There are tons of tile-laying games out there. New ones are constantly being added. The mechanism is usually more or less identical. To offer something that makes a game stand out from the crowd, you have to look elsewhere. In the case of the new Schmidt Spiele game “Luminos”, something has been thought of for the rating.
Building your own heavenly kingdom forms the thematic basis of the game. It sounds much more glamorous than the very abstract puzzling of three differently colored symbols actually is. In each round, you choose one of the tiles on display and use it to create a beautifully glowing sky. You can find out how much we enjoyed laying the tiles in this article.
Sun, moon and stars
The well-known rules of laying, which are known from the multitude of tile laying games, also apply in LuminousNew tiles are placed so that one side of the new tile borders on at least one side of tiles already placed.
The tiles come from the open display in the middle, which is laid out anew for each round by drawing as many tiles as there are at the end of the game. Since the starting player marker is passed on each round, everyone has a large selection of tiles. If there is nothing suitable, you can also draw a random tile from the bag.
If you complete one or more 2x2 squares of tiles when laying them out, you score each of these squares individually. You count how many symbols of each type you have. The number of the rarest symbol is entered in the top free field of the corresponding column on your own score sheet. This can also be several symbols. In order to be able to have a little influence here, everyone starts with an extra marker for each symbol. These can be placed on a tile when placing it, thus changing the number of symbols on that tile.
The game ends as soon as a person reaches the target line on their score sheet. Which line this is depends on the number of people. The final scoring takes place after the current round has ended.
Now everyone crosses out the lines on their own score sheet in which not all three symbols have been entered. The total for each symbol is then calculated and added together. Whoever has reached the target line receives six additional points. There are another three points for each extra marker that is left over that you still have. Whoever has the most points wins.
Information about Luminos
| Number of people: 2 to 4 people Age: from 8 years Playing time: 30 minutes Difficulty: Family game Long-term motivation: mediocre Classification: Tile placement game Game idea: Kirsten Hiese Illustrations: Lukas Siegmon Publisher: Schmidt Spiele Official Website: Luminous Year of publication: 2024 Language: German Cost: 26 Euro |
Conclusion
Luminous is a classic tile-laying game that doesn't do anything new mechanically. The appeal of the game comes from the scoring. There are a few really interesting strategies that you can pursue. With a few single-colored squares early in the game, you can secure big points, but then you have to make sure that you keep up and don't end up with just two or three rows for scoring. But you can also "sprint" towards the goal from the start and force the others to react.
If more people play, the game loses options because there are simply fewer rounds without you being able to do more in them. It's actually very solitary and choosing the tiles isn't really interactive or exciting because you can't plan ahead anyway. With two people, it also feels very slow because the starting player marker is constantly being passed around and two tiles are being drawn. The choice is always very limited - regardless of whether you start a round or not.
This bothered us so much that after the first game we decided to always draw four tiles when playing with two players, so that both players get to play twice in a round. This calms the flow of the game and opens up more possibilities. Playing with two players is also very pleasant. Luminous It's quite nice as a little game to play in between other games. But with three or four players it gets a bit boring.
The visuals somehow fit the main mechanics. It is clear, but so unimaginative that it is hardly fun to get involved in the “topic”. Other abstract games like Nova Luna or Sagani, both of which were also illustrated by Lukas Siegmon, are in a completely different league visually. There is nothing to complain about in terms of the quality of the material. The tiles are sturdy enough and will survive many rounds in the bag.
For casual players, Luminous It works safely. The rules can be learned in a few minutes and the decisions that can be made are all easy to understand. People who play a lot are unlikely to get much out of the game. For us, it still works with the small house rule as a nightcap for two people - but beyond that, when it comes to abstract tile-laying games, we prefer other representatives of the genre.
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