New planet, the same problems

In 🪐 Planet B you step into the shoes of corrupt governors as humanity is settling a new planet. You make potentially shady deals with corporations, gather and sell resources and build the infrastructure of the city, while also trying to manipulate the media and vye for presidency. But with only one simple goal - to have the most stolen money in your pockets! 😈

I wasn’t convinced at first about the theme of the game, as we hear about politics so much everyday anyway.. It wasn’t until I tried the game that I realized how good it is though! The irony and the humor really comes through and there are a ton of funny references and puns. 😄 And it is so unique and refreshing compared to many other euros out there.

Worker placement is the main driving force of the game. ⚙️ There are always 3 corporation tiles on the board where you can go and do the depicted actions. As spots get fully filled up, tiles get either flipped or discarded - this brings closer not only the next voting session but also the end of the game.

There are a lot of actions you can do, but perhaps the most important is gaining and using meeple to activate your buildings. There are many buildings, each with 2 possible abilities, all of them quite powerful! 😮

Voting is really clever! With certain actions you throw some of your votes 🗳️ into a bag, then when an election is triggered you all pull 3 tokens from the bag in turn until it is completely empty. Only your own tokens before you are counted - government roles get distributed accordingly. 🎖️ Becoming President seems overpowered but as a counterbalance, whoever won discards all votes so others have a better chance next time.

💭 You always have some building cards in your hand, a bunch of them built and all of them show 2 possible actions. This seemingly leads to a lack of tightness in the game, which at first I thought was a con. But after some plays I think it is actually a good thing. It kind of makes Planet B somewhat of a feel-good game: whatever you do, it can work in your favor, yet there is still room for playing better than your opponents and getting more money. 😊