Cay-less

The friend who recently visited me is an enthusiastic board game player. Even more than I am. So while he was here, I got to play a number of games -- some new, some old; some I had here, and some he brought with him.

One of those many games was Caylus Magna Carta, the "simplified," card game version of Caylus. I'm a big fan of Caylus -- it's one of my favorite new games released in the past couple years. I wasn't sure what to expect from this Magna Carta version, though. On the one hand, I was eager to try out a cousin of a game I like. On the other, Puerto Rico (another game I love) spawned a card game version, San Juan, that was a pretty pale shadow of the original.

In my opinion, there's not really any appreciable difference between Caylus Magna Carta and the original. And this is both a compliment and a criticism. It uses a lot of the great mechanics from the original game. But if it really was supposed to be simpler, more quickly paced, and just generally "lighter" than Caylus, I sure didn't see it in the game I played. Our three player game took around 90 minutes.

I certainly had fun playing it, but in about the same 90 minutes, I could have played Caylus itself instead. That would have offered a little more strategic depth and a little more smoothness to the game mechanics. It's not that I wouldn't play Caylus Magna Carta again... I just can't see myself playing it any place or time that the original was available instead.

Caylus Magna Carta is a fine enough game, but if you have it, there's no need to get Caylus -- and vice versa. And if you have neither, I'd recommend the original.