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.
Polyomino Play
I’m a fan of polyomino tile-laying, and it always amazes me to see new ways the mechanic is used in board games. Some of my personal favorites include A Feast for Odin, Caverna: The Cave Farmers, and Planet Unknown. Here, we have a cooperative spin on polyomino tile-laying with a push-your-luck element to boot. Count me in!
I had a chance to meet the folks from WWBG at a couple of different conventions last year. They’re a small but mighty publisher out of Taiwan whose passion for their games is unlike anything I’ve seen in the industry.
Their goal is to bring more Asian designs to the Western market, and some of their releases so far, such as Lone Wolves and Castle Raisers, are already a solid testament to that mission.
Learning the Lantern
Last Lantern plays out over seven to nine rounds, with players working together to place tiles in their canopy in an effort to cross the goal line.
Each round, players silently and independently select a location on their lantern wheel, which determines the familiar token and tile they’ll take. However, if multiple players choose the same location, they’ll have to discuss and decide who gets what. Familiars are collected into sets and can be turned in for bonus actions or tiles that help mitigate the game’s escalating danger.
Players place their tile into their character’s row, which also includes one or more shared rows that overlap with those of other players. When a player crosses one of the lantern columns, a check occurs, and fireflies are drawn from a bag to fill the empty spaces in that player’s area. Yellow fireflies are safe, but black fireflies are not, and revealing four black fireflies ends the game in a loss.
Any tiles left unchosen are added to the “path astray” area, and each tile placed there adds more black fireflies to the bag. If an eighth tile is placed in the path astray, the game is also lost.
Turning in a set of familiars allows players to remove tiles from the path astray or replace black fireflies in the bag with yellow ones, giving the group some much-needed breathing room.
When a player crosses the goal line, a final bag pull fills all remaining empty squares, and if fewer than four black fireflies have been placed, the players win.
Fireflies and Familiars
The most interesting mechanic in Last Lantern is the uncertainty that comes with every round. While communication is open for the rest of the game, players have to stay silent during selection and simply observe what everyone else is trying to accomplish, hoping they choose a different location. Then again, the perfect tile might appear, and priorities can shift without anyone knowing. That uncertainty adds tension and creates a richer decision space, and the reveal often leads to cheers or groans.
There’s also an interesting wrinkle in how players have to visualize tile placement rather than “trying out” a tile on their board, since doing so could give away their intentions and break the communication rule. That bit of speculation keeps everyone on their toes.
The tiles themselves are large and intricate, which contrasts nicely with the limited rows each player has to work with. As a result, careful planning is needed to avoid triggering lantern checks when there are still too many gaps left to fill.
The box also includes a sealed envelope for advanced play that adds more depth and strategy to the base game through new boards, pieces, rules, and other twists on an already replayable system.
Player count changes the experience quite a bit. I found that two players felt almost too easy, while a full four-player game offers a real challenge due to the increased likelihood of tiles going to the “path astray.”
I always appreciate a game that gives players ways to mitigate the bad things that can happen. While collecting familiar sets can be a little cumbersome, having more players helps keep the danger in check.
I can’t recall ever playing a cooperative polyomino game before; Last Lantern is a strong first experience in that space. The hive-mind spatial puzzling feels refreshing, yet it’s accessible enough to bring non-gamers into the fold. Add in the extra envelope of challenges, and the game should have a long shelf life.
If polyomino tile-laying, cooperative games, or both are your forte, then I recommend this solid mashup of the two.
