Fantasy Realms Review
2-6 players
Fantasy Realms is a game that Peter C. Hayward on the rather lovely “Fun Problems” podcast would describe as a “content led” game. Each card is different, and scores depending on the other cards in your hand. To play, swap out cards you don’t want for cards that you do – either from cards discarded by other players, or from a face-down deck. Continue till a certain number of cards are face up discards. (That is it for AJ’s “Structure” – the rules of the game independent of what is on the cards).
The fun is in the complexity offered by all the different hand combinations.
But also the frustration. This game is a bear to score. It takes a long time – longer than the game itself, and is fiddly because cards cross-interact in lots of ways. It stopped us playing, even though it was fun to play.
Wizkids sped things up considerably with an app,
But even that was too painful for us to play the game regularly. The app required finding each card from a list (yes, broken into suits, but still).
Recently though a fan app came out allowing you to use your phone camera. It’s called “Score Realms”:
It’s still a bit rough – you have to capture 1 card at a time – but still. You can get a score for your hand in about 20 seconds. The game is playable, which means its greatness can shine.
Get this game, but also get the app. Then believe the app and let it be the referee.
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