Easy enough to jump right in and play but it still took me many tries to master. My kids keep asking, "who do you attack or compete against?" "What do you mean no one?" "How can that be fun?". I come from a highly competitive family where everyone from 12 to 60 is constantly competing against each other in sports, board games, and video games. Where my 52 year old brother and I will basically get into a fight over whether a goal crossed the line in pick-up floor hockey. So trust me when I say this isn't my typical game. But I love builder games so I gave it a shot. The answer to the questions above really turned out to be yourself, and the game itself. I made several mistakes with my first few settlements. When I finally thought I got it right with the perfect map, and more food and resources than I knew what to do with... my people stopped reproducing and they all got old and died. Diversity of food types, plenty of housing, and knowing when to build what are key to this game. The plotting and planning where to build next is almost addictive. I will typically play for an hour or two a couple of nights a week before going to bed. The problem is I then often end up lying there thinking about where I am going to build next and how to solve a particular problem. Still, it's easy to pause and save at any point and easy to pick back up later. A great game to always have in your back pocket so to speak. A go-to when you are board of something else, are restless, or need to kill some time.
