Queen's Architect

I was expecting brain bending timing puzzles based on the rotating workers (I hear Tzolkin does something like this?), which change their skill level each time they do something. Mostly I was just doing constant arithmetic to work out my current total skill level and what I should do next, without strategizing in interesting ways. Maybe we were all playing so badly that it didn't matter?

The "action wheel" that lets you choose actions that are one, two or three spaces away from the action you last took, seems an elegant way to break up turns into short chunks. It limits the number of allowed actions, and makes it easy to consider your actions a few turns in advance, upping the pace of the game. Doesn't work thematically, and maybe it limits the complexity...

The short turns, complexity level and passive player interaction reminded me of Ticket to Ride, but that game is a lot more elegant and attractive. Queen's Architect works perfectly well but there is something somehow... unaesthetic about the theme and mechanics that I can't fully explain. Ticket to Ride, on the other hand, is aesthetic as heck.

It is a bit of a joy when you get the right numbers to jump up several positions on the progress track in one turn. Not much emotion in the rest of the game, though.

This game makes me think of gray and brown and cream.

I did win, though.

I enjoyed it, wish I'd payed more attention when Alex was explaining the rules, rather than checking the football results...