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Rokoko
Authors: Matthias Cramer - Louis Malz - Stefan Malz
Publisher: Pegasus Spiele / eggertspiele
Year: 2013


review by

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There are players who regularly criticize the supposed lack of ‘toughness’ in the themes of the so-called European games. They don’t want to impress the king with Caylus, they want to depose him and become king themselves! Or they don’t want to run a farm as in Agricola but pillage farms with their marauding armies. Pointing out to these players how misguided it is to derive your toughness from playing board games is outside the scope of this review. Having said that, I have to admit that the theme of Rokoko had me frowning too. Are we seriously going to sew dresses for the ball?? Yes we are!

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The board depicts the palace of Louis XV, divided into five halls, with each hall having room for a number of partygoers wearing our dresses. Each player starts the game with five cards depicting their employees. This initial ‘employee deck’ is the same for everyone. There are three types of employees: the apprentice, the journeyman and the master. The apprentice is just starting out and can’t be trusted with every task, while the master is so experienced he can easily craft the finest dresses. At the start of every round the players choose three cards from their supply of unused employees to play this round. When they have been played they go to their discard pile and only become available when the whole supply has been used.

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Then the action phase starts: the starting player plays one of his selected employees and can use him to perform an action. Then he may carry out the bonus action depicted on the card. Everyone in turn plays one employee until their hand is empty. The available regular actions are:
- Claiming the queen’s favor: This action directly yields 5 livres (the currency in the game), and the right to start the next round. The apprentice can’t perform this action.

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- Acquire resources: choose a tile from the warehouse, and either keep it for the silk depicted, or turn it in to get the lace and/or yarn on the tile. This costs 0 to 2 livres depending on the number of tiles left in the chosen row.

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- Make a dress: The player selects a dress from the display and pays the appropriate cost (varying from 0 to 8 livres) and the required silks (and lace or yarn if applicable). Then the player may choose to either sell the dress for a hefty sum, or to rent it out to a partygoer. In the latter case the player marks the dress with his own color and places it in a space of his choice in one of the five halls. Some spaces bring direct rewards. Making dresses is still a bit too ambitious for the apprentice, and some dresses require such a high degree of craftmanship that they need the hand of a master.

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- Hire a new employee: Every round four new employee cards are available. Only by playing a master can one of these employees be hired; the card will then be part of your employee deck for the rest of the game. Of course it’s nice to have first pick of the new employees, but it’s also expensive: this action costs 5 livres if all cards are still available, while taking the last card is free. The hired employee immediately goes into the player’s hand, so it can already be played in the same round.

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- Depute your employee: Back then things weren’t much different. Sometimes there’s room to hire new employees, sometimes downsizing is needed. The employee in question is removed from the game, brings in 4 to 10 livres, and just to prove there’s no hard feelings he allows the player to perform his bonus action one last time.

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- Fund a decoration: Not only the guests need some ‘dressing up’, but the party itself as well. Funding fireworks, musicians or statues brings in additional victory points at the end. Chipping in for the fountain increases your income. This action usually requires a well-filled purse!
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When everyone has played all the employees from their hand, income is divided. All players get a base income of 5 livres, supplemented with the proceeds of the fountain where applicable. Then all the employees, dresses and silks are restocked and a new round begins. The game ends after seven rounds.

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Points are scored for majority of dresses (and second place) in each hall, the dresses themselves, funded decorations and for having employees with a game end bonus in your deck. Whoever has the most points is held in high esteem by the king. Well, all right, if you prefer (and lack knowledge of history) you can depose him and become King Louis XVI! 
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Majorities, collecting resources and converting them into victory points, a hint of deck building (but then without the incessant shuffling): these game mechanisms have already been used in many games before Rokoko, and a lot of these games we can’t or won’t remember anymore. What makes Rokoko a successful game then?

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The beautiful graphics certainly help, but the game is succeeds admirably in presenting the players with a lot of wonderful dilemmas: becoming the starting players and having first pick of all the dresses, silks and employees is good, isn’t it? Yes, but you’re consequently making things cheaper for the next players.

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Those who divide their partygoers over all five halls can get a nice bonus, but will be a bit more hard-pressed to win majorities. Do I want to hire that extra master to make that extraordinary dress, or should I go for that apprentice with the very useful bonus action? This and much more! 

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All in all we have to conclude that the atmosphere and tension of the game far outweigh any reservations about the theme and the lack of originality. So men, get over yourselves and pick up the needle and the thread! Another creation of Matthias Cramer that is absolutely worth trying.
© 2014 Ugur Donmez

Rokoko, Matthias Cramer-Louis Malz-Stefan Malz, Pegasus Spiele / eggertspiele, 2013 - 2 to 5 players, 12 years and up, 60-120 minutes


Mark is for 2 and 3 players. With 4 and 5 players it becomes a rather long-winded session for what is supposed to be an airy game
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