Gizmos made my top ten games of 2018 and was the last game to sneak under the wire for the ranking—I have other 2018 releases that I didn’t get to in time for that list—after I got a full demo at PAX Unplugged and then started playing it regularly with my daughter. And I do mean regularly, because we both love the game and realized in just a few plays that we could slip in an entire two-player game in under a half an hour on a school night. It’s one of the fastest-playing engine building games I’ve come across, with the kind of rewards you want from a game like that but a lot less of the fuss. The key thing to understand is this: each and every gizmo has an ability, and in a very clever act of intentional design, each ability is triggered by a particular action type. Often, the card itself causes another action to occur. In a single turn you can end up triggering a huge swath of your gizmos.

Each player takes an Energy Storage Ring A and their Player Dashboard B and places them in front of them.Your Energy Storage Ring has a limited amount of Energy it can hold, as indicated in your Player Dashboard's Upgrades Area. Each player starts the game with a Storage Limit of 5, but some Upgrade Gizmos may increase that number. One of the smartest things about this game’s development is— and bear with me here because this is much more exciting than it sounds— its filing system. Even though it has similarities to games like Splendor and the Century series, Gizmos almost feels like its own take on engine-building, thanks to the wild chain reactions. My favourite aspect is the sense of progression you gain as you collect gizmos and develop more opportunities for combos, trying to determine how you can maximize the efficiency of each turn. Some of the design choices I prefer less than other engine-builders, but the way Gizmos makes you feel as things ramp up and your turns sprawl into several actions at once is about as good as it gets. If you look at what you can do on your first turn compared to your last turn, it doesn’t even feel like the same game. The Great Science Fair approaches! You, the brilliant minds of our generation, will compete to build the most creative and powerful Gizmos in your homemade labs. Can you master the four energies and construct the best combos to bring home the first-place prize?

An ability: There’s a lot going on with this one, but for now let’s just say most abilities make your actions more powerful. So, we have a well produced, easy to learn, well priced game that scales well with all player counts – what are you waiting for? Just keep in mind that each Gizmo may only be used once per turn! You may use the Effect of a Gizmo on the same turn it is built, however, it cannot be triggered by the same action that Built it. Each player then calculates their score by adding the Victory Points of all their Gizmos, plus any Victory Point Tokens they have acquired. The player with the most Victory Points wins! Each player takes a Starting Gizmo Card and places it on their Player Dashboard below the File symbol C. The area below the Player Dashboard is the Active Gizmo Area.Pet Habitats and Supplies, Apparel and Leashes, Training and Behavior Aids, Toys, Aquarium Supplies such as Pumps, Filters and Lights 15 Days Returnable There is a limit on how much energy you can store at any given time which is shown by the number inside the circle on the upgrade section of your dashboard. At the beginning of the game you may only hold five energy at a time. If you reach your energy limit you cannot acquire more energy until you use some of it. Assemble the Energy Dispenser (see the Dispenser Assembly Guide) and place it within reach of all players. Place all 52 Energy Spheres inside it (13 of each color). 6 random Energy Spheres will slide out to form the Energy Row F. The lower the player count, the more you can form a long-term strategy. With three or four players, you need to be prepared to make tactical adjustments when fewer options are present that meet your strategic goals. Remember to always replenish the Display Area when you Build a Gizmo from there. After replenishing, your Build action is over.

Opening Potion Explosion was joy followed by disappointment. The reassuringly heavy box containing a mass of glass marbles was a sight to behold, until I held them. At that point the marbles were found to be a mix of chipped and misshapen monstrosities. Upon finding that Gizmos employed marbles and a marble dispenser and also came from the same company I tried to contain my expectations... Gizmos Every Gizmo you Build and place below your Player Dashboard has an Effect that is activated by a specific Trigger (learn all about these in the List of Effects). Take a number of Player Dashboards equal to the number of players (the First Player Dashboard must be included). Shuffle them all and randomly give 1 to each player. The player with the First Player Dashboard G will be the First Player.

At first glance, Gizmos may look familiar. A heap of marbles gleam in the light, nestled in a funny cardboard contraption. That is, until all players have had an equal number of turns in the game. If the player who triggered the end of the game is the player to the right of the First Player, then the game ends when they complete their turn. The end of the game is triggered when a player builds their 4th Level 3 Gizmo or their 16th Gizmo total (including their Starting Gizmo). Once that happens, play continues until the player to the right of the First Player completes their turn. That is, until all players have had an equal number of turns in the game. If the player who triggered the end of the game is the player to the right of the First Player, then the game ends when they complete their turn. Research – Allows you to take cards from one of the Gizmo piles up to your research level and build or file one of them.

The gameplay is simple to learn but about half way through your first play you suddenly realise that you need to build your Gizmos carefully to trigger off as many combinations as possible. Gizmos take the shape of square cards that can be upgrades, converters, or what I call reactors. Upgrades do just that; giving you more storage for marbles and to reserve Gizmos in your archive, converters allow you to change marble colours or quantity. When performing a Build Action, you may be able to use your active Converter Gizmos to convert the Energy you have into the Energy you need. You may do this by selecting your built Converter. More details on the types of Converters may be found in the linked List of Effects PDF. Two players who already know the rules can likely crush a game of Gizmos in less than half an hour. Even with four players, I don’t think I ever had a game take more than an hour.

This area on the side of the Player Dashboard is the Archive, used to hold Gizmos that have been Filed.