Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
Disclosure: Meeple Mountain was provided a pre-production copy of the game. It is this copy of the game that this review is based upon. As such, this review is not necessarily representative of the final product. All photographs, components, and rules described herein are subject to change.
There’s no right or wrong approach when it comes to purchasing a game. A game’s theme, mechanics, and design can all be major or minor factors, depending on personal preference. For some people, one factor will always outweigh everything else, while for others the importance of each aspect can vary. I tend to fall into the second group more often than not.
My fluctuating method for choosing games has led to some surprising (mostly good) gaming experiences, especially when it comes to review copies of games through Meeple Mountain. Part of the reason review copies in particular can be so surprising is that there’s often little information available about the games; information is often limited to one or two images of the game and a brief description of the gameplay.
Junk ‘n Gems, from Passion Project GG and Designer Kimmo Sorsamo, is one of these games that surprised me in a few different ways. With just an image of the game’s cover art and a short overview of how the game works, I had enough information to eagerly volunteer to review this one.
Sifting Through Stuff
In Junk ‘n Gems, one to four players are sifting through the belongings of their uncle who recently passed away, attempting to sort the junk from the gems. Sorting through the items involves players swapping cards between their hand and a market (the attic) in order to collect and form sets of similar items based on their type/color. After four rounds, the player who can collect the most points through their completed sets win.
Given the simplicity of the gameplay described above, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Junk ‘n Gems, comes in a small box; actually one of the smallest compared to other games in my collection. What did surprise me though, given how straightforward the gameplay seemed, was the estimated playtime of 45 minutes.
How could a small box, simple game take so long? The answer was quickly obvious midway through my first round of Junk ‘n Gems. While the turn to turn actions of swapping cards and playing a set seemed simple on the surface, a couple of restrictions for each action elevated them from easy to elaborate.
First, when swapping items between your hand and the attic, the one or two cards you took from the attic had to be a higher value than the one you swapped, but no more than twice the value. This led to constant analysis via quick mental math of figuring out what to swap in order to form your next set.
Second, when forming a set of items, the value of the items needs to equal an exact amount given the color/type. Furthermore, in order for a round to end, players had to play a set, meet the “go-out” requirement of points for that round, AND have an empty hand of cards after playing their set. Ending a round given the multi-layer criteria turned out to be a perfectly puzzling aspect of the game that caught me off guard.
The Junk
Given the surprisingly complex task of forming a set and ending a round, there were a few times across my five review playthroughs, where the action stalled. Due to the available pool of cards, multiple turns would go by players were only swapping with the attic and not playing any sets.
Thankfully, this stall was more of a gradual build-up and usually led to multiple turns in a row of players playing sets and moving the game forward. Even with this steady build to a burst of action, I wouldn’t have minded if the game was three rounds, instead of four.
Additionally, the amount of information on the cards was a bit overwhelming at first glance.
Displayed in the top area of each card is:
- The card’s value (which counts towards forming a set)
- Point value and scoring for the card’s color/type
- The set value requirement for the card’s color/type
It took some getting used to in order to remember which number was which. Thankfully, after a couple of rounds, and an excellent player aid (more on that in a moment), this was a temporary setback and didn’t weaken the overall experience.
The Gems
The rulebook and aforementioned player aids are meticulously put together and clarified multiple important details. The player aids, which are actually two double-sided cards, condense nearly the entire game into just two cards.
When playing a set, players chose one of the cards from the set to keep in their player area and activate either an instant or ongoing action from that card. Both options were intriguing given the current state of the game and led to tough and interesting choices.
Many instant effects offered interactive actions between players, which is always a nice touch, while the ongoing abilities provided game-changing, but not game-breaking benefits. These benefits ranged from providing a permanent one point increase to being able to take two play a set actions in one turn.
The ongoing abilities are made even more rare and special due to the fact that there’s only one copy of each card with an ongoing ability. These cards also remain in a players area from round to round, making the opportunity to grab one in round one or two a top priority.
As a frequent solo player, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the solo mode. My interest was already heightened when I read that it was an automa driven solo mode where the automa (in this case, The Sheriff) also scored points; This is always my preferred way to play solo compared to beat your own score (BYOS) variants. It helps that the automa was also easy to run and provided a challenging, yet fair experience.
The last gem worth calling out is the presentation of the items. Artist Pablo Serrano did an excellent job showing the “wear and tear” on nearly all of the items. From the small pool of liquid next to the Sticky Harmonica (ew!) to the peeling sole of the Cowboy Boots, each item truly felt like it had been abandoned in an attic for quite some time.
It also helps that, as a ‘90’s kid, I felt a hint of nostalgia for some of the items included in the game. The Slap Bracelets, Bean Bag Chair, Leaking Waterbed, and Hopelessly Uncool Waist Bag (Excuse me? They were very cool) all painted a memorable picture of the fictional attic.
By the end of my five review plays, it was obvious that Junk ‘n Gems had more gems than junk. From its surprisingly deep gameplay to its charming presentation and meticulously balanced experience, Junk ‘n Gems is a small, but mighty game that’s worth getting to the table regularly.
