First Impressions of the Golem

 Golem is a complex euro like Grand Austria Hotel and Lorenzo il Magnifico (both in the 3.2-3.3 range, according to the BGG difficulty rating), and it shows when you're trying to get the game ready.

 So what is a Golem ? At its core, the game is a complex engine builder built around the legend of a rabbi who reanimates a clay statue into a golem to protect the people of Prague in the 16th century. While the backstory and weirdly dark box art didn't draw me in, the promise of building an interconnected engine between the various economies and tracks piqued my interest.

 There are different tracks. There are ultimate goals. There are multipliers that are used to increase the points, and while there is scoring during the game, more than half of the points are earned at the end of the game. There are figures of students that can be moved. There are Golem figurines that also move. There is a rabbi figurine that needs to be placed and activated! And that's before you even start adding artifact items to your personal gamepad along with your library tokens, orbs, a synagogue to store said orbs… there's just so much. (The rules contain EIGHTEEN separate steps to set up the game.)

 Now, if you're a fan of Vital Lacerda games like On Mars and Lisboa, you're probably thinking what I was thinking when I read the 20 page rulebook: Is this game as hard as the Lacerda games? The answer is definitely yes. This also means that if you like heavy combo-after-combo games, I think you'll be right on your plate playing Golem. 4 rounds and only 12 actions gave me the feeling that it would be hard and very strategic, but short; as it turned out, the three-man game took about 3 hours after the rules were explained, and included a good mix of strategic gameplay and forced change of tactics due to the distribution of marbles in each round.

WHAT DID YOU LIKE ABOUT THE GOLEM? ALMOST ALL!

 The combos in this game, the big point where you chain together solid moves, it's awesome. I mean, fantastic. I had a turn where I performed an action to activate multiple of my Golems at once. I did this move by doing the Golem action to buy a 5 knowledge discount book (Knowledge is one of the resources in the game) which is placed in one of the columns on my player board along with the 3 other books I already have to give me a one time bonus that will be doubled because I've already activated another power… just describing all of this and rethinking how I did this move is mind boggling.

 All 3 players made at least a couple of such moves in the third and fourth rounds of the game; Golem is slow to develop, but opens up the potential for late moves that will get nods (or scowls) from other players at the table. Golem definitely has some magical moments that set it apart from other games, from building its engine to ending a little early… in other words, just in time!

 I also liked the turn order. As in most games, going first in Golem is good, especially if you want to take one black ball to move 2 students one division on any of the 3 lanes, or if you want to take a certain rabbi action. I also like staying last in Golem, especially since you can run into a situation where other players are doing both of their orb actions. Now, on your second of three actions in a round, you need to take a ball or a Rabbi action, and you can block the Rabbi action and wait for the ball action, since that zone is blocked for anyone who has already taken 2 balls.

 I liked that playing Grand Austria Hotel—and understanding how the "strength" of an action relates to the number of balls left in any row—helped me plan my move.

 The book market in Golem was fun, buying the right cards was just great. Then placing these cards in certain columns to activate everything in the column can give a lot of resources that can replace a good revenue engine if played correctly.

 The quality of the game is excellent, although I wish the design team had used wooden components or metal coins instead of cardboard ones.

 There are many ways to win in Golem and the game seems to direct players to specialize in one or two of the three main tracks in the game (Research, Artifacts, Golems). There's a lot to do, but even though it's a tough experience, the game doesn't get boring once you start playing game after game.

WHAT DID NOT LIKE?

 For some reason, balls just don't work for me. Cubes? I love dice and I still don't know why they didn't use dice like in other games by these designers.

 The iconography in Golem is heavy. As with the Alma Mater, you'll need to keep a manual handy to explain the new round cards or what bonuses are on the finished Golem body parts. For my third or fourth game, the iconography did not raise any questions, but it is not as intuitive as in other similar games.

 Topic? I still really don't know why a themeless Euro used 16th century Prague with Golems - Golems that are possibly better killed thanks to the "Kill the Golem" mechanic!! And the idea that the orbs are eyeballs that go into slots on the players board… I don't know, that theme just didn't work for me.

EXPERIENCE FROM THE GAME

 Despite some of the quibbles, Golem is a great game. If you're looking for a tougher version of some of the classic games these designers brought us, Golem, which, like Barrage, has a 4.0 out of 5.0 on BGG, will test every player. I look forward to future installments!

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DESCRIPTION OF THE BOARD GAME GOLEM  Stacked bookshelves, extracts in beakers, aromas of dried herbs and, of course, molten gold bubbling in a cauldron - this is exactly the atmosphere that prevails in the ordinary dwelling of the rabbi of medieval Prague. Pieces of shapeless clay gradually acquire human features, bending under the experienced hand of the master. The golem's eyes are about to blaze with otherworldly fire, immediately after the word "truth" is written on its forehe..