Pacts

Pacts is a two-player fight for the dominance of an Ireland inhabited by creatures of mythology: banshees, sirens, dragons and more. Mechanically, much of it is about the I-split/you-choose choice recognised by parents the world over when it comes to cake distribution.

The board – actually a cloth mat – shows Ireland divided into several regions, each of which has a points value for the player with the most cubes in that region at the ends of round 3 and again at round 6: the finale. Each round is quick: five Pact cards are revealed and one player’s job is to divide the both the cards and the go-second token into two options – one of which will be chosen by the other player. As well as activating these cards, both players also have a secretly-chosen Court card of their own to add to the mix.

Activating cards is almost entirely about adding cubes to regions, or moving cubes already present. The other type of card is the Ability , and what this does depends on the Faction each player chose before the game began. The dragons for example can potentially wipe out all cubes in a single region. The Banshees can interfere with your opponent’s court card, and the Fir Bolg can add more cubes to any regions they’re not currently present in, and so on. In a word: chicanery. Or shenanigans.

The dividing and choosing flips from player to player each round, and at round 3 all regions are scored, and then the points token in each region flips to its’ other (more valuable) side. Three more rounds follow before scoring happens again, and then whoever ends up with most points is the winner.