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Mandala Stones
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Description
Mandala Stones is an abstract strategy game designed by Filip Głowacz. Publishers Board&Dice have put out many games that feature wonderful components. Mandala Stones continues within this trend. There’s a strong presence of pattern-building and set collection in this game. Mandala Stones is somewhat abstract in nature, comparable to the likes of Azul.
There’s a main board where you’ll randomly place the 96 ‘stones’. These are wonderful chunky discs that come in four colours, 48 each in two different patterns. The stones sit stacked into towers four discs high. There’s also four artists (black pillars). The game consists of you claiming stones from these towers. Later on you’ll score your stones, and place them into a communal, spiralling mandala. (This is like a timer for the end-game.)
On your turn you either claim stones, or score your stones. Claim stones by moving one of the artists and checking the four towers of stones that surround it. Take all the top stones from those towers that match the artist’s pattern (providing no other artists sit adjacent). You claim the stones in a clockwise order. Then you stack them onto an available space on your own player board. You start the game with five spaces to collect stones like this.
The winner is the player with the most points, so you’re taking stones in the first place, with scoring in mind. When it comes to scoring, it’s a case of removing the top stones from one or more of those stacks you collected, earlier. You can remove (same-colour) stones from the top of at least two towers. Remember you had five spaces to collect stones? Each space has a different scoring category, which you score when you remove stones from it. Some reward you for the current height of that tower. Others reward you for having unique stone colours in that tower, and so on.
The other way you can score is to remove any number of top stones on your player board. This isn’t as lucrative, since you score a meagre one point per stone you remove. But you might do this to plan ahead, removing certain ‘odd’ stones, leaving same-colour stones in prime locations to score on later turns…
Player Count: 2-4 Players
Time: 30 minutes
Age: 10+
I am currently stoned. No, not that, you naughty Nellies! I mean that I am filled to the brim with gorgeous, chunky, colourful, patterned tiles. Having recently binged on Mandala Stones like a squirrel let loose in a nut factory, I am very happy indeed.
Why? Well, I’m an out and proud abstract strategy game fan. Games don’t have to be beautiful to tick my boxes. They just have to be full of thinky goodness. They need to give me a dose of Vitamin Crunch!
But, when colour, patterns, and abstract strategy collide, the planets in my gaming universe align. And not even meddling Mercury can mess things up! Think Calico, Sagrada, Azul, Azul Summer Pavilion, Azul Sta…..ok, so basically all the Azuls. You get the pretty picture.
Mandala Stones is another example of how crunch and colour can make sweet music together. Or, rather, a beautiful work of art!
Plus it fills a void in my own gaming collection which I didn’t realise was there until, well, it wasn’t anymore. Whilst I can puzzle over some abstracts for bordering an hour plus when time permits, this is a lighter, faster but still thinky game.
Stone Me That’s Simple…..Or Is It?
The rules are very simple; either you can (a) pick stones from the main board by moving the artist pillar, collecting those matching that pattern, and adding them to one of the scoring spaces on your player board. Note that you can’t take tiles sitting between two artists pillars.
As the HTP guide details, each scoring space criteria is different. You must also pick in a clockwise order and stack them in the order you took them. Oh and you can’t add to it later.
Alternatively, so long as at least two stacks have a top stone of a matching colour, you can (b) select a stack of stones you have formed on your player board and score it, adding those tiles to the swirly scoring board afterwards. There is a third option to score single top stones to clear some space but that’s pretty much the crux.
Gorgeously Gritty
Although your first few games will probably focus on matching patterns to get as many stones as you can each turn, it quickly become apparent that the order in which you pick stones from the board is crucial. Why? Because this is a game where you need to be thinking ahead. 2, 3, even 4 moves ahead if you want to score big.
Picking to layer up tiles to meet VP scoring conditions AND needing two top stones to match in colour means that your synchronising powers will be tested. If you can’t stack your tile piles in complimentary ways ahead of time, you are going to have to go for some short sharp scores in order to wipe the slate clean and start picking again.
Add in matching stone patterns to constantly moving artists, the adjacency rule, and the possibility that your opponents are sacrificing the big points through grabbing those mandala bonuses by simply scoring a few tiles at a time, and you’ve got pretty predicaments!
And just when you think your brain has had enough kaleidoscopic crunch, your secret objectives are also sitting in front of you, waiting to be worked on to ensure VP bonuses at end-game time.
Pebble-Dash
The racing element and quick-fire scoring option were pleasant surprises to me. Being able to take the heat off by scoring a few tiles when needed is welcome respite. Conversely, having the option to sprint into the end-zone before your opponents have got into their groove, is a useful tactic.
Stone Chippings
I do have a few minor niggles with this game. The tile stacking can be a little bit fiddly. Knocking them over during set up and in-game happened several times at our table. The player boards are also a little thin. For a game with such beautiful attention to detail on the stones and patterns, the quality of the player boards was a wee duff note The main boards are, however, thicker, and the card stock and bag are fine.
Interestingly, the rulebook refers to “red stones”. I don’t think it is my eyes, but the stones appear to be blue, pink, purple, and yellow. I presume the production process therefore has altered the colour slightly, but I am not complaining – the bright pink pops! A colour based game is not going to appeal to everyone, of course, and I don’t know how user-friendly it is for gamers with Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD).
Final Thoughts
Overall, however, I love this game. And in fact, I am working out a way in my head to play it solo. No official solo mode exists, but I don’t want a lack of opponents to stop me from playing it. I don’t think it will replace Azul for us, although it does have gorgeous, chunky tiles and can be hate-drafter’s dream. But it doesn’t have to be. It stands on its own merits and is enjoyable for being Mandala Stones!
So you’ve seen the purdddy pebbles of Mandala Stones, but want to know a little bit more about how they go from stacks to scores, eh? Well, You have come to the right place friends!
The game is simple to set up. Each player gets:
- their own player board,
- reference card, and
- tiny black tracker token
Then, the central mandala scoring board and main board are placed within easy reach. And believe me, you are going to want to be up close and personal with those gorgeous stones!
Having tipped all 96 stones (24 of each colour) into the cloth bag, tiles are then drawn at random and placed in stacks of 4 upon each circular space on the main board. They only go on those spots printed with a small mandala icon, however. There should be no stones left in the bag when the final stack is set.
After that, randomly pick and place the four artist pillars onto their starting locations – essentially N, S, E, and W around the central 4 stacks.
Finally, shuffle the objective cards and deal two face down to each player. Both are kept (secretly, mind you!) as players will get to decide which one best boosts their score at the end of the game.
With your player token sitting eagerly at zero on the score tracker printed on your own player board, that’s it. You are ready to play!
Pick Or Points?
As the review of Mandala Stones suggests, the rules of the game play are no tricker than the set up. You effectively have only two possible actions each turn. You either pick some tiles or you score some points using some tiles.
Oh alright, so you can’t just give into temptation and grab a stack of tiles in a Gollum worthy display of stone stealing. There would be no fun or crunch in that. And with tiles like these, they would definitely be gone in seconds!
So, you must think before you choose whether to pick or score. It won’t be an issue on your first turn. As you have nothing to score, you have to pick. But after that, the decisions become squeakier!
Picking Pretty Pebbles
So, let’s start with picking stones. This is done by moving one black Artist pillar to a free empty circle space. Once there, you can take any tiles that match the pattern on top of that pillar. Unless, that pillar has been moved to a space which is adjacent to an existing one. Then, the tile in between the two pillars can’t be taken, even if it matches the pattern on the pillar you just placed. Starting to see the potential for hate-drafty play yet? Oh it’s there alright!
Once you have worked out which tiles you can take, you then pick in a clockwise direction around the pillar. And the first tile you pick will be the bottom tile in your stack.
You then take your stack and decide which one of the 5 scoring opportunities are going to receive it. Note that once you place a stack on your player board, you cannot add more tiles to it. If you want to free up a scoring condition on a subsequent turn, you will need to have removed them by scoring.
You can’t pick and score on the same turn. So each round you will have to decide whether to build up your point potential by picking, or go for the VPs and sacrifice the chance to take some sweet stones.
Obviously, if you have filled your 5 scoring spaces, then no matter how much you want more stones, you are going to have to score in order to clear some space!
Scoring Sweet Stones
The scoring conditions vary from simply having a certain number of tiles in your stack to the variety of colours and the VPs for each one differ.
Plus, they are only triggered on a scoring turn when (a) there are tiles actually on them and (b) at least two of your stacks have a matching colour on top.
That is not to say you can’t simply score tiles – you can. You could, for example, use your turn to score a single stone of any colour, or several random top stones. But that will only ever get you one VP per stone. As will be seen, however, that can sometimes be a handy tactical move!
So, once you have decided which “colour” you are scoring, you add up the VPs awarded by the columns with the same coloured top stones and move the tracker token on your board that number of spaces. Or, if going for “any” stones, then award yourself 1 VP per top stone being removed. With the top stones removed, you place them onto the central mandala board. And if any of those stones cover up a bonus (+1, +2), add that to your VP total for the round. Don’t forget to move the small black token on your scoring board along the appropriate number of points. And then the next player takes their turn.
Gameplay continues until either (a) the tiles on the mandala board reaches the hand symbol which matches the number of players around the table, or (b) a player cannot pick up any tile or score anything on their player board.
And then the winner is the player with the most points and end game. Pretty simple but pretty strategic!
I hope this little guide helps you on your way in your first game of Mandala Stones!
Zatu Score
You might like
- Fast playing with some pretty nice crunch!
- Fast playing with some pretty nice crunch!
Might not like
- Some players might not like the take-that play
- Can be fiddly and stone stacks liable to topple