Basic gameplay
Next Station London is a flip-and-write with a twist in that, in each of the four rounds, you’ll be using a different coloured pencil and running a different line. You want to essentially cross the river as much as possible and also have the highest number of stations connected in a single region as you can, whilst also connecting as many regions as possible. Oh, and you can’t cross your lines over any others or double back on yourself. But you do want to connect as many stations as you can to multiple underground lines. And that is the puzzle you’ll be trying to figure out better than your opponents throughout this game.
This is a delicious puzzle that has you scratching your head in many different ways throughout the game. Each pencil provides its own challenge, especially if you add in the pencil powers too. As the card flips, your action is easy, you must connect one end of your line with the same shape as the card shows. The difficulty comes in the challenge of deciding how best to do this to both score now and not scupper plans of scoring later at the same time. It will have you chewing your lip in concentration. Don’t chew the pencil because these are shared between all the players around the table, and no one wants your soggy pencil!
Components
Inside the box of Next Station London is a pad of sheets and four small pencils in purple, green, blue and pink. There is also a stack of cards, some pencil powers and some objectives, which are both optional for play, although for me they are actually essential for the best gameplay. The components are pretty simple, but what is important to me is that graphically they are clear and there is very little reference to the rulebook needed to check icons.
Replayability
This relies on the card flips, but also on which pencil you are using at the time. I’ve played over 20 times in the last 6 weeks, and I would not say at all that I feel like I’m done with it. This a new puzzle each time, and the gameplay continues, the puzzle evolves too. For me, this has long, long legs in terms of replayability, and I’m here for it.
Round up
If you’re looking for a camping game or a game to play at a cafe or a pub, then I don't think that you can go wrong with this one. This is a small box game with a bunch of replayability, and what's more, you need not stop at Next Station London, when there is also Next Station Paris, Next Station Tokyo, and Next Station Berlin to add to your rotation! Perhaps they would all condense into a single box!
