The Fun Zone: The Fun

This time: Monastery by Gary Dicken, Phil Kendell and Steve Kendell, published by Ragnar Brothers

Monastery is a tile-laying and action point management game in which players construct parts of a medieval monastery. Players have a hand of tiles behind their screens, each depicting features like buildings, roads, and gardens. On your turn, you play a tile to the board and move your monk tokens around in order to score points. Tiles played to the board aren’t automatically built, however. They’re played face down, and require a certain number of monks to complete it. The more complex the building, the more monks will be required to work on it. You’ll often have to work together with other players to finish the larger tiles. In addition to helping to build tiles, your monks can work or study on specific tiles, execute the power of some special tiles on the board, or kneel to pray if nobody else is around. The pieces actually tip forward into a kneeling position, a neat touch. Praying provides more points than simply working or studying, but that monk has to stay put for a while, and you won’t be able to use his movement points until he stands up again. The points you earn each round are spent on letter tiles and additional monks, which get more expensive as they’re purchased. Your ultimate goal is to use those tiles to fill in a nine-letter phrase in front of your screen, counting 3 victory points for each one you buy. You can also purchase letters for your opponents, blocking that space on their mat, and preventing them from earning those points. It’s a tactical game with a need to be a bit nasty, but it’s one of my favorites of the year. 8/10