The Estates is an abstract strategy game where players take on the roles of real estate developers. Through competitive bidding, players construct colorful towers in a new urban development, manipulating values and vying for area influence to make the most money and outmaneuver their opponents. It is known as a simple-to-learn yet often 'mean' auction game.
The Verdict
based on 10 reviews
The reviewer highly recommends The Estates, finding it surprisingly deep and strategic despite being easy to learn. They praise its fantastic components and exceptional replayability, noting most players immediately want to play again.
The reviewer offers a positive assessment of The Estates, highlighting its depth through simple auction and stock mechanisms, though noting potential for kingmaking. He recommends it for fans of auction and stock games.
The reviewer praises "The Estates" as a genuinely amazing and tense auction game with significant strategic depth, but cautions that its cutthroat nature and potential for players to feel defeated makes it best suited for groups who appreciate direct conflict and can handle losing gracefully.
The reviewer found The Estates unique, praising its auction mechanic, components, and art. However, they felt the rest of the game was only 'OK' due to a lack of control and visibility regarding the unpredictable end-game scoring.
The reviewer acknowledges 'The Estates' has strong bidding and outwitting elements. However, they personally did not feel a desire to play it again, suggesting it didn't meet their expectations.
The reviewer found 'The Estates' to be a game that wasn't bad, but ultimately not to his personal taste due to a lack of player ownership and a 'take that' style that made the experience feel unengaging.
This video features Tom Vasel from The Dice Tower providing a comprehensive review of the board game 'The Estates', discussing its gameplay and components to help viewers decide if it's right for them.
The reviewer found The Estates a well-designed but overly mean and spiteful game that left them unhappy, ultimately not appealing to their preferences. The game receives mixed accessibility ratings depending on the specific impairment.
Purge Reviews offers a highly negative assessment of The Estates, labeling it one of their least favorite games due to its chaotic nature, direct conflict, and unsatisfying player control, despite acknowledging its well-designed components and rules.
The reviewer awards The Estates zero stars, but paradoxically loves this 'mean' and 'jackassiest' auction game. It excels at strategic sabotage and debt avoidance, where negative scores can still lead to victory.
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