“Gather energy marbles to build gizmos parts and trigger chain reactions and combos.”
Link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/246192/gizmos
Playing Time: 40-50 Minutes
Weight: Light-to-Medium
Genre: Engine Building
Designer: Phil Walker-Harding
Players: 2-4
When assembling this list, the top of the list sorts itself relatively quickly. I rank all the game contenders on Pubmeeple a few times and find the top of the list remains relatively constant. The bottom of the list – especially the ones just butting up against the cutoff – are where I spend a disproportional amount of time and energy. Being #100 may not mean much but it’s a lot better than not being mentioned, amirite?
This year’s Mr. Irrelevant is Gizmos, a filler-weight engine building game, where players gather energy in the form of marbles from a central gumball-type dispenser. They then use the gathered energy to build more gizmos, which in turn may earn them more bonuses or trigger extra actions when they gather certain colors of energy or build certain buildings in the future.
The whole thing is incredibly combolicious. The general weight of the game is juuuuuuust a little bit heavier than it should be, given the flagship game in the genre is Splendor, a relatively lightweight title. But this game depends a little too heavily on iconography and the combos can get a little dense. Which makes it infinitely better and more fun than Splendor but also not a game you’re going to play with filthy muggles on Christmas Eve. But if your audience is more hardcore, this is a great filler-weight game.
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