I tried playing the board game 'Novarna' aiming for victory by strategically determining the tile arrangement and turn order

' Novarna ' is a tile placement puzzle game where you draw one from the tiles placed around the moondial and aim to accomplish the tasks shown on each tile. I can't draw the tiles as I like, and I choose one of the three tiles that are lined up clockwise, but the difficulty of completing the task varies greatly depending on the tiles that I have already placed. I actually played this 'Novarna' with four people, which has a lot of fluctuating factors such as the order of drawing tiles is not fixed.

Novalna | | ANALOG GAME INDEX

The recommended age is 8 years old and over, the time required for one play is 30 minutes, and the number of players is assumed to be 1 to 4.

Inside the box was a disk-shaped 'moondial board,' four-color tiles, four-color markers, and a 'moon frame.'

The tiles are available in four colors: red, yellow, blue and turquoise, with a number in the upper left corner of each tile and up to three tasks in the remaining space.

The task shows how many tiles of what color are adjacent to each other by the number of circles of four colors. For example, the yellow tiles in the photo below have two tasks, 'adjacent three yellow tiles' and 'adjacent one red tile and one blue tile'. In the following situations, one red tile and one blue tile are adjacent to each other, so the latter task has been completed.

The 'moondial board' has the phases of the moon with human faces on the front and back, which are used to place tiles and indicate the player's turn.

Now, let's play Novalna with four people. To start the game, first place the 'moon frame' outside the new moon surrounded by the golden frame in the illustration of the moon drawn on the 'moon clock board' ...

Randomly selected tiles are placed in the other spaces, and black, white, blue, and orange markers are randomly placed one by one on the new moon square.

Distribute the remaining markers to each player and place the extra tiles near the 'moondial board' and you're ready to go.

The order of play of Novalna is determined by the position of the marker on the 'moondial board', not 'determine the starting player in some way and then clockwise / counterclockwise' as in a general board game. The first turn starts with the player who has the orange marker with the marker on top.

The player whose turn comes is to select a tile from the 'moondial board' and draw it. The tiles can be selected from the 'moon frame' to the third tile in the clockwise direction.

After drawing a tile, advance the marker by the number written in the upper left of the tile. This time I advanced by 2.

Next is the blue player's turn. This time, you can choose from the following three tiles and draw.

I chose the yellow tile, which has three tasks, because I thought that it would be easier to accomplish the task if the tile had many tasks.

Then, proceed 6 squares according to the number written on the tile.

Novalna's turn is special, and the player with the marker in the rearmost square of the 'moondial board' will take the turn. In addition, if the markers are stacked, it is the player's turn for the marker at the top. For example, with the following marker placement, it is the player's turn to have the black marker that is stacked at the back and top. If you take only the tiles with small numbers, the marker will slow down and the turn will come around many times, but the tiles with large numbers are easier to accomplish the task, so you need to think carefully about which tile to choose. there is.

Cards taken from the 'moondial board' will be placed so that the task can be cleared. For example, in the following arrangement, the task 'Adjacent one red tile and one blue tile' at the bottom left of the blue tile can be cleared.

After clearing a task, place your marker on that task. The player who clears the tasks one after another and loses all the markers on hand first wins.

The tile adjacency count basically counts only 'how many color tiles are adjacent to the top, bottom, left, and right of the tile', but if multiple tiles of the same color are adjacent, add the number of tiles and count. Can. For example, in the case of the following arrangement, two yellow tiles are adjacent, so it is OK to judge that the blue tile is 'adjacent to two yellow tiles'. The task 'Two yellow tiles and adjacent' at the bottom right of the blue tile has been completed.

In Novalna, it is possible to complete many tasks with one tile. For example, on tiles with the following layout ...

By pulling one yellow tile and placing it in the position shown in the figure, the '2 yellow tiles adjacent' task on the upper left turquoise tile and the '3 yellow tiles adjacent' task on the 2 turquoise tiles. I was able to complete the task '3 yellow tiles and adjacent' of the blue tile, and the '2 yellow tiles and adjacent' task of the tile that I just placed at the same time.

By clearing 5 tasks in one turn, I was able to approach victory at once.

As the game progresses, there will be fewer tiles around the 'moondial board'. When there are less than 3 tiles around the Moondial Board, the player at that point can choose to replenish the tiles or play as is.

When replenishing tiles, replenish all the empty spaces clockwise from the 'moon frame'. If all tiles are exhausted when there are no winning players, the player with the fewest remaining markers will win.

As the game progresses, the blue player has two remaining markers. It's almost time to win.

Select one tile from the 'moondial board'.

The selected tile is a tile that has two tasks, 'adjacent four red tiles' and 'adjacent two red tiles'. Place this in the area where the red tiles are densely packed ...

Completed two tasks at the same time and used up all the markers. This is the victory of the blue player.

The rankings other than the 1st place are determined in ascending order of the remaining markers. In this play, Black was 2nd, White was 3rd, and Orange was 4th.

If the number of remaining markers is the same when the 1st place is decided, the player whose turn comes first will be ranked higher. For example, in the following case, the same number of black and blue markers remain, but when you look at the 'moondial board', the black one turns first, so black is second and blue is three. The place, white will be the 4th place.

Looking at the tiles at hand during play, it seems difficult to ask 'What should I do?' Because the direction of spread differs depending on the person and the number of markers placed is different, but in reality The rules are very simple when you play. You can clear small tasks from the beginning, or digest multiple tasks at once in the second half, and enjoy the game with different strategies each time you play. Even if you can't finish first, you can still get other satisfaction, such as 'I was able to accomplish the task I thought was difficult' and 'The tiles were beautifully arranged'.

In addition, I played Novalna with two people. In four-player play, each player's tile selection rarely affects the other player, but when two players play, each other's tile selection directly affects the other player's tile selection. Therefore, it was required to play with the head to decide one's own tactics while reading the tactics from the opponent's tile arrangement and interfering with it, and I enjoyed the game characteristics completely different from when playing with four people.

Novalna also supports playing alone. In one-player play, we aim to use up all the markers with as few tiles as possible. Novalna's instructions are written to aim for the total number on the upper left of the tiles used to accomplish the task to be less than 100, but even after playing several times, it exceeds 100, which is quite difficult. I felt chewy. Novalna can also be enjoyed as a time-killing game when there is no opponent to play with.

Novalna was a game that could be enjoyed as a party game that could be easily played depending on the number of players, or as a strategy game that fought with wisdom.

Novalna is available at board game stores nationwide and online shopping sites such as Amazon.co.jp for 4400 yen including tax.

Amazon | Hobby JAPAN Nova Luna Japanese Version | Board Games | Toys