In the Hall of the Mountain King was a Kickstarter I received recently, and I was immediately excited to play it, because it’s been at the top of my “anticipation” list since it mixes mining/exploration using polyomino tiles with engine building using an innovative “waterfall” mechanic and it just seemed like something which would push a lot of positive “buttons” for me .
The game was great indeed – a very well-thought-out production in terms of rules, design, and even insert. I was surprised that in the 5 player game we played, we ran out of tunnel tiles, so the limiting factor in the game seems to be as much speed as it is action efficiency. This probably varies by player count, but it seems like the game plays a bit differently from what I expected.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, just something different to explore. Overall, it felt a bit lighter than I would’ve liked, but there were still neat decisions to be made.
I’m looking forward to playing again and will probably revisit this one for deeper thoughts later on.
