I finally broke down and cracked open my copy of Caylus tonight. To say I’m ashamed to have not played the game yet is really kind of silly. It’s a boardgame and not an event of real import. I can’t expect of myself to have played every ‘great’ game that takes the BGG ratings by storm. I am, however, ashamed to have not opened it and read through the rules until now. I’ve owned the game for months having stored it on my game shelf since last father’s day.
I’ve made it through about two thirds of the rules on an initial pass and it’s setting my rule pet-peeves all atwitter. My biggest complaint is that relatively complex rules tend to stay in character. Because of this phenomenon, we’ve got Prestige Buildings, Residences, Craft Buildings, etc. rather than Blue, Green, and Brown tiles. It may be a personal deficiency but I’m constantly translating themed words into physical game components and I’m very bad at making those translations stick. In the end, I suspect most people describe the tiles as blue, green, etc. and the cubes as pink, brown, gray, etc. rather than their themed counterparts.
I appreciate a rich theme to act as a lubricant for comprehending the mechanics. But at times, “the little white thingy” makes more sense than “the Provost”.