this one’s small in every sense, small box, small footprint, a session that’s over in fifteen minutes, and it packs a surprisingly sharp idea into that tiny frame. you play cards from left to right building up your personal tableau, but scoring resolves in the opposite direction, right to left, so the card you place last actually gets evaluated first. that reversal catches basically everyone off guard the first game, myself included, and once it clicks it reframes every decision you make for the rest of your plays.

the actual mechanism underneath the twist is a fairly standard drafting and set collection engine, which is fine, that’s not where the game is trying to be original. someone described it as needing a calculator to work out your score, and there’s real truth in that, the interactions between sanctuary cards and your reversed scoring chain can get fiddly to track by hand, especially with a newer player still holding the rule in their head for the first time.

I’ll admit the card size bugs me more than it probably should. they’re small enough that shuffling a full deck feels fussier than a filler this size ought to demand, and I’ve seen more than one other person make the same complaint. it’s a minor thing, but minor things add friction on a game you’re specifically choosing because it’s supposed to be quick and frictionless.

the art gets mixed reactions at the table, some people find the world of Alula and its inhabitants charming and different, others have called the presentation genuinely off putting. I land on the charmed side, but I understand the split, it’s a deliberately strange aesthetic and it’s not going to land the same for everyone.

four stars. it earns comparisons to Lost Cities as an addictive short filler, and the backwards scoring is a genuinely clever enough hook that I keep reaching for it over other games in the same slot.