Column : Dale Yu: Review of Fresco (Queen Games)

I know that I’ve been talking a lot about the new games that I’ve played recently without getting into too much detail.  Over the next few weeks, I hope to rectify that by writing a series of reviews (some short and some full) on these new finds.  The first game that I will talk about is the Spiel des Jahres nominated Fresco from Queen Games.  I have liked this game ever since I was able to play a late prototype version of it last November, and the finished version is a polished game which is definitely worthy of the SdJ nomination.  As I had mentioned in my SdJ award preview column, Fresco was the one game out of the five nominees that appealed to me most as a gamer.

Fresco
Designers: Marco Ruskowski and Marcel Süßelbeck
Publisher: Queen Games
Players: 2-4
Ages: 10+
Time: 45-60 minutes
MSRP: $59.95

In Fresco, the players take on the role of church painters, each of them striving to restore the painted ceiling of a cathedral – which is depicted on the game board.  In order to do this, the painters must carefully look at the sections that need to be painted (tiles on the board) to decide which colors of paint they wish to have with them.  If they have the right colors of paint, they can repair a particular section (and collect the tile from the board and earn the number of victory points printed on the tile).  The theme of the game is well integrated into the mechanics, as I am about to describe.

[It should be noted that the game has a “basic” version explained in the rules as well as three different expansion supplements that can be added in piecemeal as the players wish.  I have mostly played the game with all three expansions, so I will describe the game including all of these parts.  While I have found that the “basic” game is a great way to learn the basic mechanics of Fresco as well as a good way to teach the game to players who may not have a lot of experience with Eurogames – the game is much deeper and more interesting with the three expansions added in.]

Each round in the game is split into two phases.  In the first phase, the players determine the turn order for that particular round.  Then, once the order has been set, players secretly and simultaneously choose their actions for the second phase of the turn – which are then carried out in the order determined in the first part of the turn.  I really like the mechanic of how to determine turn order.  There is a chart on the board which specifies the 5 different times that the players can wake up (5am, 6am, 7am, 8am, and 9am).  Each player must wake up at a different time from all the other players.  Going in reverse order of score, players choose what time they will wake up that round.  The earlier your wake up call, the earlier in turn order you are for the turn.  So, the player with the lowest score does not always go first in the round, because he might choose a time that better suits him.   Why wouldn’t you always choose to go first?  Well, the earlier you wake up, the grumpier you are – just like real life.  Your artist’s mood can swing 2 points negative for a 5am wakeup call to 1 point positive for a 9am wakeup time.  You want to carefully monitor the mood of your artist because you will be less productive (i.e. lose an action a turn) if your mood is too foul, but you can also gain an extra action a turn if you are really happy.  Furthermore, the earlier you wake up, the more expensive it will be to buy your paint that turn – I guess that the folks in the market aren’t ready to haggle at 5am!

Picture of the wake up board, taken by BGG user Ikarus

Once turn order has been decided, then each player chooses what actions he will take this round.  To do this, there is a order board where players secretly and simultaneously place their workers to signify what actions they want to take.  Normally, you get to take 5 actions each round, though again, this number may change based on your mood.  The options available to you include:  1) going to the market to get paint, 2) painting a portion of the ceiling, 3) working in your portrait studio, 4) mixing paints to get new colors, 5) going to the theatre to relax and improve your mood.  Each of the 5 different action options are completed in turn order before moving onto the next – so everyone gets a chance to buy paint and then everyone can paint a portion(s) of the ceiling then…

Action board, hidden behind a screen, taken by BGG user toob

Going to the market is the main way to acquire more paint (cleverly represented by small wooden cubes painted in those colors).  You mostly acquire paint in the primary colors here – red, yellow and blue – though there are a few secondary greens and oranges that will appear for sale.  There are four different markets on the board, which have anywhere from 2 to 4 lots of paint (each printed on a tile) available.  You choose a market, buy one lot per action you have allocated to buying paint, and pay the price as determined for each by your wakeup time.  No one else may buy at that particular market this round, so you can also use an earlier position in turn order to block later players from buying particular colors.

Next comes the ceiling painting.  If you have the right combinations of paint in your supply, you can claim any of the tiles on the board.  The game starts with 25 tiles on the board with different color combinations on most of them.  For each painting action you have allocated, you can turn in the matching colored cubes for the tile from the board and collect the tile.  This tile will give you victory points equal to what is printed on it.  You can also score three or one extra points depending on how close your tile is to the bishop pawn on the board.  If you choose not to paint a part of the ceiling (or you don’t have the right colored cubes), you can also do an altar painting where you trade in three different colored cubes for a much smaller VP reward.  This is something that (in my experience) is only done near the very end of the game when you are just trying to score something for the paint cubes you have collected.

Example of the game board with the tiles, taken by BGG user toob

The third action option is working in your portrait gallery – I suppose that artists couldn’t survive only on religious commissions, so they had to work a bit on their own to make ends meet.  For each action you have spent here, you could simply collect 3 coins.  You also have the option of painting one special portrait (depicted on expansion cards flipped up from a deck).  These special portraits have a variety of special abilities – some of which recur each turn (such as one extra coin in income each turn) while others give a one-time use bonus (such as immediately increase your artists mood to the maximum level of happiness).  In general, I’ve found that almost every card here offers you more than the basic reward of 3 coins, but sometimes, you just have to have coins in hand and must pass on the cards.

Once you’ve finished the drudgery of making money, you can go and mix paint.  Again, you mostly get primary colors from the market, but the ceiling painting needs a lot of secondary and even tertiary colors to look right.  For each action you’ve chosen to mix paint, you get to make two color combinations (using the cubes previously collected) in your supply.  You can use a newly made paint color from the first mixing in the second one.

Reference card from the game showing the different color combinations, taken by BGG user tasajara

The other two expansions (in addition to the special portraits) come into play mostly in this phase.  The tertiary colors of brown and pink are added to the game with one expansion.  The final one adds in special bonus VP tiles which can be acquired once you have three tiles from the cathedral ceiling that use the same secondary color.  If you choose to take a special bonus VP tile, you do this in lieu of your two mixing actions.  You put the three tiles back in the supply and take the new bonus tile in their place.

The last action available is going to the theatre.  As I mentioned earlier, the mood of your artist is important to manage because you can lose actions each day if you are in a foul mood or you could have an extra action each day if you are really happy.  Each action spent at the theatre will improve your mood by two steps.

After all of the actions have been taken, players receive their income for the round which is equal to one coin for each completed ceiling tile they have in front of them.  The bonus VP tiles also provide one coin of income, but they also provide a paint cube each round.  Once income is taken, you then look at the scores to start choosing wake up times for the next round.  The final round of the game occurs when there are 6 or fewer tiles left to be painted at the start of a round.  The game ends at the end of that round, even if all the tiles are not completed.  The only endgame score is 1 VP for every 2 coins left over at the end, and whichever player has the highest score wins.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I do very much enjoy the game, and it would have been my vote for Spiel des Jahres if I had had a vote.  The different mechanics all weave together well with the theme to give a great game experience.  The game can be played at a few different levels though, and I think my enjoyment of the game would change depending on which route the other players want to take.  When the game is played quickly, I am constantly involved and never feel like there is a lot of downtime.  However, I have played a game where all the other players were taking a long time – because each was trying to remember which cubes the other players had so they could best choose their own paint colors / ceiling tiles – and the game might not have enough to stretch out to two hours of playing time.  But when it is played quickly (more in a family atmosphere than an ultra-competitive one), it is a great game.

The expansions also, for me, are a must have for the game.  The base game – which does not include the tertiary colors nor the special portraits and bonus VP tiles – can be a little too simple for my tastes.  The added options presented with the expansions add enough heft and variety to the game to keep me coming back for another play.  That being said, if I were playing with less experienced gamers or younger children, I would likely stick to the base game.

The game is well suited for families.  The rules are well laid out and easy to learn from.  There is an option (the base game) for a simpler game as well as the ability to spice things up with the expansions.  While there is some indirect competition for spaces/resources – choosing which market to buy paint at, possibly taking a ceiling tile from someone else based on turn order, having first crack at doing a special portrait – the game pretty much lets players operate in their own space, and I have found that this sort of game generally goes over very well for families or more casual gamers. 

As always, the component quality is the high quality that I have come to associate with Queen Games.  The board and cards have a nice finish to them, and all of the wooden bits are nice too.  The rules are laid out in the usual Queen style with many illustrations to help you know what to do (and in multiple languages as well)!  And, if the rules aren’t enough, there is a nice video tutorial – both in English and in German – available online to help you learn the game as well.

Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor