There is trouble in paradise. People are starting to believe there’s a better life and the citizens of Euphoria are becoming less productive. Workers are starting to question their existence and the appeal of bliss is decreasing. There is talk that it’s time for a change, but is it possible?
Euphoria: Building a better Dystopia is a 2-6 player worker placement game from Stonemaier games, known for Viticulture and Scythe. In Euphoria, players are collecting resources, building alliances with the various factions, and using workers, all in an attempt to gather enough authority to change the system.
To start, lay the board out, place the 4 commodities (food, water, energy, and bliss tokens) in their respective areas. In addition, place the 3 resources (gold, stone and clay) also in their areas on the board. Next, shuffle the recruit cards; dealing 4 to each player. Shuffle the artifact deck and place it aside. Each player takes the 4 worker dice, 10 stars (authority markers) knowledge, and loyalty marker in their color. Shuffle all the market tiles and place 6 onto the market areas, putting the rest back. Next, each player draws a random ethical dilemma card. Each player puts their knowledge marker at the 3 space and their loyalty at the 1 space. Finally, take the 3 miners and place one at each faction’s start area and place an alignment marker at the start position for each faction.
Each player then looks at their 4 recruits; selecting 2 and discarding the rest. Recruits are from one of the 4 factions (Euphorians, Subterraneans, Wastelands, and Icarites). Choose one to be an active recruit and turn the other face down as a reserve recruit. A player can use the ability of their active recruit until they take an action that will reveal their reserve recruit, at that point, both recruits are active and players can use abilities from both. Each player sets 2 of their workers (dice) aside by the worker activation tank and uses the other 2 as their active workers. Each player rolls their workers and the player with the highest knowledge roll goes first.
The object is to be the first to place 10 authority stars in various areas of the board. There are several ways a player can place a star; purchase land from a faction, assist in building markets, send workers to assist with their commodities, and complete their ethical dilemma. These will increase the faction’s influence, which can earn authority stars for recruits of that faction.
On a player’s turn, they can choose to do 1 of 2 actions; they can place a worker or remove a worker. To place a worker, take an available worker and place them on an available space, pay the cost (if any) and gain the benefit. There are many worker locations, specific to a faction’s commodity or resource. In general, the board is divided into 4 sections; 1 area for each faction which has a general commodity market, 2 additional markets, and a tunnel for each faction, except for the Icarites. Additional markets must be built and the tunnels must be completed before use as well. Depending on the faction(s) you are helping, each visit to their commodities market will increase their influence.
To better understand the premise and how to win, here is a brief overview of each faction. The citizens of Euphoria make energy, The Subterraneans generate water in their aquifers, the wastelanders grow food and the Icarites sit above everyone else in the clouds and make the mind-numbing drug bliss. Euphorians lack water, while the wastelanders want power and the Subterraneans want food, so each faction is digging tunnels to siphon from the other. Helping a faction complete their tunnel will gain their support in your goals; who you side with largely depends on your recruits. For example, a player with Euphorans will want to help them gain access to water as well as supporting their energy making efforts.
In addition, players will want to assist in building the other markets and exerting influence in the land of the factions. Owning land allows players to place authority tokens. Not building a market, will give a player a penalty.
While there is a lot going on, the game itself is quite simple. Roll your dice (workers) do a knowledge check, and either place a worker(s) or remove them. Players want to have a high loyalty and low knowledge, basically keep them dumb and happy. Managing this is critical as if you fail a knowledge check, you will lose a worker. In addition, your loyalty level determines how many artifact cards you may have. These can be important when trying to avoid a penalty from a building you did not assist building. Most artifacts are gained from mining or from the Icarites.
Each time you recover a worker, you immediately roll them and perform a knowledge check. The number of gears on the dice represents the workers’ knowledge. You take the total of all unused workers plus your knowledge level; if this total is above 16, you lose a worker and will have to go and activate another one to replace them. (They are too smart and realize their plight and abandon your cause)
The mechanics in Euphoria are a combination of worker placement, push your luck, and dice rolling. The dice give a random element not usually seen in a worker placement game. The artwork captures the theme brilliantly; very reminiscent of the style from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and vintage Soviet propaganda art. Several of the buildings have names similar to places from classic dystopian literature. Euphoria is more 1984 than Hunger games. It pays homage to the works of Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, and the like. The game really gives players the feel of being Winston Smith and other protagonist characters. The gameplay is smooth and there is little downtime between turns.
For gamers who are fans of vintage dystopian literature, this is one definitely worth considering. Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia is a solid game rich in its theme and one that should be a welcome addition to Euro-style gamers.
Written by Ed Carter
Lynn Makes
Evan Conroy
Ron Peterson