F#¢& Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Plot:  A 16^th century Russian Czarist theme that is completely stamped on.  Earn fame by purchasing workers, buildings and aristocrats.

Mechanics:  There are 4 phases, 3 of which score.  These rotate from player to player every turn so the first chance rotates.  In order buy workers, buy buildings, buy aristocrats, and buy upgrades.  The upgrade phase does not score.   When you score, you collect both money and VP’s which have a value for both.  In general workers (green cards) give mostly money, buildings (blue cards) give mostly victory points, and aristocrats (orange) give a combination.  Early on, aristocrats give more money than VPs but at game end you get bonus points for how many different aristocrats you have collected.  On your turn, you can buy a card which puts it into play, claim a card into your hand, pass or do a couple of special actions that required previous buys.  8 cards are shown at a time, and when a new phase begins you fill out to 8 once again.  In other words, if at the end of a phase, only 3 cards where bought/claimed, only 3 new cards arrive for the next phase.

One final note, duplicate cards cost 1 less for every duplicate.  So a market, usually costs $5, if you already own one in play it now costs $4.

Tactics:  There are two main tactics in this game, how to get a shot at another card and when to turn the emphasis from money to VPs.  

Getting a peak at another card usually entails claiming one into your hand to open up the spot.  There is a tradeoff  however, by opening up another spot you are giving the starting player a selection.

The cash to VP turn usually involves stop buying green cards and start buying blue ones.  It’s a straight forward math problem, a game lasts about 7 turns.  Occasionally you will shrink to 6 or stretch to 8, but 7 is the most likely game length.  The highest costing green is $7, so that takes 2+ turns to get return on.  At turn 5 this is risky and at 6 just plain bad.  

Early on, skip blue cards, spending on blue early takes away opportunities to buy orange cards. 

Updgrades aren’t named to fool you.  They match colors with the other phases and make them better, they cost the difference between the number associated with the upgrade and the original price of the card in play.

Commentary:  This game has several problems.  IF the table is all experienced at this game it plays ok.  If someone screws up a buy early it is nearly impossible for them to get back into the game.  Aristocrats ARE the game.  A lot of critics point to the Mistress of Ceremonies orange card as game breaking, and it is.  For $18 you get 6$ and 3 VP a turn, which is awesome, but the judge $16 for $5/turn and 2 VP/turn and the Magistrate is $14 for $4/turn and 1 VP/turn, while not as good still supplies one hell of an advantage for someone who gets them turn 1.  I also find that a first turn ghost village/bank combo really powerful too.  The ghost village costs 2 but counts as 6 for upgrade, and the bank costs 13 and gives $5 and 1 VP per turn.  So for $9 all total, you get $5 a turn in a phase that is usually cash poor.  Admittedly, this happens a lot less frequently than the MoC brokenness since it requires 2 cards to work.   An observatory’s value swings wildly.  An observatory lets you draw a card from any pile, I almost always choose an aristocrat.  If I get luck with a different, awesome!  If I miss and get a duplicate, less awesome, and possibly terrible!

So combine these broken, or at least potentially broken cards with a truck load of never buys, and this game devolves to two phases.  Green phase to get more money so you can buy more aristocrats in orange phase.

Darren’s rating : 2/10. 

Tips:

*Everyone should save money for a good turn 1 aristocrat buy, especially the first player selecting.

*Upgrades do not score.  Generally you should claim them into your hand and not buy them when they first come out.  Buying them here can short you cash for the important green phase.

*The pubs, which turn cash into VPs during blue phase, are a good buy, even if you use them only once.