Kutná Hora first impressions

Kutná Hora from CGE was definitely one of the biggest highlights of UKGE for us. Especially as we didn't just play a demo, but were able to finish a complete 3 player game! 😮

There is a lot going on, yet after one play I think I could teach it to others. Many things are cleverly streamlined, and the iconography does a good job too. 👍 Action selection is a strong suit of the game. Players have 6 cards that depict 2 actions each - for 2 turns you will play 2 cards, and in every 3rd you play one and discard the last. This means that with each action taken, you have to give up another possible action. There are 6 actions you can take:

📍 Buy a plot to build on later
📜 Buy the rights to a building
🔨 Construct a building you have rights to, on a plot you own, by paying its cost, then gaining the bonuses on the tile and next to the slot of your player board.
⛪ Build the church by flipping a special tile (if you have one), then gain the bonuses of the current church tile.
⛏️ Build a mine on the bottom part of the board. This is a majority aspect of the game, though mines also give you bonuses and influence the economy.
💰 Gain income.

A unique idea of Kutná Hora is that there are no resource tokens - whenever you produce or pay resources, you get or pay their current market value in money. Which brings us to the economical simulation in the game! 🧐 Constructing buildings will change cards and/or move tabs in the cardboard gizmos that show the values of resources. It works wonderfully! As you play you aim to buy low and sell high, and closely observe what other players are doing.

Round end maintenance is pretty short - just paying tax and getting your 6 cards back, though later rounds involve additional scoring steps.

The game ends after 6 rounds, where you tally up points. 🏆 A big chunk comes from building adjacency and mine-majority. There is also a reputation track that can give ongoing bonuses during the game, plus some victory points.

We really liked Kutná Hora, and are interested in how it is after repeated plays.
It should be released at SPIEL! 😋

If you are interested in more, definitely read our extended thoughts on BGG! 😊