A few other issues. The only thing about Distilled that feels broken is the round structure. Seven rounds is too many, particularly when the player count is high. But more importantly, in a seven-round game with five players, two players get the advantage of going first twice in each game. This feels off, particularly because having the first choice of a fresh market of cards can be vital. As it is, some rounds come down to this: you’ll buy a bunch of stuff, shuffle up the cards you want to use in the recipe, then pull out the top and bottom card, and voila, you’ve got your spirit. If you only had enough money to hope for the best, you might get hosed. I had a game where I got hosed on three different turns, ending up with vodka each time. In that game—a game where I produced vodka four times—I lost by 40 points despite doing a decent job of trying to mitigate a bad card draw. Now here’s why I recommend Distilled: it’s one of the best productions with one of the most thematic gameplay experiences of the year. There is a lot of depth to the game but it doesn't feel complicated or rules heavy. Everything flows nicely from round to round and there is a ton of variety straight out of the box. It also has an amazing solo mode which I have been enjoying a lot. The way the goals are displayed and figuring out your "path" through them is really fun and adds a nice twist to the gameplay. Richard Woods is the Developer for Distilled. Richard is based in Lancashire in the UK and enjoys playing and designing board games in his spare time. Richard fell in love with Distilled after joining a play test in summer 2020, and has been helping Dave to refine and balance the game ever since.

But there is very little interaction in the game, making each experience a race to distill different (and limited) spirits before other players can complete their recipes. The distilling experience may break this game for some players.Distilled (2023, Paverson Games) hit all the right timing notes when it arrived at my door. I love games. I love drinks. I love high-end production. I love midweight games. I love diverse depictions of in-game characters. Sell Phase– Players bottle their spirits, score spirit points, receive money and gain a label bonus. Points and money are awarded for the cards that make up your spirit (including a barrel) that has been distilled in the previous phase. On a scale of one to Pipeline (the game I still place as #1 on my “I can’t believe I still don’t have any money” list), the first three rounds of Distilled would probably rate as a 9.

There is a small gripe I have concerning the number of rounds in the game. I primarily play games 2-player and this game ends after 7 rounds. This means that whoever goes first on the first round, also goes first on the last round. Whilst this doesn’t make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things, it is just one of those things that irk me. I haven’t played Distilled 50 times, so I will never know if this imbalance between the distillery owner cards is real or imagined. But, it feels off. Starting money is really important in Distilled, since this gives you a chance to possibly buy an upgrade card from the market in round one, which grants an ongoing power all game, which then snowballs from there.During the same window of time, I began my tabletop writing career here at Meeple Mountain. One of the few things I love more than mixing spirits is playing games with friends and family. A typical round is made up of four phases; Market, Distill, Sell and Age phase and players will gain "Spirit" points over the course of seven rounds. At the end of the game the player with the most spirit points is the winner. Note: While this is a game about making alcohol, it focuses more on the true science and business behind it, not the consumption! Of course, for fans of games about beer, wine, and other alcohol - such as Viticulture, Vinhos, Brewcrafters, or Homebrewers - you might find this game interesting. Or if you've ever wondered how people distill liquor or brew beer, you might find this intriguing as well! It is really hard to find fault in this masterpiece. But I do have a job to do… “Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.” Frank Sinatra

Achieve the title of Master Distiller by having the most victory points at the end of the game. Points are obtained by distilling and selling spirits, which results in the creation of Unique Spirits. A typical round is made up of four phases; Market, Distill, Sell and Age phase and players will gain “Spirit” points over the course of seven rounds. At the end of the game the player with the most spirit points is the winner. For a game that comes in such a big box, Distilled is deceptively simple. From set up to scoring, everything flows smoothly and is a game that can be taught easily. Throughout your turns you will be acquiring various sugars, grains, upgrades, barrels, bottles etc all so that you can brew the best spirits that you can. And at the highest profits of course. As a slight disclaimer, it is worth noting that the pics I have provided for this review were taken from my Signature Blend pledge level copy of the game. So, there may be elements not present in the base game, such as brewers from the Middle Eastern expansion, metal coins, coasters, shot glass, neoprene mat etc. But, that said, the base game and components are all produced at an excellent standard and the retail version of the game is still superb. However, all players can make moonshine or vodka right out of the box. So, even if you don’t make the recipe you want during the distill phase, you’ll still always make something. (Normally, your goal should be to NOT make moonshine or vodka, since those recipes score you almost no points.) This will turn off some people—specifically, strategy gamers—expecting the recipe fulfillment elements of distilling spirits to be more deterministic.Teng Whay is the community liaison for Distilled. He is a college student majoring in Chemistry. Hailing from the little red dot of Singapore, Teng Whay is an avid gamer who loves board games and video games alike and hopes to one day be able to design, develop and publish his own board game. His favorite categories of board games are medium to heavy-weight strategy games and is always up for a challenge.

Don’t get me wrong, I am far past the ‘iron liver Dan’ days of my youth and waking up in car show room entry ways holding on to half eaten cheesecake slices. True story. Don’t ask. But I do still enjoy the odd tiple. Especially if that tiple happens to be unusual and interesting. And coincidentally, that is pretty much a perfect depiction of Distilled: unusual and interesting. If you want to play it on Distilled's dedicated Discord server, find it here: https://discord.gg/Th9WFcX The next phase is the sell phase. This is where you, well, sell the spirits you have brewed. Selecting what bottle to sell the spirits in and reaping any immediate points or coinage. When you sell a spirit, if there is a spirit label of that type available, you get to take that and cover up one of the spirit label spaces on your board. This gives you a one-off boon and are all useful to you. It is apparent that the team behind Distilled are passionate people. Passionate about both good tiples and good games. And considering this is the first foray into the world of game design for this team, they have done an outstanding job. Every aspect of this game has been lovingly crafted and all the small details that have gone into it have been well received.

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Distilled gives players a choice of two different distillery owners, from a pool of about ten, depending on the pre-game setup. Each distillery owner offers an ongoing power and slightly different starting resources. There is so much to love about Distilled. Everything about the game and its production has been lovingly crafted. It would have been so easy for the designer to create a simple game wrapped in the theme of spirit brewing. But they have gone above and beyond in every possible way. They have taken what must have started as a simple game idea and transformed it into an excellent gaming experience.