Overseers (2015) Board Game – Board Game Guys

Overseers is a bluffing and set collection card game designed by Guan Chih Huang and published by Big Fun Games in in 2015. The game is set in a world where players take on the role of Overseers, powerful beings who control the fate of the world’s inhabitants. By collecting sets of characters and using their unique powers, players compete to gain influence and ultimately become the most powerful Overseer.

Game Components of Overseers

Cards: Six types of Trait cards (e.g., Courage, Hope, Greed, Anger)

Overseer Cards: Each player receives a new Overseer with unique abilities at the start of each round

Victory Tokens: Coins in denominations of 1, 5, 10, and 20, though these can be cumbersome for colorblind players

Play Space: Area for placing cards

How To Setup Overseers

To setup Overseers, each player is dealt an Overseer card with special abilities and a hand of six Trait cards. Players then select one card to keep and pass the remaining cards to their neighbor. This process sets the stage for the drafting phase.

Gameplay Mechanics and Game Objective

Drafting: Players select one card from their hand and pass the rest to their neighbor.

Placement: Players place three cards face-up and two face-down in their play space.

Vote Phase: Players discuss and vote on who has the best set of cards.

Judgement Phase: The voted player can either Admit (discard two cards) or Deny having the best hand.

Showdown Phase: All players reveal their cards; the voted player loses or gains cards based on their choice.

Greed Phase: The player with the most Greed cards can steal a card from another player.

Objective: Collect the most victory tokens over three rounds.

Player Experience

Overseers is a game that thrives on player interaction, bluffing, and strategic card placement. The game is relatively short, lasting about 30 minutes for a three-player game, but it is rich in depth and complexity. Players must balance their own strategy with the need to guess and influence their opponents’ moves. The game’s unique mechanics, such as the Vote and Judgement phases, introduce a high level of social interaction and bluffing, making it engaging and sometimes heated.

Pros

High Player Interaction: Encourages bluffing, discussion, and strategic guessing.

Easy to Track Cards: Only six types of cards make it manageable to keep track of what is being passed.

Accessible Mechanics: More accessible than some other bluffing/bidding games, as all players are simultaneously hiding information.

Variable Player Powers: Each Overseer card provides unique abilities, adding variety to each round.

Cons

Victory Tokens: Can be confusing, especially for colorblind players due to similar shades.

Component Quality: Some components, like the victory tokens, might require upgrading for better usability.

Personal Thoughts on Overseers

Overseers is ideal for those who enjoy social deduction, bluffing, and strategic card games. It is particularly suited for players who appreciate games with deep interaction and a mix of strategy and luck. However, it’s important to choose a play group that can handle the bluffing and social mechanics, as it can become quite engaging and sometimes intense. For fans of drafting and set collection games, Overseers offers a unique twist that sets it apart from other games in the genre.

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