El Grande Review: The King is Dead, Long Live the King

[@aaronmoore54]

I like to imagine Jason introduces himself as “The Gaming Machine” in other aspects of his life. Like when he answers the phone. “Jason Levine “The Gaming Machine”. “Yes, Jason, I know who you are; it’s your Mother.”

[@Lex_Koncord]

I REALLY hope he makes table reservations with his full name... Jason Levine the Gaming Machine, table for 4!

[@robertstefaniuk4971]

There is human Jason Levine who looks identical. The machine always adds this description so that people know this is not the proper Jason.

[@martinsonnleitner5516]

Could lead to confusion.. Like at a casino: "Hi, Jason Levine, The Gaming Machine" "Over there, sir!" "Pardon?" "The Gaming Machine" "Yes?" "Over there!" "What?" ... ...

[@ThorMNKasp]

Good to see Jason doing reviews. Based on past reviews and top lists he did i bought a lot of really good games. Hope to see more of Jason in future reviews.

[@MrDudikowski]

Great to see Jason again! And Chris! Love the whole team, but those two are my favorites

[@TheDungeonDive]

This is a perfect game, from a time when Euro games were simple and elegant.

[@revimfadli4666]

When Euro didn't mean "ridiculously complex as if that's the best way to get heavy gameplay" or "multiplayer solitaire"

[@RvLeshrac]

"Tom was unavailable for this review as he was playing El Grande."

[@MauricioHoffman]

interesting fact. El Grande is Spanish for 'The Grande'

[@RetroMaticGamer]

More technically, it means "The Big One."

[@SimpleRoad]

Little known fact: Starbucks invented the word 'grande' for their medium-size drinks and the Spanish borrowed it. 😉

[@Noobwater]

@@RetroMaticGamer pretty sure it means "the big grande" source I am a caballero

[@43bg1]

Actually it means "The Harbor"

[@JorWat25]

I thought 'El Grande' was Spanish for 'Sagrada'.

[@mikintosh6111]

El Grande really shines at 4-5 players. Great game I always have fun with.

[@bendfocuspro]

The biggest con for me is the lack of the phallic king pawn. I mean the jokes alone make for a great gaming experience. The Castillo improvement would be really nice. Glad to see an amazing game come back!

[@Raphaelus13]

Thanks for the review and overview of modules. I like the simple idea of switching how the King moves to change how the tactics feel. My first instinct was using just one of the more functional ones as a substitute for the original card. Perhaps also choose two and cycle them, first showing to everyone how in the current round the King will move.

[@thedicetower]

I wonder that I wouldn't prefer that as well. I like the stability of that one power while everything is changes, but some of them wouldn't work well as consistent abilities.

[@harrischiu]

Yeah like to have Jason back for reviews

[@IronSalamander8]

I actually missed this one originally, and played it for the first time a couple months ago. Really liked it, and hope to play again.

[@wayner396]

Just picked this up and will hopefully be playing it Saturday

[@thedoctor1325]

I have the big box edition and have been tempted by the new release. I only bought it a year or so ago, I haven't touched the expansions yet but I love the idea of the modules included in this one, especially the new 5 deck. While the cards look amazing, I'm less thrilled with the board which is what put me off this edition. The box size though is a huge improvement..

[@chuckm1961]

Interesting fact: El Grande means "The Harbor". :)

[@evanhays4159]

Been wanting to pick this one up but everywhere I look online it seems to be sold out even though it looks like it was supposed to be available January '24.

[@strangeidea42]

I strongly prefer the cubes of the original to the meeples in the newer versions. So much more practical and easy to count. The new stuff looks nice, though, so I don’t blame them since it probably sells well

[@eightyeightfm7462]

Kind of like the style of the old board too.

[@grog3514]

We really liked the changes. Traded my old copy after the first play. Everyone in my group agreed that it's an ideal reprint. Better graphic design (it looks better in person than in videos for some reason), smaller box, better tower, and great linen finish cards. I couldn't have done it any better.

[@lkjkhfggd]

That edition looks lovely. I would pick it up if I didn't already own the game!

[@alexisxiros8168]

I prefer the old map. It has a more historical touch. By the way, isn't Risk an older areal control game?

[@uplift-yourdailypickup6424]

I thought the same thing.

[@mikintosh6111]

El grande is area majority. Risk is area control. Similar, but slight differences.

[@utahman06]

Starting to seriously love Jason. What an interesting perspective he has. Really love hearing from him and really want to see him on more interviews, top 10’s, etc.

[@tamidorwindtaenzer1377]

Jason ist BACK 🎉

[@boazdror]

Does the Decennial edition have the mitigation module you mention?

[@KrastyoKrastev]

For me this game is 10/10. In my top 5 of all time.

[@arcticzer062]

Is this game only coming out in the German language or is there an English language too? Only versions I've seen online have a German only rule book.

[@RetroMaticGamer]

It was released a few months ago in English and sold out within a week. I'm hoping for another print run soon - this edition is WAY nicer-looking than the other editions!

[@brownrhythms]

Game Nerdz and Miniature Market have sold copies of it although they are currently OOS.

[@Strandvideo]

Well, after seeing this video... I can say, I prefer the original version (printing) of this game. I'd rather have the cubes than the meeples, and I think I like the original castle and spinners better.

[@ianw0ng]

why is a game so new so hard to find anywhere?? sigh... some publishers just do not deserve the games they have.

[@RynoKenny]

Surprised they didn’t wait for Tom as he championed the old printing for years. However, it’s no longer in his top 100, so clearly it’s unplayable now.

[@Pianoman1488]

This reminds me of the king is dead

[@kevinbhieey9188]

Not really sure why you're taking about beigeness. It's that about the original? Because this game is clearly not beige. And it's a perfect example of why beige is a lazy choice. Pastels add much-needed color and it's still easy to see brightly-colored game pieces. I do like the beigeness of the box, though. Let's keep that color there.

[@SvanMagic]

I really need to try El Grande again, but it was by far the worse game I've played the first time that made me want to stop halfway through. It just didn't click with me at all.

[@fongstar]

I like the game. I don’t like the game. I like the game. I don’t like the game. Sums up the review.

[@thedicetower]

Curious how you mean that. We both liked the game a lot.

[@fongstar]

@@thedicetower agree - i meant that there were things you liked and things you didn’t like but because the comments were in comparison to the new version it was a confusing until the very end. Just my take - big fan of yours to be clear!

[@thedicetower]

Ahh okay. I appreciate the feedback. It's a game I really enjoy but I'm also aware that it can rub people the wrong way as it's very confrontational. Maybe some of those comments together seemed more negative while I was just trying to make people aware of the type of game it is. Thanks for watching and giving us the feedback.

[@Bowsar1337]

new edition looks ugly

[@grog3514]

Cope

[@LegoAssassin098]

I like the look of the reprint. It's not a crazy size or price and some nice QOL upgrades. It looks better than the older versions. I think it's exactly what you should do with a reprint of a classic, well-loved game.

[@dago6410]

I hate euros. I love this game. This feels nothing like any euro ive seen but then again i try to avoid euros as I despised every one i played xd

[@Sparticuse]

In your example of people coming out of the tower you said picking the king's region was a mistake, but you can actually pick that region. The caballeros go back to your usable supply in that case.

[@thedicetower]

Good point, but it was a mistake on what I was trying to show, haha!

[@sleepykid19]

Discovered this game a couple of years ago, and it was an instant hit for me. I do think it really holds up. I love the decision space of bringing more caballeros into your court vs having a higher initiative, and even selecting the actions have trade-offs with how many caballeros you place onto the board. The castillo is a fun mechanism and can lead to lots of sneaky surprises right as scoring rounds start. Big improvements in the box size, components, art, and an expensive, out of print game is now available at a reasonable price. Thanks for the review!

[@thedicetower]

Absolutely! This is a delightful reprint, and a few nice little extras. I'll be curious if it will get any of the other expansions modules released for it.

[@haukionkannel]

Old game and still one of favorites in gaming nights! Good job. Most old games don`t have this kind of staying power!

[@TylerAndToast]

How is this 90 minutes? It looks like a 30 minute game max

[@Julebstube]

Maybe with 2 players, you can get well below an hour, but it plays better with more.

[@SvanMagic]

​@@Julebstubeno wonder my first play of El Grande sucked. It was three hours.

[@thegamesninja3119]

Back in my day, we played it with cubes on a bland board going up hill... and we liked it that way! It joined Catan to anchor German games... then Knizia showed up and blammo.