Maharaja Review - with Tom Vasel

[@RulebooksForYou]

I'm glad that I was able to help fix the rulebook so it wasn't one of the problems :)

[@boardgameknight2791]

I had unusable wheels in my Kickstarter copy of Barrage too. Seems to be a repeating issue for Cranio Creations.

[@22gjreyes]

Didnt even noticed the designs in those statues before Tom mentioned it.

[@spaztekwarrior]

Wow. I haven’t played my first Ed. Phalanx version in quite a while. Time to dust off this game and a few other classics and bring them to the table: Puerto Rico, Amun Re, Princes of Florence, Ursuppe etc :)

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

I had to rewind to hear which other game had component issues. "Barrage" and "Maharaja" sound surprisingly similar!

[@lioneart19]

Wow the art is impressive! I also really liked the plastic pieces. Maybe they look worse in person...🤔

[@windbane69]

For what it's worth, 3 of my action selection boards are perfectly tight, and the 4th isn't as loose as Tom's. Not fitting in that circle is annoying but obviously doesn't affect ganeplay. I also had no issues with the Barrage wheels, but Cranio did replace them for those who did.

[@leebrown1352]

How is an optional, preselected scoring module psudeo randomness... Agree with the assessment of the components , I recieved compensation for a damaged box and shoddy dials. But but the take on the rules changes are really poorly articulated here.

[@lisamarin8836]

I knew that Tom was going to have a problem with that wheel! I don't think that would bother me. But I completely agree that the plastic pieces look cheap and garish. Wish they'd used wood, maybe with printing on the temple pieces.

[@I-M-Pulsive]

This sounds like Cranio quality

[@pczplughead]

I had no experience with the original so this was fun for me to play, no baggage re: the changes or anything so that obviously sets me apart from Tom here. Enjoyed it on the whole, but yes, the wheels are pretty dumb .

[@dragosdominiosp]

Wow Cranio components are trash? What a surprise! 😱😱😱😂😂😂

[@MarathonPhil]

I wanted to add that I got my copy and all 4 of my spinners work fine. I've heard that the ones that are broken are very easily fixed. It's a real problem, but I feel like Tom's complaint was overblown.

[@davidmarowske4243]

The Dice Tower and most reviewers review games out of the box "as is" in their original state. They don't review games with "fixes", "house rules" or "errata." Retail buyers need to know what they are getting out of the box, not what what they need to do to make a game playable.

[@MarathonPhil]

Sure, but the reviewers should put the errors into perspective. The majority of the comments indicate that they believe the game is unplayable. It seems the majority of the wheels are fine and the ones that are broken can be fixed with a 10-cent washer in 30 seconds.It is also possible that Dice Tower constructed the wheels improperly if all their wheels failed in the same manner.

[@davidmarowske4243]

@@MarathonPhil what facts are you relying upon for your statement that the majority of the wheels are fine?

[@seanf7810]

My wheels are also fine. There is plenty of friction to prevent the hands from spinning under their own weight. Maybe I just got lucky.

[@Nasher1976PSN]

I had one broken spinner and Cranio sent out 4 replacements

[@FranciscoArena]

What we see here is a _modernization_ of a classic euro game. It had nothing wrong with it IMHO. They could just update the artwork/graphic design and reprint with the same set of rules. It is a great design from one of the best designer duels, after all! But (almost) every game nowadays _must_ have points and contracts and variable scoring options and dozens of stuff. Happily they did not change it into themes like space or generic fantasy as many other reworks of games do.

[@KissellMissile]

It's proof that "modernizing" does not always mean improving.

[@12345678abracadabra]

If modernizing means getting lousier components and bad symbology, I wanna stay in the stone age.

[@Atlas-FM8]

I don’t know how Cranio has been making games for so long and is still so bad at component quality.

[@fredmcmack]

Really wish they would've given the original ruleset a fresh coat of paint instead of the major overhaul they went with. The first edition had a runaway leader problem, but this new version seems to have overcorrected and turned into point soup.

[@conillet]

Also, many of the numbers are very hard to read. Beginner's mistake in graphic design.

[@OmegaDestroyer99]

Looks like I dodged a bullet.

[@diegogarciacampos4849]

A lot of fairly negative reviews lately, seems the overall board game quality has dropped quite a bit in 2021.

[@jenius00]

There's also an increasing number of games raising the bar.

[@thedicetower]

As the person reviewing these, I do NOT THINK this. Quality just keeps going up. I've always done a lot of negative reviews, check my backlog. :)

[@crawf168]

You can check out Tom's Negative Review list at BGG, it is sitting at 499 strong! boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/150574/tom-vasels-negative-game-reviews

[@CresentSoul]

I really don’t like that cover. It misconstrues a lot of aspects of Hinduism just for the sake of style. Comes across as inconsiderate. Like the use of Durga with the tongue sticking out is always what hipster artists always do when they try to go for a dramatic looking image 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@BJJourney]

I have seen more than millenia old Durga's statues at India temples with her tongue sticking out. Dang! Those hipster artists have been on earth for awhile now!

[@seansteel328]

Cranio: Let's take a classic K&K design (which are typically famous for being light on rules and smooth) and then overcomplicate the hell out of it Everyone: I'll stick with the original, thanks