Designed by: Corné van Moorsel,Uwe Rosenberg
Nova Luna is, vague moon-theme aside, a game of laying tiles and placing down discs. Each player begins with the same number of discs, and the first to place all their discs on their tiles instantly wins the game.
The circular board is placed on the table and a random selection of tiles are placed around it. All players put a disc on the 12 o’clock spot of the board, and then you can begin. The starting player takes one of the first three tiles around the ‘clock’, and moves the moon piece to the spot vacated by the tile. They also move their marker clockwise around the board: by as many spaces as the number on the tile itself. They place the tile in front of them, and it’s the next player’s turn.
This sets the pattern for the game – on your go, you always choose from the next three tiles ahead of the moon, and add it to the tiles in front of you, building your own bespoke pattern. Each tile shows what other tiles it likes to be next to, and every time you meet these requirements on any of your tiles, you get to place a disc on that tile to show you’ve met the requirements. For instance, a red tile might want to be next to three yellow tiles, two dark blue and one light blue. Important to note here that if you have tiles adjacent of the same colour, then all of them are considered adjacent to any tile each one of the set is next to.
Another thing to factor into your thinking is that the player furthest back on the track is always active: so it’s possible someone will get to take 2 or even 3 tiles before it’s someone else’s turn. When there are less than three tiles available, the currently-active player can choose to fill up with new tiles before they choose one. The moment anyone places their last disc, the game is over!
Only the likelihood someone takes a tile you wanted. Which, to be fair, can happen.
Moderate to high. Although the rules are simple, the decision-making is not.
At the start it seems all very straightforward. As the game progresses, the multitude of possibilities grow before the opportunities to exploit them begin to run out...
We've found it very more-ish, and there's a good solo-player option.
Sam says
Hey, fancy a game where you lay tiles that get rid of discs when they're next to certain other tiles? - Admittedly, it's probably not a you had me at tiles moment. Nova Luna's theme is entirely irrelevant really; you could easily have called it Et tu, Brute, or competitive cheese-naming. But as a game about laying tiles goes, this one has hooks: we've played it a fair amount and each visit has that potential for the single tile you so desperately need either a. triggering the placement of multiple discs, or b. triggering indignant screams when someone else takes it. Fun.