Tabletop Game Review: Unfair

Unfair

Good Games Publishing

2-5 Players

Playtime: 25 Minutes Per Player

Who doesn’t want to run a theme park? Well, as fun as it sounds, it is a cutthroat industry. Fortunately, we have Unfair to bring players all the fun of a theme park. Players are also avoiding the dire consequences of mismanagement. Players will still get to be unfair to each other though!

How To Play

Unfair’s setup is brief and involves preparing decks for events, park attractions, and blueprints. Players lay out six cards face up to act as a shop to get new park attractions and upgrades for. The game is divided into eight rounds, and each one consists of Event, Play, Guest, and Cleanup phases. The Event Phase involves players using Event cards to tip the game in their favor, and a universal Event card that affects all players.

The Play phase is divided into three parts, and during each part, each player gets the opportunity to use an action. Actions include building new attractions or upgrades (For a fee), adding attractions to the player’s hand to use later on in the game, demolishing attractions, and searching for loose change in their park. The guest step allows for players to make money, which is decided by the number of stars a player’s park has. Finally, there is a cleanup phase, which resets the board for the next round.

When the game ends, players will score points based on a few factors. The size of their attractions indicates how many points they get. Adding various upgrades to the attractions throughout the game makes them larger. Players can also collect Blueprints throughout the game. These give players hidden objectives that earn extra points. If they fail to fulfill their Blueprint objectives, players will face a penalty and lose points. Coins and a few other cards award bonus points as well. Whoever has the most points wins.

Pacing And Interactivity

The game moves at a great pace too. Turns are quick, allow players to move on their next turn without waiting too long. Turns are quick, and the fast rounds give players a sense of progression. Every phase of the game involves every player and no phase feels like it is too long. The game is just the right length at just about every player count. It’s not exhausting at any player account except during five-player games, and even those can still be enjoyable.

We found three-player games to be Unfair‘s sweet spot. There is plenty of interaction at this player count. Still, there are also plenty of opportunities to focus on their own parks. Two-player games are often ruthless, with constant attacks back and forth. Four-player games might involve players attack the leading player a bit too much, but is still lots of fun.

Unfair lives up to its name, but in a good way. Players will constantly attack others in various ways. Sometimes that’s calling an inspector to visit someone else’s park. Other times it’s simply demolishing another player’s upgrades. Regardless, there is plenty of room to create bad blood among friends. Players who crave tons of interaction will love what Unfair has to offer. For those who don’t like attacking or being attacked, there are game changer cards that alter the rules. One of them forbids attacking other players.

Replayability

Unfair is a game that challenges players to plan ahead. Players will use what’s available to them and their Blueprint cards as a guide.  There are plenty of ways to approach the game, and there isn’t just one way to win.

The end result is a game that is full of replayability. There are many themes for the parks, including Robots, Pirates, which are both accessible to beginner players. Each theme injects more than just aesthetics to the parks. For example, the Gangster Park theme literally turns the park into a money-making operation, complete with off-shore accounts. The Ninja theme is full of interaction with other players. The Vampire theme is full of lavish and expensive attractions. The amount of players establishes how many themes are available, and the many combinations keep the game feeling fresh. Every theme also has more than one way to play, furthering increasing Unfair‘s value.

Theme and Components

Unfair‘s rules aren’t the only thing that makes the enjoyable. The game fully embraces the amusement park theme. The art is fun and colorful. The cards are made up of all of the little things that make theme parks special. Some players will feel tons of nostalgia while playing Unfair. The art isn’t the only area where the theme excels.

The rules themselves make use of the theme too. Everything about theme parks, from the rides to the business side, are all here. The actual game’s mechanisms, especially the tableau and set collection, imitate creating a park. Often times, a game won’t fully make the best of its theme. Either the art or the game mechanisms will usually leave something to be desired. This isn’t the case in Unfair.

The game comes with tons of cards, some dice, a fun 3D roller coaster marker, and tons of other cardboard markers. All of the components are of good quality. Unfair is a well put together game, and no piece feels too cheap.

Unfair Is Great For Fans of…

Unfair is an excellent game for players who like city builders. Fans of Dinosaur Island or Puerto Rico should find tons of value in Unfair. Those who like interactive games that hurt the experience of other players, like Terrormaing Mars or Dominion (Or even Tanto Cuore) should enjoy Unfair. Really, anyone looking for an engaging experience for 2-4 players should check out Unfair.