- Publisher : Sorry we are French
- Designer : Florian Fay
- Artist(s) : Vaiana Hinault, David Sitbon
- Players : 1–4
- Playing time : 20–130 Min
- Weight BGG :
What's this?
In the game “In the Footsteps of Marie Curie,” you play as scientists working alongside Marie Curie to help her in her research.
How do you play?
➡️Game mechanics:
Players take turns performing actions, following a sequence of steps. They can earn victory points (VP), collect resources, or advance the Timeline marker on the timeline.
Your turn :
➡️ 1. Cube Throwing Phase:
– Players take resource cubes from the reserve as indicated on the Workshop tile.
– They throw these cubes into the cube tower.
➡️ 2. Research Phase:
– Players choose between two actions:
– Collect resources: They take up to 3 resource cubes available at the bottom of the tower and place them on their personal board.
– Write a Thesis: Players can choose to write a thesis, which can earn them resources and VP.
➡️ 3. Experimentation Phase:
Players can perform several actions:
– Buy an Activity card: Only once per turn, players can buy one of the 4 Activity cards available on the central board by paying the indicated cost, which gives them bonuses depending on the number of cards owned.
– Transform resources: Players can transform resources according to the instructions on their personal board or the Marie Curie tile.
– Validate Experience tiles: Players can validate one or more experience tiles.
– Validate the personal objective tile.
➡️ Advancement on the Timeline: Certain actions allow players to advance the Timeline marker on the timeline, which can trigger immediate effects for all players.
➡️ The end of the game is triggered when the Timeline marker reaches the last square of the timeline.
It is good ?
Although presented as a family game in the same vein as “In the Footsteps of Darwin”, “In the Footsteps of Marie Curie” offers a completely different game mechanic. Here, we are immersed in a resource management universe, punctuated by the random fall of small cubes from a tower.
These colored cubes become the currency to conduct experiments and accumulate victory points. Collecting cards also plays a crucial role: the more you have of the same type, the more interesting the rewards.
The rarity of victory points encourages you to optimize each action. The quality of the components, typical of Sorry We Are French, is once again there. A complementary booklet even allows you to deepen your knowledge of the life of Marie Curie.
The randomness inherent in the cube tower, the Experiment tiles and the Theses can sometimes be frustrating, because you never know exactly what you are going to get. Despite this aspect, the game remains strategic and can generate some frustrations between players, especially when a player advances Marie Curie’s timeline, thus depriving the others of certain rewards.
In conclusion, “In the footsteps of Marie Curie” is a family resource management game, ideal for quick games. It offers a good balance between chance and strategy, but players will have to accept the importance of randomness in the course of the games.
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Review In the footsteps of Marie Curie
Positives
- The mechanics of the cube tower
- Impeccable material
- Fast games
- A tense game in terms of PV
Negatives
- Randomness
- Lack of interaction
- Maybe a little lack of replayability
Breakdown
- Components and illustrations 9.5
- Mechanics 7.0
- Thematic 7.5
- Replayability 7.0
- Handling 9.5
- Interaction 7.5
- Originality 8.0
