Carpe Diem (2018) Board Game

Carpe Diem, released in 2018, is a board game designed by Stefan Feld and published by alea. Set in ancient Rome, players take on the role of patricians trying to build the most prosperous city district. The game incorporates elements of area movement, contracts, end game bonuses, open drafting, and tile placement to create a strategic and engaging gameplay experience.
## Game Components of Carpe Diem
– 1 game board
– 220 tiles
– 150 cards
– 44 wooden pieces
– Player boards with randomly constructed frames
– Resource tokens (grape, fish, etc.)
– Scoring markers and discs
– Banderoles and banderole tokens
– Fountain cards and other special cards.

## How To Setup Carpe Diem
To set up Carpe Diem, each player receives a unique player board divided into a grid, surrounded by four randomly selected frame pieces. Each player also gets a player pawn, discs of their chosen color, and starting victory point cards based on their turn order position. The central game board is prepared with tile depots, scoring cards, and the banderole track. Players place their pawns at the starting position alongside one of the depots, and the game is ready to begin.

## Gameplay Mechanics and Game Objective
– **Tile Drafting**: Players move their pawn one space to the left or right and take a tile from the depot they land on.
– **Tile Placement**: Tiles are placed in the player’s city district, ensuring matching sides.
– **Resource Collection**: Completed buildings and landscapes provide resources such as bread, gold, and other items.
– **Building Completion**: Buildings give one-time bonuses like resources, turn order advancements, or special actions.
– **Scoring Phase**: After all tiles are drafted, players place scoring markers on intersections of scoring cards and fulfill the card requirements to score points or lose points if unfulfilled.
– **End Game Scoring**: Combines factors like leftover resources, prestige track position, and completed buildings to determine the winner.

## Player Experience
Carpe Diem offers a deep and strategic gameplay experience despite its relatively simple mechanics. Players must balance short-term resource collection with long-term scoring goals. The game scales well to different player counts, and the randomness of district borders and scoring cards provides high replayability. However, new players may find the scoring cards somewhat intuitive to score, and the components, while vibrant, can be flimsy and small.

### Pros
– **Variability**: High replayability due to variable scoring, player count scaling, and random district borders.
– **Deep Strategy**: Complex decisions within a relatively short playtime of about an hour.
– **Evolving Gameplay**: Gameplay changes significantly throughout the game, requiring players to adapt their strategies.
– **Easy Setup**: Despite its complexity, the game is easy to set up and play.

### Cons
– **Components and Artwork**: Thin and flimsy cardboard components, small cards that are difficult to handle, and some artwork could be improved.
– **Resource Tokens**: Limited supply of resource tokens, leading to mental tracking in some cases.
– **Scoring Cards**: Not intuitive for new players and can be a significant hurdle.

## Personal Thoughts on Carpe Diem
Carpe Diem is ideal for fans of tile-laying and eurogames, particularly those who enjoy games with deep strategic depth but relatively short playtimes. It is not suitable for players seeking high player interaction or ameritrash-style games. The game rewards multiple plays, making it a great addition to any eurogame collection. While it may not be as polished as some of Feld’s other works, like Castles of Burgundy, it stands on its own as a unique and engaging experience.

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