each participant is given a sheet that includes an summary map of London with 13 districts displayed as a grid. Within these grids are symbols that characterize stations, in addition to some that function compass factors to designate them as vacationer locations.

Four in another way coloured pencils are distributed amongst these taking part in and are handed to the following participant after every spherical is full. Each session finds a participant using all 4 colours to attract routes on the map associated to the 4 metro traces. Stations may be visited by a number of colours, however routes can’t cross over a line that’s already been established. As such, it’s vital to not field your self in, as routes are drawn from the furthest fringe of the observe and solely a particular card can permit a junction to be positioned.

How do these routes emerge you ask? Well, there are 5 pink playing cards with varied station symbols, in addition to six blue playing cards that function varied symbols and one junction. These are shuffled and drawn one after the other, till a fifth pink card is drawn. As such, rounds with a specific-colored pencil could final from 5 to 10 turns. Players draw a line from their beginning station to an adjoining image that matches the drawn card. Thankfully there’s a wild card of every coloration that assists in moments the place you want a sure image to proceed.

End-of-round scoring relies on what number of districts had been visited multiplied by the most important variety of stations you visited inside a single district. Players add factors for what number of instances their line crossed the Thames which flows by way of the central districts. Players additionally cross off what number of vacationer locations they visited and for every crossed off it will increase the potential factors for this on the finish of the sport.

Each coloured route proceeds similarly. Once all 4 routes are full gamers additionally achieve factors for what number of stations function connecting routes of two, three, or 4 totally different traces. The recreation additionally comes with two extra modules that may be added both individually or collectively. One offers a random energy to every coloured pencil that can be utilized as soon as per spherical. These powers stick with every pencil as they’re handed every spherical. The different gives shared goals for all gamers.

Game Experience:

Ultimately it is a multiplayer solitaire expertise as gamers go round pencils and puzzle out one of the simplest ways to attract their present line to maximise factors. Outside of the ultimate comparability of scores, there’s not a lot right here that gives an extroverted pleasure. Yet, there’s one thing satisfying about the best way that every participant makes use of the identical card attracts for various traces and the way a easy resolution to attract a line in a sure course could cause pressure for the following draw.

The card draw mechanism right here could also be the very best ingredient. You by no means understand how lengthy a spherical goes to final, however with solely ten playing cards of every coloration (the eleventh card being a junction choice), gamers can simply press their luck by figuring out which symbols are nonetheless within the draw pile. There’s been pleasure at our desk when a card draw doesn’t go our approach, adopted by a second of silence in instances the place the draw prohibits a authorized transfer thus necessitating a missed flip.

The different beauty of Next Station: London is the optimization puzzle. The design of scoring factors primarily based on constructing a route in a number of districts but having that be multiplied by your largest quantity in a single district creates a singular tug of struggle with the way to proceed. This, coupled with factors for crossing the Thames, in addition to the necessity to join a number of colours to a single station, all add numerous enjoyable pressure for such a brief expertise. It’s additionally price mentioning that 4 of the districts are single stations on the corners of the map, so searching for them out pulls you additional away from interchanges and the Thames.

The art work by Maxime Morin is vibrant and playful. There isn’t a lot past the Thames illustration on the maps although that pertains to London. The sheet may really be any metropolis, and the individuals within the artwork really feel like they’re from a generic enterprise graphic design mission. As such, the theme actually pertains to the breezy flip-and-write, if not fairly impressed, and you’ll see the place if profitable this might spawn extra Next Station video games for various cities.

It’s a disgrace that this recreation didn’t include totally different maps to strive. The variability can be a pleasant addition. Also, whereas the coloured pencil powers are actually enjoyable (want there have been a pair extra choices), the shared goals module isn’t as nice. The goals are fairly simple to attain and we’ve not felt that they’ve added a lot to our classes with everybody scoring the identical for them. It should even be famous that the ultimate interchange scoring may be unnecessarily tough as you scan by way of the map to seek out them.

Final Thoughts:

London nonetheless eludes me, although by way of no fault of this recreation. We’ve loved our time puzzling out totally different routes and cursing a card that stops us from taking a flip. Scoring in Next Station London is tight at each two and three gamers and the solo problem has been a deal with. I don’t know how I’m going to get the very best level threshold listed within the rulebook. But that’s the place my last ideas lead me on this journey down these new rail traces: I’m recreation to proceed to attempt to beat my earlier scores and see if I can really optimize my interchange stations regardless of the random card attracts. That’s sufficient of an endorsement for anybody on the lookout for a brand new distraction whereas not fully forgetting concerning the want to discover different areas of the board recreation world.

Final Score: 3.5 stars – An pleasant infrastructure-building flip-and-write that misses a pair stops on the best way to its vacation spot.

Hits:
• The puzzle of maximizing factors
• Round timer through card attracts
• Rotating colours for every line

Misses:
• Lack of map selection
• Interchange scoring
• Rulebook design decisions