Off the Shelf #34: Sagrada

Today’s Off the Shelf game is based on a famous church that isn’t even completed yet. The game is called

image by BGG user Floodgate

Sagrada is a 1-4 player game designed by Daryl Andrews and Adrian Adamescu, published in 2017 by Floodgate Games. In the game, you’re artisans constructing stained glass windows, much like the ones found in La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain. However, unlike that famous cathedral, these stained glass windows are made from dice.

The game comes with 90 dice in five different colors. Each player starts the game with a window frame board and a pattern that slips in. Each player also gets a private objective, though there are also three public objectives revealed. There are also three tools revealed that players can use in the game.

image by BGG user kalchio

The game plays over the course of ten rounds. At the start of each round, one player will pull out dice equal to twice the number of players plus one. So, with two players, pull out five. With three, seven, and with four, nine. The first player then selects one die to place in their frame (I’ll get to placement rules in a moment). Then, the second player chooses a die, and so one. Once everyone has a die, the last player chooses again, and players get a second die in reverse order. So, this way, the first player gets the first and last choice of the round – in other words, a snake draft.

When placing a die, the first one must go on an edge, and then each subsequent one must touch a die that has already been placed (including diagonally). You cannot place a die next to another of the same color or shade (shade is the game’s term for value, 1-6). You also have to look at the pattern you’re building on and match colors and numbers shown there. If you ever cannot place a die, you still draft one and discard it.

Each player starts with a certain number of stones, based on the complexity of their pattern card. The easiest patterns only give you three stones, while the most complex give you six. These stones can be spent on tools – the first person to use a tool only has to pay one, but anyone else has to pay two. Tools give you certain ways to break the rules, like re-rolling dice, moving them around, or ignoring certain placement rules.

The final unchosen die is placed on the round tracker. Once all ten rounds are complete, you score. You get one point per pip on dice from your private objective, points for completing public objectives, points for remaining stones. You also lose one point per empty space in your window. The high score wins.

image by BGG user Peukon

I first played this game in prototype form at GenCon 2016. I really liked it then, and was one of the games I followed closest after the show. I didn’t back the Kickstarter, but I did get my own copy after it was released. I’ve played it a few times since, most recently teaching it to my almost-nine-year-old daughter.

There are several things I love about the game, most notably the thematic presentation. Stained glass is just really cool, and having a game about it is exciting. The colorful translucent dice really add to the effect, even if it is in a kind of abstract, amorphous thing. The boards themselves are double-layer, which is extremely helpful in not knocking the dice around once they are in place. They maybe didn’t have to be as big as they are, as there’s a lot of wasted space above the grid. But they are thematically imitating the look of real stained glass, and in that, they’re effective.

Sagrada is very much a puzzle game, as you’re trying to figure out where to place your dice to maximize your score. Placement seems pretty simple – make sure it matches the space, keep same colors and numbers away from each other – but it can get extremely tricky if the right dice aren’t being drawn or rolled. The real secret of the game is to spread yourself out as much as possible early and take those difficult to place dice the first chance you get. It is a dice game, so luck definitely is a factor. The right dice have to be both drawn and rolled to the right number at the right time for you to have success. Having the tools can often be very helpful in mitigating some of that luck.

Because of its puzzly nature, and the fact that you’re all doing your own thing, this game can be referred to as multiplayer solitaire. It’s not simply because there are two main sources of interaction. There’s the dice draft, where players are all getting dice from a common pool, and there’s the tools, whose cost goes up once someone uses them. The interaction is fairly indirect overall. There is some opportunity for hate drafting, particularly if you don’t care what die you get and you can see that an opponent does. But generally, you’re just doing your own thing. I like the snake draft that is employed here, as the first player gets the best die, but also one of the last two no one else wanted. It keeps things fair and interesting.

There are several ways Sagrada keeps itself variable – the tools, the goals, and the window pattern. Having a different pattern every time gives the game a lot of variety in itself, but then there’s always different ways to score. A lot of the scoring conditions are similar, but they do change up how you play. The variable tools means you can’t always count on being able to break the rules the same way each game. The game is still the same basic experience every time, unless you get some expansions, but these variables make it a new challenge each time.

Sagrada is a game that moves pretty quickly. With larger player counts, it can particularly take some extra time towards the endgame as people are trying to figure out their optimal move. Two players who know what they’re doing can knock this game out really fast.

There’s a solo variant in the game, and it’s OK. You roll 4 dice, take two of them, and put the other two on the round tracker. Those dice add up to become the score you’re trying to beat, so you want to try to get dice that are as high scoring as possible. It’s good to have a target score, but I think I’d rather play this with other people.

Overall, Sagrada is a game I really like. I like the puzzle aspect, I like the colors, I like the variety. It’s a nice, easy game to play (easy in terms of rules, not necessarily in terms of strategy), and it’s relatively quick. I’ve got it at #7 right now on my Off the Shelf Rankings, which of course will probably change as I keep going. And that’s it for today – thanks for reading!