Welcome to the island of Santorini, part of the Cyclades cluster of islands of Greece. Famed for its stark white buildings and blue dome tops, it’s magical sunsets, crystal blue seas and towns perched on cliff tops.
Sounds wonderful? What if I told you, you could visit, from the comfort of your own home? Madness, you say. Well, I present to you… Santorini Second Edition!
This game, for 2 to 4 players, is a unique 3-dimensional board game, which can be played in under half hour. But don’t let its simple façade fool you – this is a puzzley game in a beautiful package.
There’s plenty here for young players, families who play casually, and veteran gamers alike – it’s a versatile all-rounder that can be played over and over again.
Components
Buildings Blocks and Builder Miniatures
The quality here is top-notch for the price – four types of building parts – Level 1 blocks, Level 2 blocks, Level 3 blocks, and Domes. We also receive 6 ancient Greek builder figures. These are all plastic, but chunky and sturdy. The building parts slot together perfectly, which is highly satisfying.
God Cards
We get a whopping 32 God cards in the box, which can be used to give you extra asymmetrical powers. Each card resembles a God from ancient Greek mythology, with art by Mr. Cuddington (an artistic husband and wife duo known for Brass: Lancashire, Tidal Blades, etc.). The vibrant and colourful art depicts the theme and conveys the type of game here really well – it has a family friendly cutesiness, but also a quality expected by more seasoned players.
The cards are tarot-sized, which I really appreciate – you only get to pick one God card each game, and so it’s nice to have the art and theme front and centre on these beautiful big cards. On the front of your card, you get a picture of the God, with iconography on the bottom for a quick reference of their powers, and on the flip side of the card is a more detailed explanation of how this works. The card stock for the God cards also feels high quality with a nice finish.
Game Board
The game board is excellently produced – a piece of cardboard with artwork indicated building spaces, which sits atop a 3-D plastic mountain, and slots into a pretty cardboard seascape – this all plants us firmly into the world. The extra 3-D component of the board and its elevated state is unnecessary, but totally beautiful and looks awesome on the table. This game was made to be photographed!
The box is quite large and fits everything perfectly. The mountain and island board go upside down and become a rather nifty storage solution in the box so that you can fit everything in. Clever!
Rulebook and Reference Cards
Santorini Second Edition comes with 4 game modes – 2 player Standard, 3 player Standard, 4 player Standard, and The Agora.
I’ve only played 2 player Standard and The Agora myself, but all balances nicely so far and I have no complaints. I think the fact they have separate reference cards for each of these is a nice addition and keeps everything simple and easy to teach and learn.
As the board is 5x5 I should imagine a 3 or 4 player game would make for an incredibly tight area for decision making, which could be really fun and interesting. 2 player is just about right for us, and competitive enough without leading to stalemates, but I am still really keen to see what 3-4 players could offer – I think it could make for some crazy fun!
The Rulebook is probably the easiest I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It’s one large double-sided page of thick card, with big text and picture examples. This speaks to the game’s simplicity and ease to get to the table. Each God brings its own rules, not in the rulebook, but simple enough that they are on the back of each God card. I really love the design of such a simple but deeply tactical game being this easy to learn and teach!
Here we go again! My my, just how much I missed ya!
- Re-balancing of God cards
- Upgraded buildings and figures
Some gamers have noted on BGG forums that they are very happy with the newly re-balanced God cards and so, if that sort of thing is a big deal for you, you may wish to upgrade. But most agree that the upgrades are fairly minor if you already own the 1st Edition.
The other major difference appears to be different building textures in the 2nd Edition – there are slight visible differences between some of the buildings which is a cool detail. And it appears the builder figures are larger in the 2nd Edition. Also, the box is bigger, apparently!
If you are new here, then it’s a no-brainer – get the Second Edition – it’s a superior version due to the minor upgrades.
Each of these packs adds 17 more Gods, 2 modes and 2 miniatures (some add chits in addition), and they are super affordable and all available on Zatu.
There is also the Riddle of the Sphinx Expansion, a co-operative puzzle campaign – as this is an expansion you will require the base game. I suppose this is an option if you want to take your game further and work together instead of against each other!
I wouldn’t consider any of these must-haves – there’s enough in the Second Edition of the game to keep each of our games fresh for a very long time.
Super Trouper
I have played this game many times, and used several of the recommended God matchups, but have also played random Gods too. So far, I have found the game to be very well-balanced. Games are quick, at no more than 20 minutes, though my fastest game was less than 5 minutes due to a very poor decision on my part on a turn!
Diving into the game, each player receives a God card – the rules recommend starting with the paired God matchups first, which we did.
Next, you place your 2 workers to spaces of your choice on the board, then you take it in turns moving a worker one space on any of the squares surrounding them, then building on any of the spots surrounding their new square.
On a turn, you may move up one, or down any number of levels (you can only move up one), but you must always Move then Build. You may also use the God power of your specific God, whatever that might be.
The first builder to make it to the top tier of the building (without the dome), wins!
However, opponents can dome your completed structure before you have a chance to reach the top (darn!), which leads to a take-that back and forth.
The pace of the game is quick, and there are many tactics you could employ. The God cards add variety and force you to switch up your tactics and how you might encounter the decision space – this keeps the game fresh each play. They elevate a simple game, adding asymmetricity, and new challenges. It creates a brilliant puzzle which you will enjoy attempting to beat each time.
In one game, I succeeded in walling in one of my opponents’ workers with high buildings, and the opponent then could no longer escape. They were relying then on just one worker, which made my victory far easier – and more delicious!
In another, I had a God card which enabled me to pop a blue dome on any building level, which meant I proceeded to merrily skip about Santorini Island doming everything I could find! Ha!
The key is to keep carrying out your plans, whilst keeping an eye on your opponent, and not letting them get too close to victory!
You can build to confuse your opponent, distracting them with various buildings around the board, or you could follow them around, doming their near completions, and annoying the heck out of them.
The amount of player interactivity leads to a very tense cat-and-mouse game, as the board quickly becomes filled with glistening white homes quicker than you can say ‘opa’!
Theme, from the Ancient Greek Thema, meaning something laid down
So yes, the word theme apparently does go all the way back to Ancient Greece. Alas, the theme in Santorini Second Edition is brilliant for this type of game. Let’s face it, we aren’t expecting a deep dive into heavy exposition on mythology in this game, right? But, still, I like my games to be rich in theme in some way, be it artwork or gameplay. Even a light-hearted game such as this.
Well, they deliver brilliantly – with the 32 God cards, depicting real Gods from the myths – there are plenty of recognizable figures here, and some which I didn’t know, which is cool.
Many God powers operate in a way which, thematically, makes total sense to their mythology. An example - Pegasus allows a worker to move up more than one level at once. Of course, it tracks that the winged horse would allow you to overcome the rules of gravity!
Another example is the Minotaur card – “your worker may move onto an opponent worker’s space by forcing them one space in the same direction you moved” – talk about bullish! Awesome!
Not every God power matches up totally thematically, but there’s enough of it here that it gives you a smile at the cleverness employed.
Build me up, just to tear me down!
The setup and tear down of the game is super quick. You build the board and island when you first get the game, so these stay pre-built for every repeated play thereafter and you never have to do this again.
You simply pop the mountain board into the sea scape, pull out the buildings and put them in separate piles at the side, choose your workers and Gods and away you go.
The game can be setup in a few minutes, put away in a few minutes and taught in a few minutes.
For a game with so much to offer this really is fantastic.
To Conclude…
For me, this is a truly excellent and exciting, fast-paced game, which we can pull out any time for a quick round or two, and know we don’t need to read a ton of rules just to remember how to play.
The variety of God cards in the box, the astounding production value, and the gameplay lend itself to excellent value to money. The interactivity and replayability here are likewise very good.
It’s addictive, and it’s one I recommend to both new gamers and seasoned gamers alike, because it does something different, it’s simple but crunchy, and it looks great on the table. What’s not to like?
So, if you’re looking for an intro-game to game night, a mid-week treat, or an addictive game that you can play over and over again with family or friends, this is your game!
Make your next trip, Santorini!
