Review of Up!

Summary of the Components

Up! contains: dice, markers, and scoring chips for two more players; a new pack of game money; 48 tiles of "risers" for casinos; and a full-color rulebook.

In general, it's nice to have components for more players (though they add additional chaos to the game), and it's great having more than enough money whenever you play. Beyond that, the components of Up! generally match the components for Lords of Vegas: they're good quality, easy to use, and attractive. The risers are also interesting thematically, as they allow you to construct high-rise casinos of the sort actually found in Vegas.

I've given this supplement the same Style rating as the core game: "5" out of "5".

Summary of the Gameplay

Up! adds a new action to Lords of Vegas: "Raise". You can pay $15/tile to put a riser under every tile in your casino, raising it up> by one floor. Though this doesn't increase a casino's income, it does increase the victory points a casino generates, since the boss earns 1 victory point per tile — which includes risers. It also makes the casino more expensive to expand; sprawling now must simultaneously pay for lots and risers to get the new casino section up to the appropriate level.

Raising can also be used to protect a casino, as two adjacent casinos are only merged if they're the same type and the same height. So, the action overall creates some interesting tactical opportunities.

The Game Design

I'm of two minds on using Up! in Lords of Vegas.

On the one hand, it makes the game easier and hand-in-hand with that it reduces the role of luck late in the game. Now, when you draw a standalone tile location late in the game, it's not necessarily worthless. If you can build the tile, then raise it a few levels, it'll be big enough to score, even if you're at one of the higher breakpoints.

On the other hand, it makes the game simpler and it reduces the role of strategy late in the game. Even though raising is quite expensive, it's often an obvious move when you get a standalone tile late in the game, and so players automatically build and raise — which sort of feels like the game playing you rather than vice versa.

As a result of these two ways to assess Up!, players will have to decide what they think of the expansion based on their desires for the base game. If they think it's too punishing to draw a bad lot late in the game, Up! is an obvious addition, but if they like the heavy hand of strategy that influences the late game, it's not.

Players who want to play with the 5-6 players supported by this expansion may also find Up! more useful, as it makes the game more playable on a more crowded board — which may be why the risers were included with the extra player numbers.

As an expansion with advantages and disadvantages depending on the desires of each individual playing group, Up! earns a "3" out of "5" for Substance.

Conclusion

Up! adds an interesting new dimension to Lords of Vegas by letting you build up. Casual groups and larger groups may like it more than seriously strategic players, based on their desires for gameplay.