5 Towers Auction game review, test and critique

5 Towers is a game designed by Kasper Lapp for 2 to 5 players aged 7 years and above. Published by Deep Print Games/Pegasus Spiele.

high above

In 5 Towers, everyone tries to get the most points by building up to 5 towers. Towers are built using cards with values ​​from 0 to 15. Each new part of the tower must have a smaller value. There are two components to each tower to break through this row (for example, you can place a 9 on any smaller number and continue with the 9). However, points are only awarded based on the number of cards you have created. Whoever builds the top of the tower doubles the points for that tower. It is also possible to demolish part of the tower, but this results in negative points.

The first, second and third were sold out.

What makes it particularly interesting is the bidding system to obtain tower components. There are five cards on display and everyone can take turns making one bid on the number of cards to be used on the screen immediately. Whoever wins the contract must also use that number of cards.

Cards that are not auctioned are set aside. Once all cards enter the bidding phase, all cards that were not sold at auction will go through a new bidding phase. If this stack also ends, the game is over.

This is where the appeal of the Five Towers comes in: Do I outbid my fellow players and get a bad tower piece or do I give up the tower pieces and hope to get the pieces in the second round. Since all the towers that have been built are on open display, you can take a look at the gaming table and see what is still available.

Something else is hidden

5 Towers is also a beautifully illustrated board game in which the tower components visually become increasingly narrower towards the top. The illustrator also has the same cinematic taste as me, and he is depicted here. I counted over 30 hidden clues here.

In a game with two or three players, each of the five towers is completed once (values ​​0-15). Here it is easy to count the remaining cards. In a game with four or five players, thirty additional cards are added, so that individual cards selected from each tower are available twice. The remaining cards were more diverse, bringing more dynamism to the game.

Conclusion: Fun in 5 towers

5 Towers is a fast-paced game with a good bidding mechanism. The game is easy to learn and the graphics are attractive. Overall, I found the four- or five-player game to be more fun.

Younger players can quickly take advantage of it compared to older kids, as the options open up (what cards are still in the game? How likely am I to get them? Will the top of the tower get me more overall? How much will I get? Should That offer so I get the cards?) can be varied. But it is also suitable for adults.