First in Flight Review: The Wright Stuff

[@1red2blue4]

Okay, so I just wanted to say really quickly: I've noticed that comments in nearly every video are passionately for, or against, a game. As someone who would probably give this game a 7, I would like to speak on behalf of the middle-of-the-roaders that don't usually leave comments. And I wanted to talk a little bit less about the game itself and more about a concept that's been bugging me. It's okay to like a game. It's okay to dislike a game. It's okay to like a game more than you expected, and it's also okay to like a game less than you expected. If there's anything to take away from a 20+ minute long review of a game, it should NOT be the quantitative final score decided upon at the end of the video. The entire reason I watch these videos is to get qualitative descriptions that describe strengths and weaknesses of a game. To understand reasoning behind a score is to truly understand a review. To all those who shame reviewers for their scores not being what you expected: shame on you. A reviewer should never feel uncomfortable with sharing an opinion. After all, reviews can never be objective; they are subjective by definition. I was introduced to this game in its infancy--before I was introduced to Quacks. The forgetful bonuses, and the non-simultaneous play for a push-your-luck game cannot be overlooked. This is a game I was destined to enjoy, and I do enjoy it--but I like Quacks better.

[@soogymoogi]

I agree with you about the qualitative descriptions of the game being more important than the score at the end. If Tom rates something a 5 but the way he describes the game makes me think I'd love it, I'll often still check it out. Same thing if he and/or Zee dislike a game but Mike or Milla love it, just because my taste is more like theirs. Etc

[@bonmacp]

My game group and I loved this game! We were all highly engaged even when someone else was making their flight, because we all wanted to see if they would crash (or not) and how far they would get. I’m usually terrible at deck building games (because I never know when to cull), but I didn’t have that problem with this game. I loved it! It’s a 9 for me!

[@joethomas1775]

Same here. Awesome game.

[@Breyfunk]

I’ve had such a great time with this game, it’s a 9 for me as well, just a perfect little blend of a few simple mechanisms.

[@4757joshua2]

Great review. Very funny, I'm gonna try this one for sure.

[@supercommando440]

For godsake, someone please do an unboxing of the RETAIL version

[@xshadowscreamx]

Waiting for my first first in flight

[@Serpenzeye]

I am loving the pun titles

[@joethomas1775]

I really enjoyed this game!

[@rpduerr5600]

The Wright Brothers workshop was in Dayton, OHIO where I live!!!

[@codym6376]

Multiple people describe the ratchet track as “tight”. What does that mean?

[@crack-a-packin359]

A short answer means you have to play what limited actions/options well as each bad/wrong decision could be punished. It's a plus for some a detriment for others

[@adobeonekenobi]

In this review I'm Milla. It shows that she got a pretty nice combos with how she thinked through what she can do best. There could be luck involved, but she was well prepared for what it comes. But it's not that not flying will give you best chances in winning. Every Pilot plays a bit differently, so you might see a best route in pushing the luck, in moving smart on the board, in flying as often as possible, in loading deck with big cards, or with small cards, or even with crashing, and there's more than that. Every card (especially Friends and Tech) can alter your strategy and encourage you to do something different. There's not a crazy amount of things you can do in this game but for each of those there's a couple of strategies depending on what you have and what you can get, so every play feels different. Some cards push you forward when you fly, some when you don't, some when you get just a little bit more distance each time. Sometimes you want to fly only to discover a problem and fix it, to get new stuff, because there's always a reward behind the corner. Crashing is punishing.. a bit I'd say, but not as much as some said. There are better and worse places on the board when you can crash, so you need to be more careful at some and at others you can just give it all. Giving this game a few tries open a lot of hidden routes to victory. It's a very smart game in how it's packed and how tight and well oiled those mechanisms are.

[@hugotavaresgomes9539]

you mean,Santos Dumond game? 🇧🇷

[@acidfloyd2]

Milla was right about Trail Blazer John Muir so I'm looking forward to getting this thematic game to the table. Great review!

[@TabletopToolbox]

Haha - I'm playing a 4P game of this right now and we all hate it except for the guy who has the over-powered pilot... :)

[@soulside]

Ohio and North Carolina have entered the chat

[@CheeseDud]

Truly our largest rivalry. License plates and all

[@pluvia33]

@@CheeseDud Very true! I have very little state pride for most things, but as someone who grew up in Dayton Ohio, the "First in Flight" license plates for North Carolina always annoy the crap out of me!! XD

[@dougiebarx]

This is Gustave Whitehead erasure

[@steveschlepphorst]

Gustave is in the game as the 2p pace-setter and his No.21 is the white player piece!

[@dougiebarx]

Incredible! Now I need to get this game for sure

[@davidvelazquez677]

Quacks killer, perhaps? I think what does it for me is that this game gives you toys that you can then play with. Quacks gives you toys,......but it's very possible you do not get to play with them.

[@xshadowscreamx]

Quacks is unkillable, it will outlast all other push your luck games. Well that and Incan gold.

[@charlez2729]

I feel that Tom was a little rough on this game

[@redshadow310]

Wow I rarely disagree so much with the DT consensus. The people cards were way too powerful and crashing isn't nearly punishing enough. While most of us were able to fly once or maybe twice per round, one player was able to fly 3-5 a round at the end and crashing every single time, but getting more powerful each time he did thanks to his yellow cards. By the end of the game he had a massive deck with the most upgrades without ever having to take an upgrade action and adding flaws to his deck. It's one thing to be able to mitigate push your luck, but another entirely to make it irrelevant. 4/10 from me.

[@steveschlepphorst]

If the description is right, you missed an important rule: Yellow cards (friends) can only be used once per round. They offer some strong additional actions or cards, but usually only 2-3x per game, not 3-5x per year.. There are definitely strong synergies among upgrade-heavy strategies, 'safe' strategies, action/$ efficiency combos, etc., but the nature of the action selection and face-up cards mean those options are always available for everyone to compete over. It's not rare to see Fly/Any actions be scooped up by Y3.

[@Nic1700]

How was a player able to fly 3-5 times per round while all the other players are flying once or twice? There's only a few fly and any action spaces and players block eachother and crashing would necessitate spending time and moving past some of those spaces as well.

[@steveschlepphorst]

@@Nic1700 Pilots like Lilian Todd or Peltier and friends like Edith Berg and Katharine Wright can provide a critical mass of action economy / flexibility.

[@Rakbis00]

@ Tom Vasel, have you lost your love for the hobby? With comments "I love lots of parts of the game" and "It's a really good game, but it could have been better, but I don't know how or why" then follow it with an above average rating of 7. Because reasons! Losing a little faith in your reviews. I think in your heart you wanted to rate it an 8 or even 8.5, but "reasons" left you at a 7.

[@thedicetower]

"7" isn't average. "7" is good. "6" is average for me. And no, I haven't lost my love for the hobby. I just can't rate every game a high rating! And in my heart ratings come out of my mouth.