Mandala Stones Review - Is It Better Than Azul?

[@davemaynard8656]

Such a well produced review! Thanks for explaining the game so well.

[@meeple]

Thanks so much for the comment, and for watching!

[@kathrync8632]

Outstanding. I have the attention span of a gnat, so I usually opt for the brief, 3-minute game videos. So glad I pushed my envelope to watch this. Fantastic, concise explanation and valuable comparison. Thanks!

[@meeple]

I'm glad you pushed your envelope too, and happy that you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching.

[@jason15th]

More this format of these reviews, please. Awesome Job.

[@meeple]

Thanks! We're still trying to pivot to getting more of this type of content up, but these just take a bit more time to put together. Appreciate you watching and commenting!

[@jason15th]

@@meeple Keep up the great work. Support from Hong Kong.

[@dw9001]

Loving this new review format!

[@meeple]

Awesome to hear! Thanks for the comment, and for watching.

[@jameskirk4692]

As other comments stated, your video is very well done! It is such a delight to watch it and I understand the game better now even though I watched few other review videos before. Congratulations and thank you! I love interesting abstracts, including the azul(third one), and this one certainly is. I am probably gonna get this at some point.

[@bumfuzzel4512]

Very good review. Appreciate the work that was put into it.

[@meeple]

Thanks for that!

[@annaglezina1917]

Amazing review, very good point. Appreciate you

[@blackboardgaming5348]

I'm sold! Thanks for the review!

[@meeple]

Hope you enjoy it! We've been experiencing a bounty of abstracts lately, and this is just one of them.

[@jamesbrazeal3847]

This game is certainly on my list. I love OG Azul

[@meeple]

I imagine this is a no-brainer purchase then. Let us know what you think once you've tried it.

[@deepdivemusicreactions]

no it's not. I sold my copy just because I was annoyed by the oversized box for what the game had to offer. in all seriousness, those cardboards are too thin, art on cards boring, and those end bonuses are too random. you cannot prepare to score them almost ever. I prefer reef and coatl over mandala stones too

[@meeple]

Fair perspective, but for me, I prefer this experience to more than one of the first three Azuls (although Queen's Garden may change that for me). I enjoyed Reef, but not Coatl that much. And for me, both of those are more simplistic that Mandala Stones, and far less "competitive". At least that how they feel to me. Thanks for watching, and the feedback.

[@carolinehaf21]

Thank you, this was really useful for someone looking to get into these games!

[@bobgueders]

I played Mandala Stones multiple times but I got rid of it. I'm a huge fan of abstract games but I got bored very fast with this one where OG Azul is still fun and exciting to me. I don't know if Gorinto came out in the US yet but its is the same feeling. Azul got this immediate effect that a lot of other abstract games try to reproduce but don't suceed. Also, it's a game for 2. Don't play at 4 players. You can't prepare for your turn during other players turn and you get bored very fast depending on the speed of others. That gets me out of the game and having to constantly switch between 'bored/refocus to make the good move' is annoying. Not much variety for the end scoring cards and they feel qwirky comparing with the effort it takes to score properly during the game. In the end, I like this game but having Azul in my collection, I know after a dozen games that it would never have been played again (sorry if my english feels weird sometimes ^^)

[@meeple]

Fair points. I'm also a fan of abstracts, and mostly like the timing aspect of choosing when to score on this one to eek out a point here and there. My favorite abstract (I think) of all time is Quarto. Have you played that?

[@bobgueders]

@@meeple No. Never had the chance yet. My favorite abstract game is Dragon Castle but we also play a lot of Yinsh & Tzaar from the Gipf Project.

[@melissamorrell5239]

@@meeple Do you have a review of Quarto? I loved your review of Mandala Stones and would love to see another one like this on Quarto.