Trickerion: Finally off my Shelf of Shame

Trickerion: Finally off my Shelf of Shame

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One fewer board game is off my Shelf of Shame. For those unaware, the Shelf of Shame is what we call board games that have never been played and have been sitting on your shelves forever. Sad little games, hoping that one day they’ll get picked up and put on table.

That such game is Trickerion: Legends of Illusion.

The game board is large and looks complicated, but the game mechanics of the base game aren't too hard to grasp.
The game board is large and looks complicated, but the game mechanics of the base game aren’t too hard to grasp.

I purchased Trickerion 11 months ago at BGG Con. I took it home and opened it up — the artwork is gorgeous and I love the Victorian-style theme. And then it sat, unpunched and collecting dust on my shelves. The reason it stayed  on my shelves for so long was that I had no idea how to play it. The rulebook looked a little daunting, and, truthfully, I get really nervous about teaching my friends a game I’ve never played before.  I’m afraid that if I teach a game badly, my friends will hate it, even if it’s an amazing game. And Trickerion looks like one of those amazing games.

Magicians and their people can take actions in the theater, which is where you get the fame to win the game.
Magicians and their people can take actions in the theater, which is where you get the fame to win the game.

Flash forward to last weekend, I finally played this game! I totally lucked out because I learned one of my good friends got a chance to play Trickerion recently, and I asked him if he could teach my friends and me how to play the game. And bonus points, he’s an excellent game teacher. He’s actually the one who taught my friends who wanted a refresher course how to play Takenoko on my birthday.

Each player has his or her own player board and set of characters. These folks are the ones who take actions.
Each player has his or her own player board and set of characters. These folks are the ones who take actions.

Trickerion is a heavy euro-style worker-placement game that plays about 2 hours. The basic gyst of the game is to send your workers out into Downtown, Market or Theater locations to collect resources for magic tricks that you may actions to perform during five weeks. Performing tricks is a way to gain fame and resources, and the magician with the most fame after five rounds wins.

Players gather resources to perform illusions, which are then placed on these performance cards.
Players gather resources to perform illusions, which are then placed on these performance cards.

The components are excellent, from the wooden discs with pre-printed icons (thank goodness for no stickering!!), to Trickerion shards, to each magician getting their own Magician Workbook. That was an especially nice touch! The workbook allows you to plan ahead for acquiring tricks, all without sharing the same book! And it’s nice to see what others could be planning for as well.

I love how each player gets a Magician Workbook!
I love how each player gets a Magician Workbook!

I also appreciated that my game copy came with the Dark Alley expansion, even though we didn’t play it. I’m sure as we get more familiar with the game, we will add those modules as well. I really love the game and I can’t believe I waited so feakin’ long to play it! I highly recommended it for those who like heavier euro games in the 2-3 hour range.

Anyway, I’m smack in the middle of the second-annual Friendship Con! I had a great time last year that we all decided to do it again. And this year brings two folks from out of town, plus we added one more guy to the mix. So I guess you can say the convention has expanded by 20 percent! I will post next week about all the games we ended up playing. Until next time …

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