Base price: $20.
2 – 4 players.
Play time: 45 – 60 minutes.
BGG | Board Game Atlas
Buy on Amazon (via What’s Eric Playing?)
Logged plays: 10
Editor’s note: I bought the Innovation Deluxe set a while ago; I’m not totally aware of what differences (if any) there are between this edition and the third edition (beyond the box), but keep in mind that there may be some (and there may be some between this edition and the upcoming Innovation Ultimate). Also, this review only covers the Innovation core game; the expansions will be … later.
I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at my shelf, both before, during, and after the move. There are a lot of games on here that I bought before I got really into reviewing that kind of just fell between the cracks. I always meant to get back to them, but it became difficult to justify playing them when I had other, more pressing things to review. In an effort to actually give those games the time they deserve, I’ve been trying to pull a few off the shelf every now and then, and see how my tastes have changed. In a lot of ways, I’ve been getting a lot more fond of complex games, but that’s a conversation for another time. Or, at least, complex games on BGA. My tastes have skewed a bit more casual otherwise. I can read into that later. One game that I’ve had my eye on for some time was Innovation, but honestly, I barely understood the rules of the game, much less how to explain it to you lovely people for a review. So, when I saw it was on Board Game Arena, I jumped at the chance to play it in a mostly-sterilized space. Learn it on my terms and all that. So let’s jump in.
In Innovation, players are creating civilizations! Over the course of ten Ages, they’ll adopt various ideas, cultural advancements, technologies, and more to build and shape their civilization as they grow and expand their influence. Naturally, the expansion of civilization (usually) invites conflict, so you’ll have to work that out among yourselves. It’s probably fine; in the whole of human history, people have generally gotten along without incident, right? Whether it’s the wheel or the Pirate’s Code or atomic theory, everything you add to your civilization will help you achieve great things. Just make sure that you don’t spin out of control! Advancement for its own sake can be dangerous. Will your civilization be able to stand the test of time?
Overall: 8.25 / 10
For a while, I didn’t totally know what to say about Innovation. It’s pretty classic, pretty strange, and pretty complicated, but like the civilizations it hopes to represent, it’s done a pretty good job of standing the test of time, as well. It’s certainly an odd duck. It has some similarities to Mottainai, another Asmadi title that maybe I’ll get around to writing up some day eventually, but those are largely just in the “so many different ways to use one card” sort of scene. If you find trying to decide whether or not you want to use a card’s ability, score it for points, tuck it for symbols, or any other manner of actions possible, well, I have good and bad news. The bad news is that this game is probably going to be challenging for you. The good news is that you don’t get to make those decisions, for the most part! Usually, the best you can do is meld a card (playing it on top of one of your stacks), achieve a card (one way to win, but this has some scoring criteria associated with it), or use a card’s dogma effect (use a card’s ability, but only if you have the most of the indicated icon). This, of course, makes for a pretty chaotic game, which is why I kind of prefer to stick to two-player games on Board Game Arena. The game tracks the effects and counts the icons preemptively so that I’m not having to do that. I’ve played it in person a few times, but I remember the higher player count games being a lot (even more so if you’re the kind of glutton for punishment that prefers to play in teams). Innovation is a tricky one, and sits on the more challenging end of my tolerance level.
That said, it’s also a delightful and elegant game. I don’t love take-that in games, but with two players, it’s almost entirely zero sum, so it mostly irons itself out. You can’t really play Innovation without messing with other players, and you’ve kind of got to give as much as you take. Someone’s going to take the card that you needed to Achieve some obscure card; it’s almost guaranteed. If you mess with someone long enough with a certain card, they’re going to figure out a way to deal that pain back to you twofold at best. It’s just the name of the game. It makes the unkindness inherent to take-that a lesser blow, in its own way, even if I still resent Christina a bit for some perceived slight. I think the chaos of the game masks some of that take-that, and if you’re someone who, like me, doesn’t enjoy it, you might find the take-that against the larger backdrop of the game somewhat tolerable. That is to say, the game’s inherent chaos only spirals upwards over the course of it. I once was losing quite badly, then played a few Age 10 Cards (cards available at the latest stage of the game) that caused me to start uncontrollably drawing and playing cards. I, like Icarus before me, rose higher and higher, scoring more and more and drawing more and playing more cards until I had to play and activate a card that immediately caused me to lose the game. It was over as quickly as it started, and I had mostly learned nothing. A perfectly self-inflicted defeat. That still lives in my brain (and has for years) because of how hilarious it was, and there’s something I love about Innovation enabling that.
But yes, through all my mixed feelings and ramblings about chaos and order, Innovation ends up being a game that I’ve developed a soft spot for. I’ve always wanted to get good at it, and I’ve since realized that might not be in the cards for me. I just love the winding path a bit too much, and the thrill of going for alternate Achievements that aren’t really relevant or going for certain cards for aesthetic or thematic reasons ends up being almost as fun as trying to figure out the strategy. There are some circuits that start emerging after a few plays (cards that perform well with other cards or help enable certain strategies), and I think more advanced players can certainly make that work for them. It reveals one gripe that I have with a lot of games like this, in that players who know the cards have a nontrivial advantage over players that don’t, but I wouldn’t count a new player out as a result. Innovation is the kind of game where anything can happen, and I mean that mostly as a threat. Anything. You never know what will backfire. It’s kind of thrilling, in its way, and the elegance of its design isn’t lost on me as a result. There’s always more to discover. I know that Innovation Ultimate and its threat of an 11th Age is approaching, so I’m looking forward to learning more about that in time. But in the meantime, if you’re looking for an interesting and novel game that I quite enjoy with two players, you like civilization-type games, or you just want to build a tableau with wild consequences, I’d definitely recommend trying Innovation out! I’ve come to quite enjoy it.
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