Santa's Workshop Review - with Tom Vasel

[@ServiceDogPuppyRaiser]

I stumbled upon this game by accident right when it came out right before christmas last year... our family LOVES this game! It feels very thematic and gives lots of great decisions. It's beautiful on the table and is just plain family fun. We have 150 or so games now, and my kids (ages 10, 11, and 14) still pick this one to play through out the year 😀😀😀

[@petergousis]

I really enjoyed this one. Great to play with the family around the holidays.

[@randalladkins7452]

Really curious of Tom’s take on the new Elf Creek version. Would love to see a comparison video.

[@thedicetower]

We will review the new version (we have it). But a comparison isn't likely since I don't have the original version anymore.

[@brianprush]

** I bought this just before Christmas and played it a lot, and we always had a blast. ** I really disagree with Tom about the board quality. The artwork is great, and made the game feel so thematic, as if we were really in Santa's workshop. Up close the artwork is really nice and Christmasy. ** The cubes might be low quality, but I never thought about that for a second until watching this video. They're just cubes! ** We also felt like we had strategic and tactical decisions to make up to the very end -- there are still several options until at least the 8th round and I was constantly trying to calculate and optimize based on various paths that were still open. I do agree that the 9th round feels scripted, but that's only the last round; and that actually felt "right", as though it was time to wrap up the toy making before Christmas Eve. ** I do agree that the assembly tokens seem just too hard to get and I always wished I had a couple more. But that's far from a "fatal flaw" as Tom said. That just made me plan harder and realize I couldn't make as many overall toys. And, for those of us who don't mind house-rules, there are several different ways to make rather small changes that completely fix that problem. But I do agree that a game shouldn't need house rules. ** I'm eagerly waiting for next Christmas season to play this again. Of course, we could play it all year around, and like it enough to do so, but I think that only bringing this out around Christmas might make it feel extra special. We do that with several other Christmas games and that makes us look forward to them all the more.

[@redeyedghost1406]

I liked this quite a bit. I've played it at 3 and 5 players and enjoyed it at both those player counts, with the one fewer worker per player at the higher count I never felt like it was too tight. It does certainly tighten up in the last rounds though, and playing it around Christmas last year, that felt very thematic. I think this will get a play or two every year around the holidays for many years to come. We rarely seemed to waste a worker on taking the first player token, and the same with the extra "experienced" elf. Several reindeer would have accumulated lots of cookies by the end of the game, and grabbing those was a good way to get some easy points if you can't get enough assembly tokens at the end. Some of the event cards are extremely frustrating. The unique meeples to allow for upgrading each worker individually is simply fantastic (and that they all have unique names). Hope to see that in other games. The components are pretty disappointing though.

[@rickthompson3843]

Awhile ago I asked Tom about worker placement games where you can modify your workers, since Chimera Station wasn't really for me. This was one he suggested I look at and...well...looks like I'm still on the hunt. :/ Com on designers, this needs to be a thing!

[@benjaminspears8488]

The last Christmas game he reviewed- Christmas Tree- looked so much better. I really hope it gets picked up for a wide release!!

[@rondad621]

Benjamin Spears Does anyone know where you can get Christmas Tree? I also thought that Christmas Tree looked like something my family would enjoy, but could never find out where to get it...

[@benjaminspears8488]

Ronda D Google CleverGreen Games. It hasn’t been wide released or picked up by a North American publisher yet. You could also probably find it at any big conventions.

[@rondad621]

Benjamin Spears Thanks so much...appreciate the information!

[@tracytroutman7188]

This is a game that I've only played 2p and I've thoroughly enjoyed my plays. I get it, it's not a looker. However I think it's a nice worker placement game that will likely get some play around the holidays here. I'm keeping it.

[@brianprush]

I generally agree with Tom more often than not, but this time I agreed more with Dan King's and Robert Geistlinger's more-positive reviews.

[@deejayfox1764]

This makes me sad. I wanted to love this game. I've been looking at it for about a year. Maybe if the components were better, I would be willing on spending my money. I hope they listen to feedback and make a second edition with better rules and components.

[@billcook4768]

We are Santa's elves. We are Santa's elves, Filling Santa's shelves with a toy For each girl and boy. Oh, we are Santa's elves.

[@TheHorseradish22]

Good timing with the release. lol

[@jimhale5860]

Radish Horse This game was released a week before a week before Christmas, my FLGS had it.

[@natelinhart114]

Ah man... This one looks so cool & has such a neat theme. I'll give this a shot at GenCon. Holidays are some of the most underutilized themes still!

[@nahailyenvanakkor]

I know, it's probably because people only buy / play those kind of games in the holiday season. It's a shame there are almost no good games with Christmas / Winter theme (only Snow Tails and Letters to Santa comes to mind).

[@CaptMench]

We enjoy this game. It isn’t Lords of Waterdeep, but that’s ok too. I’m not sure about his fatal flaw, it does take planning to get to the workshop at the right time to get assembly tokens... but aren’t all worker placement games like this? I cannot tell you how many times I couldn’t sell my wine in Viticulture when I wanted to. Keep an eye on who is first player and have options for which toys to build. This is a family fun worker placement game for the holidays. The rest of the review was spot on. OH... and the age on the box... 13??? Why, for child safety? No OSHA at the workshop!

[@jendubay3782]

13 is what they put when they don’t want to spend money on safety testing games

[@caomhan84]

Hmm, shame. I too like the theme and it would be fun to have a Christmas game, but honestly even from this overview it doesn't look very fun to actually play.

[@bookaddict777]

Too bad about this one. I thought that the theme was great, but the game play looks to be sub par and that kills it for me.

[@richardviguurs5488]

Ho ho ho hum