Summer is still in full swing, but the fair and carnival season is looming. It can already begin on the board game tables with "The Great Fair". We tested the game in the German localization by Skellig Games and ventured on wild rides and entertaining stalls.
In the middle of the Corona period, the English first edition The Grand Carnival probably the best way to create a fairground feeling in your own four walls. This was also very successful. The next edition was therefore released in 2023. Various localizations were also included. The German edition was taken over by Skellig Games and has been available for a few weeks.
Easily accessible
As a connoisseur game in the lower complexity range, The Great Fair a clear set of rules. Over the seven rounds, each with five actions, players have three different options for action: placing a foundation, moving visitors or building an attraction.
To perform an action, you place one of the five workers on the fields numbered 1 - 5 on your player board. The action then has the corresponding number as its strength.
If you place a foundation, you can take one of the foundation tiles from the wagon game board. You can choose any tile that is on a field with a value less than or equal to the strength of your own action. If you roll a 1, you can only move a face-down tile. You can then swap the face-up tiles.
Visitors move as many steps as the strength of the action allows, plus additional steps for market criers. These steps may not be split between multiple visitors. If visitors end their movement next to an attraction, they receive tickets. If they enter the circus roof, they remain there until the end of the game and are then scored.
When building attractions, the strength of the action determines how big the tile can be. Unlike the foundations, the polyomino tiles of the attractions can be turned and flipped as desired. The supply of attractions of each size is limited and depends on the number of people.
If you fulfill the condition of a guild trick, you place one of the three additional workers on it. The trick's ability is available to you from the next turn. Everyone else must fulfill the trick's condition on their next turn. After that, this trick is blocked.
After seven rounds, the scoring begins. Only the attractions that have at least one ticket count. There are points for sets of attractions of the same size, for a set with at least one attraction of each size and for visitors on the circus roof. You get more points if you have at least 15 tickets. Each market crier that you get when there are no more visitors waiting at the entrance is worth three points and each hammer symbol that has not been built over costs one point. The person who has collected the most points with their fair wins the game.
Information about The Great Fair
| Number of people: 1 to 4 people Age: from 12 years Playing time: 45 to 60 minutes Difficulty: expert game Long-term motivation: average Mechanics: Placing tiles, open drafting Game idea: Rob Cramer Illustrations: Ryan Goldsberry Publisher: Uproarious Games German Edition: Skellig Games Official Website: The Great Fair Year of publication: 2024 Language: German Cost: 47 Euro |
Conclusion
The big fair comes with high-quality material. The box contains a very good inlay that makes assembly much easier, and the many wooden components are joined by other components made of sturdy cardboard. Visually, it is certainly a matter of taste whether you like the artwork, but for me the game somehow lacks "life".
The rules are clearly formulated and do not represent an unnecessary hurdle to getting into the game quickly. The simplicity of the three possible actions is also reflected in the feel of the game. There is hardly any development over the entire duration of the game, which means that the last round feels hardly any different to the second. Because there is only minimal interaction in the selection of tiles and the tricks of the guild, the game also lacks some dynamism here.
Apart from the changing tricks of the guild, there is also a lack of variety between the individual games. The first moves, or sometimes the whole first round depending on the tricks available, basically all do the same thing. This can be mitigated somewhat with the foundations of the expansion, but it is never advantageous for a basic game if it needs a separate expansion to improve things.
The puzzle itself on the personal board is quite tricky and requires good advance planning so that the big attractions can find their place. Because of the puzzle-solving involved, I would be reluctant to play the game with more than three people.
I wouldn't recommend the game with fewer than two people either. The solo mode is easy to play, but it feels even more monotonous than the multiplayer game. The goal here is to supply two attractions of each size with tickets and not have any open building sites. You don't play against an automated opponent, just against yourself. At the end you get one point for each market crier, trick learned, visitor on the circus roof, three attractions of the same size and attractions with at least two tickets. You lose one point for each open building site and two/four points if you only have one/no attraction of the same size.
The Great Fair is a solid game for beginners that allows you to get started quickly due to its simplicity, but suffers from this in the long run. The expansion modules can improve the feel of the game.
With its many small and large modules in various places in the game, the expansion offers a lot of what I would have wanted in the base game or complements it perfectly. If you like the game in general, you can use the expansion Outdoor do nothing wrong, but actually do everything right.
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Skellig Games The Great Fair* |
* = Affiliate link/advertisementAs an Amazon Associate, we earn money from qualifying purchases. If you make a purchase through one of the links, we receive a portion of the purchase price as commission. This doesn't cost you anything extra, but it helps support our website. Last updated on September 17.05.2025, XNUMX / Affiliate links / Images from the Amazon Product Advertising API. Images from Amazon PA API.
