NOCTILUCA (2019)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
1-4	30 mins	Shem Phillips	Z-Man Games

In this 1-4 player game, you will be drafting dice to fill your jars and deliver them to healers.

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On your turn you will place one of your pawns at the end of a row of hexes. You then choose a number (1-6) and take all the dice in that row with that number showing.

Next, you place these dice by colour onto your face up jar cards. Once a card is full, you can ‘deliver’ it and gain a new jar card.

This is the main process of the game as these jars, once delivered, are your end game points. Cards have different numbers of spaces on them, with more spaces usually offering up more end game points

Something to consider though is that any dice you take that you can’t place then get offered to your opponents.

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On top of the cards, each jar is one of three types, and completing a type gets you a bonus token for more end game scoring. The tokens also use a majority which scores you some points based on the remaining tokens of that type.

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The design and artwork across the components is just beautiful. From the water reflection style blue on the board, to the cute little jar cards, this all works together to make a soft and gentle presence on the table.

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However, at the beginning of each of the two rounds, there are a lot of dice on the board. It can take time to check all the options available, and if anyone playing suffers from the dreaded Analysis Paralysis, then this can drag the game out.

I’ve seen turns take quite some time in this game, especially at 3-4 player. It can feel like forever before it comes back around to you.

If you can see past the AP, or if that isn’t an issue, then NOCTILUCA is a beautiful and relaxing game waiting to be enjoyed.