COLORFUL TREASURE (2019)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
2-4	15-20 mins	Poki Chen	Taiwan Boardgame Design

In this 2-4 player set collection game you travel the world searching for gems buried at the Wonders Of The World.

Each turn you’ll flip two or three cards and then, depending on what’s revealed, you’ll take certain cards.

So far, so memory game.

But in COLORFUL TREASURE you’re not just grabbing pairs of cards. There is a set collection element that gives more points for cards of the same coloured gem.

There are also Diamond cards that give some nice points (and a chunky plastic Diamond ).

Then there are Chest and Key cards which. While you’re forced to take them instead of gems, they do give you a steal action.

I thought this might be a simple memory game, but once we played, I started to see tactics to choosing a two card or three card reveal.

Sometimes it’s better to go for two in case you reveal something your opponent wants. Or you might then get a key, meaning you’ll leave those Gems behind.

I like that it’s not all blind luck. The card backs hint at what colour gems hide at which Wonder. And all the cards have their Wonder icon on them, allowing you to count up and work out what might be left.

I enjoy the addition of Action tokens for a more advanced game. A set of three gems sees you choose from the available tokens, giving you a one off or continuous ability.

While the game is more thinky than I expected, it is still luck when revealing cards. I sometimes found that I just wasn’t getting the Gems I needed, or I’d always reveal the ones my opponent needed.

Set collection is the big points, so if you keep missing out on Gems, you’ll struggle to get it back with just Diamonds and bonus scoring.

Overall COLORFUL TREASURE is a relaxing and colourful game that has a little more crunch hidden beneath the surface.