Review: Innovation:: The Gumball Machine: Innovation, 25 Plays Later
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The Gumball Machine is a review series focussed on quarters. Each game will be one which I’ve played at least 25 times. These reviews will focus less on “what do you do” and more on “how does it feel”
What is it?
Innovation is an interactive and somewhat chaotic tableau builder with very high variance
What I Like (and other ramblings)
* Innovation does a lot with a little. The core gameplay revolves around maintaining majorities in various icons in your tableau to be able to trigger various efects in the game without recourse. The effects all riff on the same basic mechanics: drawing, scoring, splaying, tucking, stealing, etc. It is pretty easy to start exploring the game. Once you understand the main concepts.
* The game is incredibly varied. While the core mechanics are simple, the way they are composed in the various card designs is impressive. Chudyk does not shy away from large, swingy effects but also doesn’t usually give you “I win” effects for free. In some situations a card may seem totally busted, however in others it can be completely worthless. The pace of the game is also worth highlighting. If a player needs to achieve 5 achievements to win then it could be that they achieve the first 5 in the game. It could also be that they don’t finish their achievements until later. Or maybe they finish them from specific effects rather than from scoring. Or maybe they don’t try for achievements at all and instead try to win with an instant win condition late in the game. Or maybe they try to win by forcing the other player to draw out the deck. Innovation can be wild and navigating it is at least half of the fun.
* Innovation has enormous depth. The decks graduated and small and contain a fixed distribution of cards. You’ll quickly learn lessons like castles are abundant in the first few ages but absent later for example. Even individual cards are important to learn about. Oars is a classic example of a card which can break a game if it is not watched out for. Oars was developed specifically to prevent draw-spamming and heavily, heavily punishes it. Maintaining majorities in icons at specific times or otherwise avoiding necessary preconditions (e.g. don’t keep a ton of cards in your hand) are both counterplays that you want to learn as well as learning when to watch for them. And that’s only one of the cards.
* Play and counterplay is very nuanced. If you are behind then sometimes you need to lean into your advantages. Other times you need to try and steal the majority in an icon to prevent your opponent from continuing to lean into a powerful card. Maybe instead you are better off trying to dig deep into the deck to try and outpace your opponent by playing cards from a later age. Sometimes you’ll have to pursue specific strategies like going splay-heavy or acheiving quickly
* The theme comes out in the mechanical design of the cards. Castles are strong and combative early on, however Gunpowder (which is found in a later age) specifically counters castles – just like how the development of firearms disrupted ancient combat. Flight is another fun card – it allows you to splay cards up.
* It works great at 2 and 3 (and probably 4 – though I haven’t tried it myself). The feel is quite different at 2 and 3, but I love it both ways.
Bottom Line
Innovation isn’t for everyone, but most people should at least give it a shot. While the individual mechanics can feel dry and abstract, the orchestration of them winds up yielding a highly replayable and rewarding experience.