A large kitchen is the basis
In the box you will find four boards showing the title house and the card draw track. For this we have one hundred and eight cards, of which sixty represent the rooms that will be in our building. The rest are tools, helpers and fragments of the roof. In addition, the set also includes a massive first player token, equipment tokens, and four aid tiles. The compact fits nicely and prevents the elements from moving while the box is being moved. Workmanship is a definite advantage of the House . The cards are diverse, they contain numerous flavors (e.g. entrance to the Fallout crypt , board games or a crystal skull, and some of them contain children and animals). It is worth noting that a notebook has also been added, which will facilitate the counting of points.
What is this house without a living room?
The game is played by drawing a pair of cards from the draw track (there is always one pair more than the players). In one row there are rooms, in the other row there are accessories (tools, helpers, fragments of the roof, and the first field – instead of a card – allows you to take the first player token). Place rooms on your house board so that there is no empty space below them (so you must first build at least one room on the ground floor to start building a floor). Some rooms consist of one card (bathroom, office), while others, such as a living room, can be built of up to three cards. Of course, the bigger the room, the more points it will bring.
Add-ons allow you to manipulate cards and earn extra points. Roofs, on the other hand, are a memory game. We always play them face down, and in the end, the most points will be given by a roof of four cards of the same color. In addition, you can add accessories to one of the rooms (e.g. a piano for the living room), which also bring additional points.
The game lasts twelve rounds, and then points are scored for rooms, roofs, equipment and bonuses (including three points for a bathroom on the first floor and ground floor). The winner is the player with the most beautiful house, i.e. the player with the most points.
This is what the game of Cottage looks like in a nutshell .
Bathroom on the ground and upper floor
The house is an example of an excellent family game that is intuitive, simple, but original. Our brains will not overheat in this position, but undoubtedly we will have to work hard to reasonably plan the room layout. You can try to get a bonus or focus on the best possible expansion of the house (e.g. try to build two living rooms from three rooms, which ultimately gives 18 points). Choosing a Decorator (+1 point for equipment) encourages you to “hunt” for specific cards. Therefore, each game is a slightly different approach to the game and a different layout of rooms. Fate will also affect our actions. Regardless of the number of players, all cards will enter the game, so we are more or less aware of what else will come up. Of course it’s worth the cottagedose yourself, but it is an example of a light and pleasant title that should not get bored if not used too much. You can also always invest in an expansion that will surely add some freshness to the next games.
Have I found my dream house?
The house allows you to design your own single-family house, and more specifically the layout of its rooms, and although it does not fully illustrate the hardship and beauty of design, it will give the younger ones a substitute for creating their own apartment. In fact, it’s hard to find any major flaws here, both the workmanship and the gameplay give what the cover promises. The addition of Domek: Słoneczna 156 allows you to play with up to six people.
We would like to thank the Rebel publishing house for submitting the game for review .
