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The actual medical procedure 'trepanation', you'd need as much as a hole in the head, the board game however is a lot more enjoyable! Trepanation is a worker placement game, putting players in the role of a "quack" physician in the Victorian era, your goal is to put on medical "shows" performing various procedures to the public to become the most famous doctor (air quotes!) in town.
Don't let the grim theme of this game put you off, though the subject matter may be gruesome and historical, the art and style of Trepanation is utterly charming and done in a very inoffensive way for a game tackling performing a live lobotomy for an audience! The game board and player characters are very colourful and cartoony, yet sinister at the same time, like a scooby doo episode! The cards for the shows themselves, feature a vague representation of the medical procedures, but nothing to shock or appal anybody.
The Board
The board features a small town with various locations on it as you'd expect from a worker placement game, however where this game differs is that each area you visit has a time slot to visit. Players have 5 meeples each, representing their doctor at various stages of the day, and take it in turns to claim a time slot on one of the locations.
Most of the locations are used to claim the resources you need to put on a show, earning the fame you need to win. The apothecary rewards you with medicine to stave off infection, the store allows you to buy surgical tools, use the police station to bribe the local constabulary and the brewery gives beer (for anaesthetic!!).
The conundrum raised by Trepanation is where do you go, and when? Do you lock in the early show time, guaranteeing you can perform the show of your choice, but risk your opponents taking the best of the resources? Or do you go for a late show, allowing you to hoover up what you need to perform it during the day but potentially leaving putting on an unpopular show, unlikely to win you many plaudits? The game of bluff and double bluff makes for a tense experience, as players run the gauntlet of risk and reward to become the most famous doctor in town after 6 days (rounds) is up.
The game is excellently balanced with no one player feeling like they had any advantage, whoever goes first, getting the pick of the board but the following players usually hoovering up the best resources in response. The game turns into a nail biter towards the end as players are trying to complete 'sets' of different shows in order ro maximise their fame.
The shows themselves vary in terms of complexity, with the more risky but crowd pleasing ones giving up more fame at end game, but costing you more resources to perform. Applying leeches for example only requires a single bribe to make the police look the other way, whereas trepanation itself will cost a total of 11 resources but gives up a mighty 9 fame!
Making it a sought after show and you and your opponents are sure to be hotly contesting who gets to perform it.
Components
The components are average, that is to say they are perfectly functional without doing anything to set the world alight, but the style is very appealing to the eye when set up on your table. The cards and tokens are all fine and the meeples used to represent your doctor are pretty standard.
Trepanation plays fairly quickly, running at about an hour play time with 3 or 4 players and has a tight rule set, very easy to teach to anyone familiar with the worker placement genre. It does have a lot more depth to it than meets the eye with repeated playthroughs though, and the most carefully laid plans rarely survive contact with the enemy, you're unlikely to have it all your own way.
With many games nowadays seeming to take up a huge area of table and a high price point, I will say Trepanation is refreshingly small to set up with a reasonably low cost. The game may not have a universal appeal in terms of theme, but the style and the artwork make it impossible to walk past the table and not check it out.
The mechanics of Trepanation are fairly familiar ones, but the twist of the time slots is a fresh twist which doesn't lock anyone out of doing what they plan to do, just to varying levels of efficiency. This means you'll always have something you can do, whether to acquire tools or medicine to help your own plans, or to put a block on your opponents attempts to put on their own show. This can lead to occasional 'analysis paralysis' with so much of the board open to you but there is rarely a right or wrong answer.
Final Thoughts
While released to little fanfare or applause, Trepanation is a very tight and enjoyable worker placement "lite". It isn't the heaviest or longest game but my gaming group found it a very enjoyable and engaging one with gorgeous 'circus' like artwork opposed to some dark subject matter. With a twist on the genre to help it stand out, and a nice, portable box size and fairly low price point, Trepanation is well worth a try. (Again the board game, not the medical procedure!!).
