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Ever since I played Theme Park on the Sega Mega-Drive, games where you get to build rides and the like have interested me. Roller Coaster Tycoon and the more recent Zoo tycoon on PC and Xbox were no different. When I first saw Unfair the theme was the main draw and I knew I just had to review it.
The box was great and it had a sturdy feel to it. Upon opening the box, it was apparent it had a vast array of options with several decks of cards and decent components throughout. The decks I mentioned are all different themes (Gangster and Pirates for example) and you can mix and match them to make the game slightly different each time.
Unfair - The Game
Unfair is a tableau builder where the aim of the game is to build rides, attractions, food outlets and anything else associated with a theme park to score points. The more you upgrade the rides and what staff you hire can also score bonus victory points. The ability to change the theme of a ride and upgrade it is a crucial key to score big points.
The decks I mentioned above all have an ‘Unfair’ rating which gives a varied take-that/difficulty so you can really tailor this game to suit the individual players preferences. The cards are also split into two halves one being the nice way of playing and the other the unfair way. This allows you some flexibility on how to play the game if you are not a fan of take-that gameplay but it cannot be totally removed as some events also have the same unfair effects.
Unfair - How To Play
The Unfair board game is played over eights rounds, split into four different phases:
Events Step:
- Each player draws one event card.
- Play the top card of the city deck .
- You then take it in turns to play events or abilities until all players have passed.
Park Step:
- You take turns taking actions one at a time
- Each player gets three actions these can be any of the following
- Take a card action - Take a market card OR draw two cards and keep one or discard both OR discard a card from your hand draw five park cards and choose one to keep
- Build a card - Pay to build a park card directly from your hand or the market OR Once you have a five star rated park build your showcase attraction.
- Demolish a card - Demolish (discard a card) from your park
- Loose change - Gain one coin for each attraction in your park.
Guests Step - Count up all the STARS your park has and take 1 coin for each STAR (guests) you must remember your park has a total capacity and you cannot exceed this.
Clean-Up Step:
- Discard the rounds current event card.
- Flip over the face down park cards you currently have.
- Clear and restock the market.
- Reduce hand down to limit of 5 if exceeded.
- Move the starting player token to the next player and begin the next round.
The game plays at a good speed and was enjoyed by most of the people I have played this with.
There is always something to do on your turn and the fact the market cards are completely changed each round helps make the game feel different on each round.
The art on all the cards and decks while a little basic (each card has a lot of information on it) is well done.
Unfair - Final Thoughts
This has been one of the hardest reviews I have ever done, for a few reasons. There are parts of this game I love and parts I hate.
The internet is the same as I have seen people moan about the (unfairness) take that elements destroying players parks while they have spent all game building them only to be left in last place. I somewhat agree that this can be an issue but like we did in one game we only played the top half of the cards.
My biggest bug-bear of this game is the setup and put away of the decks. It just takes too long to shuffle and set them up ready to play and then put them away at the end of the game. Each card does have its own symbol to make it easier to see what deck it’s from though.
The components are excellent quality and nothing has shown wear from the plays it has had and the box insert is very good, helping to keep all the decks in place (room for the expected expansions too).
Would I recommend this game? If you like games that contain a take-that element 100% get this game your group will love it.
Do you play as a competitive group? Again, yes get this game just be prepared the game can (and will) be brutal.
Do you just want to play a fun game where you try and out score your opponents with little or no player interaction? Then no do not buy this game even with the easiest decks you will come across an event or a player will use the bottom half of the card and scupper your plans.
What do I think? Well this is why I struggled with getting this review done. Every time I have played this game my thoughts have changed. I have gone from hating it to loving it, to now thinking it’s a game unlike anything else in my collection and worthy of its shelf space.
The game almost felt broken at times as my parks got shut-down and I limped home in last place. But on reflection this is what the game is trying to achieve as you get to learn what cards are in the deck, you can build your park to stop (or limit at least) these effects.
This is a game that gets better with each play through but what you get out of this game will vary depending on who you play it with. I would of scored this a 50% out of 100% on my first play through but like I said it gets better the more you play it.
This blog was originally published on June 19th, 2017. Updated on May 11th, 2022 to improve the information available.