Seasons Board Game - Tactical Card and Dice Game for Wizards, Engaging Strategy Gameplay, Fun Family Game for Kids and Adults, 2-4 Players, Ages 14+, 60 Min Playtime, Made by Libellud

If you're a casual gamer and came across this game (and my review), I heavily encourage you to go to Boardgamegeek.com and tap into the wealth of resources over there including in depth video reviews of this and other popular boardgames. I will summarize the highlights of this fun little gem.The premise is you're a wizard entered into a 3 year tournament to gather the most crystals. A central calendar-like board dictates your turn options for each season while the deck of 100 cards (doubles of 50 different spells and minions) alter the flow of the game and interact with your opponents.QUALITY:The production value is pretty good down to the box insert that holds all the materials in place when you close the top. Dice are nice and chunky, markers are clearly colored, and print quality is bright and crisp. My only gripe is that the cards feel a little thinner and if you get a lot of games in, you may want to consider a pack of card sleeves to keep them in shape.The art is excellent and captures a whimsical sense of magic in the game and is spread throughout the entire contents. I enjoy these types of appearances as it eases beginner/casual boardgamers into the hobby without getting too abstract with colored-pieces (Meeples if you know the reference) or overburdened with too many parts (ever play Axis & Allies?). The one caveat is parents will need to understand that the art doesn't reflect the game and is not say "Magical Pokemon."GAME:The game mechanics are great because there's a variety of interactions between card combinations, players, and the randomness of the dice. There's a pre-game phase that has players planning out their strategies ahead of time to represent the 3 separate years of the tournament. With only doubles of 50 cards, each card played becomes valuable and unique, veterans will surely gain an advantage over novice players by seeing as many different cards as possible. Also, the company has gone to lengths to publish a basic FAQ into the rules for potential disputes over what effect does card A have on cards B,C,D.Play through the first time was about 90minutes actually as my group has a lot of slow-readers i.e. OCD, power-eking, squeeze as much juice cutthroat players :). It was a breeze after that clocking in 50-60minutes for a relaxed game.HIGHLIGHTS:-great, single package!-variety of play through game mechanics-well designed, colorful components-plays fastLOWLIGHTS:-cards a little flimsy (get card sleeves)-buyers may assume it's a "baby's game" because of the art-experience reflects learning curve (guess you'll have to keep playing more)FINAL THOUGHTS:Great tidy game that I may use to gateway new players into other core style games that stands completely on its own. Card strategy if you branch into Magic the Gathering. Non-violent resource gathering ala Eurogames. Lots of options if you wish to traverse into Ameritrash games.

Ok, you're here. You're looking at this game wondering if you should get it or not... You've hovered over the 'buy it now' button a few times but just couldn't quite bring yourself to do it.So now you're scraping through reviews hoping someone will validate your interest and give you a means to justify yet another unnecessary game purchase......well, good news! I've found Seasons to be a very enjoyable game. However I do have some insights for you to consider before you dive in:There's a lot of fiddly bits in the box - resource tokens, small wooden blocks, a few different gameboards, lots of movement tracks to keep in order, lots of dice with symbols on them to decipher as well as several different types of power cards to figure out. Some players may find so many mechanics to be fussy, but I found they create a rich and layered experience.The illustrations in the game are gorgeous and the power card abilities are mostly meaningful. There are 4 types of resources in the game: wind, fire, water and earth. Depending on what season the game is in, the corresponding seasonal dice will produce a lot of one type of resource and less of others. Finally, there's a "transmute" or trade-in table on the seasons track that changes the point value of each resource every time the season changes. This creates interesting opportunities to decide if you want to stockpile resources or spend them aggressively. If you decide not to simply trade in your resources for points, you can also use them to play power cards and activate abilities to give you advantages in the game.Overall the rules did take a little time to digest since each power card has it's own explanation text in the rules book. Also the game played a little longer than expected but there was nice escalation of intensity and I find the complexity is worth the learning curve. Probably not a great game for young kids or novice gamers but a good competitive game for intermediate to advanced players.