We’ve just pealed the shrink wrap off the box, read the rules, and have flipped over the first card. It’s time to play the first episode of My Island! Over the course of the game I will give my first impressions of every episode of the legacy game.
I am playing through the game with my wife as a two-player game. My wife is my main gaming partner and we also get to play through the game twice instead of only once at 3-4 players.
This is not a spoiler free review. To avoid spoilers in the first Chapter please leave this page and go read our spoiler free review (coming soon).
Chapter 1: Episode 1
The game starts off with the most basic of rules, limited placement space, and no interesting scoring mechanics. This is expected for the first Chapter of a Legacy game. Coming from My City it was no surprise the first game would be bare-bones.
Episode 1 Rules:
- First Tile must be placed on the Beach.
- Houses immediately score +1 for being on the Beach.
- Passing a tile (not resigning from episode) is immediately -1 point.
Not My City
Upon beginning play of the first episode it was quick to notice that this game wasn’t going to be as easy to plan ahead as My City due purely from the nature of the hexagons. Something about the hexagons verses polynomial shapes just made it harder to visualize the shapes we had left. And not only that there are different colors on each shape instead of just one. These colors limit the placement of your tiles verses in My City players only had to fit a shape into a space without matching colors (unless you wanted bonus points).
As we scanned the board we gain excitement for what new features the game would add over the course of the Legacy game. We saw empty spaces and numbers on the board that have yet been introduced to us. We began to throw out ideas of what might come.
Game Play
This first episode was fairly straight forward and not that interesting. However it was an expected start from a Legacy game that plans to build on these base rules. The game was mostly placing tiles where they would fit while trying to get Houses placed on the Beach for extra points.
It was slightly annoying to have to play all these tiles with symbols that did nothing now but you knew later they would have meaning. I wouldn’t have minded a little more interesting start to the game. I do understand this game is targeted at a “lighter” hobbyist gaming audience.
The game ended with lots of tiles left over as it was impossible to fit all of them in the starting locations area. Just like My City only giving you half the board to play in the first episode.
Scoring and Assessment
Scoring was definitely not that exciting. We already scored our tile passes and beach houses during the game. We both subtracted a few points with my Wife declared the winner of the first episode. My wife got to check two progress circles while I was left adding a palm tree sticker over the jungle, which are two areas we don’t have access two yet. The game made scoring a lot more clear by separating the new rules for each episode on a separate page as the scoring page which highlights the scoring rules for each episode and end of episode assessment.
*The stickers have shapes on them to indicate where they need to be placed this made it very clear to where I was allowed to put the sticker.
Score and Time
Playtime: 12 Minutes
Wife: 22
Me: 21
Chapter 1: Episode 2
Episode 2 has us using the the bag of green cubes, that we noticed when we first opened the envelope along with the stickers. We now have to create paths of three matching tiles in a straight line to score three points. At first I thought this was for any color that was three in a row but Path is in reference specifically to the green tile which to my own ignorance had paths drawn on it. In addition to lining up three straight paths you are allowed to cross another path and have it count as another three points but you are not allowed to extend a path straight making it 6 paths to score an additional three points.
Episode 2 Rules
- First Tile must be placed on the Beach.
- Houses immediately score +1 for being on the Beach.
- Passing a tile (not resigning from episode) is immediately -1 point.
- Paths – Three straight paths immediately score 3 points.
Having to create paths of three was fun. Though my wife was doing much better then myself at this task. I somehow found myself focused more on putting houses on the beach and started yelling “BEACH HOUSE” every time I placed a house on the beach to compensate for the lack of paths being made. I unconsciously was trying to intimidate my wife by notifying her every time I made a Beach House.
…started yelling “BEACH HOUSE“
Scoring and Assessment
Unexpectedly my wife and I tied this round. I assumed she was going to win for most of the game. The tie breaker in this game has you looking at the top row of the game board comparing most empty spaces. My wife had one and I had none in the top row, breaking the tie in my favor.
This time I got to check two progress circles while my wife got the palm tree sticker. This now evens out our overall progress score of 2-2 making the third episode the tie breaker for this chapter.
Score and Time
Playtime: 17 Minutes
Wife: 29
Me: 29
Chapter 1: Episode 3
For the first time in My Island, two new rules are added instead of one. First off we are getting out board extended into the palm trees! Finally those stickers we added previously have a use. The second rule is paths are not changed to roads. Instead of 3 in a row, players need 5 in a row to make a road.
Episode 3 Rules
- First Tile must be placed on the Beach.
- Houses immediately score +1 for being on the Beach.
- Passing a tile (not resigning from episode) is immediately -1 point.
- Roads – Five straight paths immediately score 5 points.
Rule Fatigue
I’m not sure if it was because it was getting close to our bed time but my wife and I started experiencing some rule fatigue. I visually kept forgetting about the palm tree expansion. I had to keep reminding myself that I could place tiles in palm tree locations.
While my wife just completely lost the concept of paths and roads. When I was reading the new rules for roads she saw the diagram for paths at the top of the page displaying making two crossing paths. In her mind she translated this to mean roads are a cluster of 5 (three straight with two more connected).
Playing Wrong
I immediately resolved this confusion after she tried to incorrectly claim her first road within 3-4 turns into the round. However later in the my wife had one completed road and another set of 4 lined up in the same row next to it. She then tried to claim a second road by connecting the four to the five with a path piece in-between.
This was close to the end of the game and I could tell she was getting frustrated from misunderstanding the rules. We finished out the game with myself taking first. I decided that I wanted us to redo the game next time and not count that one since she had multiple rule mistakes.
Legacy Games and Rules
Understanding the rules fully in a Legacy game is very important. Any misunderstanding can completely ruin the experience and feel frustrating since the game isn’t focused on that sole moment but on a larger progressing overall experience.
Our second play-through the next day was a much better experience. We both came to the table with fresh minds ready to play.
Changing New Rules
We both found the concept of changing a rule that was just added in a previous episode a bit odd and confusing. Our minds just learned this new rule and instead of adding a different rule to it, they took the concept we just learned and changed it. I would prefer to play each new rule set at least two games in general with a new rule building off of it.
Thematically though I understand the decision behind it. We were making paths along the beach and heather but now we are making roads deeper into the palm tree area.
Chapter 1: Episode 3 – Part 2
Our second game the following day went very smoothly. Everyone understood the rules and no mistakes were made! In a way I liked the chance to play with the same complete rule set a second time in a row. I jokingly suggested that we play this way each round getting to play every episode an extra time. The first time being like a practice round, while the second game is our competitive match. Though I know the nature of some of the modules will not bode well for that play style. Plus part of the experience is the *New* and Unknown when playing.
Scoring and Assessment
My wife being the path master from Episode 2 also managed to be the road master in Episode 3. She took the lead with 37 points getting two more progress circles while I got 34 points gaining another palm tree sticker to place on the jungle space.
Score and Time
Playtime: 19 Minutes
Wife: 37
Me: 34
Chapter 1 – Final Scores
Progress Circles
2 – Me
4 – Wife
High Scores
Wife – 37
Me – 34
Quickest Match – Episode 1 – 12 Minutes
Longest Match – Episode 3 – 19 Minutes
