Fantasic Factories

Fantastic Factories was one of the early finds when I was building out my collection of games. Coming from other engine building games, such as It's a Wonderful World and Wingspan, Fantastic Factories is a considerably lighter game but it gets a lot done with little complexity.

There's only three resources to manage: Iron, Energy and Cards. The interesting twist is to play a card and add it to your tableau you have to discard a card of the same type. There's a clear hierarchy in that its easier to get Energy than it is to get Iron. Each round you'll be rolling four dice and using them for actions, either from your main board or for factories that have dice spots. The end goal is to either gain 12 goods, which are points at the end of the game, or to have built out at least 10 cards. Points are simply from goods earned or from buildings, so its easy to count up and isn't as point salad as some other games.

The solo mode works well and there's two expansions for it: Manufactions adds ways to manipulate your dice even further and Subterfuge adds more direct player interaction. It's a nice, light, breezy game. If you're looking for a relaxed puzzle, Fantasic Factories is a great game.