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Review of The Pursuit of Happiness: KS Promo Packs 1 and 2
Blurb from the publisher: 'The KS Promo Pack 1 includes all the additional content that was generated in the Pursuit of Happiness crowdfunding campaign. It adds more Projects, Items, Activities and Partners in your games, as well as 4 new mini expansions: Events, Trends, Pets, and Stand-Alone Jobs.
The KS Promo Pack 2 includes all the additional content that was generated in the Pursuit of Happiness: Community crowdfunding campaign. It adds more Projects, Items, Activities Partners, Life Goals, and Child Traits in your games, as well as 4 new mini expansions: Friends, Ongoing Life Goals, Pets, and Stand-Alone Jobs.'
What you get: Your EUR 14,99 or equivalent will buy you either of the two KS Promo Packs for The Pursuit Of Happiness game line, a light worker-placement game. At that price the promo packs are shipped without a box with the elements contained in shrink-wrap. Purchasing them with a box adds a further EUR 2 to the price of each pack.
In addition to the English rulebook that can be also found on the company's website free of charge, the two items contain the following:
KS Promo Pack 1: 63 cards (22 Item-Activity, 3 Life Goals, 3 Stand-Alone Jobs, 3 Partners, 12 Events, 7 Trends, and 9 Projects).
KS Promo Pack 2: 48 cards (10 Friends, 8 Item-Activity, 3 Life Goals, 2 Child Trait, 3 Partners, 3 Stand-Alone Jobs, 10 Item-Activity (Pets), and 9 Projects).
In the interest of full disclosure, my review copies were provided without their boxes (contents only). Thus, I cannot comment on the properties of the boxes. These cards, once I ripped the shrinkwraps, are hosted in the game's main box.
Gameplay: The novelties of the KS Promo Pack 1 are modular, and can be mixed and matched as you desire.
Events are positive or negative cards that happen at the beginning of each Adult round, with a notice of one full round. In other words, the players know one round in advance what effect will take place one round later. They can take advantage of positive effects (like Baby Boom, Technological Breakthrough or Training Programs) by paying the cost before the effect takes place, or avoid the negative effect (e.g. in Bad Government, Financial Crisis or Crime Wave) by either paying, ending the round with a minimum threshold in a value, etc. One event (Natural Disaster, showing a tidal wave, an asteroid falling on Earth and Godzilla simultaneously) cannot be prevented. Just suck it up and face the consequences.
There are 7 Trends, each relating to a different project category. Only 3 will be used in a given game. These show which categories will be popular during that game, granting the players additional LTH depending on the number of projects he has completed on those categories. As an example, one Health project will grant you an extra LTH if the Health Trend is up, four of them however will net you an extra 6 LTH. Don't get me started about politics, whose top value is 9 extra LTH.
Pets should be mixed with the other Item-Activity cards. Pets are purchased normally at base level only, yet they advance on their own during upkeep, provided upkeep is paid. Pets provide STH, LTH, or a combination of the two. Depending on what they are (e.g. cats, dogs, monkeys etc) they will live a different amount of years (turns). Expect some fallout when they die in the sense of loss of STH, LTH however will once again be increased.
Stand-Alone Jobs are jobs without the possibility of a promotion. They allow the player to work harder, effectively paying more in order to increase the rewards he is getting out of the job. Expect job titles like Radio Producer, Handyman and Farmer.
The novelties of the KS Promo Pack 2 are also modular. Friends are cards that are placed in-between players. Expect people like the Artistic Friend, the Rich Friend etc. Each friend has a counter which can towards either player, as well as an action that a player can take. At the beginning this counter is set at 0, squarely in the middle. The more hourglasses a player spends, the more he will get to use that Friend's action (which is usable once per round only, so if one of the two players uses it, the other cannot) and tilt that Friend's counter towards him. At the end of the game, and depending on where that counter is, one of the players might gain one or two additional LTH.
The Ongoing Life Goals look like the normal ones, they are however scored at the end of each adult round. Thus, the earlier one obtains them, the more he is going to earn out of them.
Pets work in exactly the same way as the ones in the first pack. There are however more of them. Idem for the Stand-Alone Jobs.
The strong points: I do not have the patience for KS exclusives. They are unfair in that one might miss a game he is interested in, or find himself in a situation he cannot invest at that given moment. Putting out such items as a purchasable promo, even at a marked up price, is the right way to go. Those who love the game will not feel that they are deprived of something.
I am always happy with more of the same material in expansions. The ones in those two KS Promo Packs do not bloat the game and do not make anything harder. On the contrary, they increase options irrespective of the number of players. If you know the game, you will need no more than 30 seconds to understand how the new modules work. I am made to understand that the new KS exclusives (which, I repeat, I am not a fan of) in the new kickstarter campaign for Experiences which will be concluded on Thursday the 14th of March will be based on the same principles. This is good news.
The new modules are solid, both when it comes to theme as well as rules. If I had to pick favourites rules-wise, these would be the Events, the Friends, and the Ongoing Life Goals. The last ones should be purchased the earliest possible if you want to maximize your profit. This adds a further tactical element to the game, and increases the ever-expanding pool of choices. Friends create a new level of interaction exclusively with your two neighbours. Depending on your tactics and how you are handling your hour glasses, it might be interesting to invest in them. Events are a clever way of creating triggers, and force the players to interact with what is happening on the board instead of getting all consumed in their plans. They are random, yet with the early warning players get the stage is set for full mitigation.
When it comes to the theme I admit I am impressed by the ideas behind the pets and the stand alone jobs. The former are a source of LTH, especially if you invest in the longest living ones like the cats. Stand-Alone Jobs on the other hand will pay back what you put in them. I do not recommend systematically unbalancing your game, at one time or the other however it is useful to have the option to boost what you are doing.
Art-wise, everything you have come to love with the game can be found here. The drawings are cartoonish and warm, the cards are of a good quality and easy to sleeve. This is a happy game, not an exercise in stress.
Both KS Promo Packs are marked when it comes to which set they belong to. If for any reason you wish to remove them from your game, you can do so with ease.
The weak points: I have never seen before items being sold with or without their boxes. I understand why that is, taking the nature of the items (former KS exclusives) into account. On the other hand the price of these two expansions is substantially higher than it should have been. As in, at least 50% less of what they currently sell for.
More modular mechanisms mean that you will need an even bigger table. That is normal.
None of these cards or modules will increase game time because it inserts a thoroughly incomprehensibly mechanism. They will however increase game time because you will need to analyse your options even more, round after round. Those who already had a/p issues might want to take notice.
Conclusion: I am really happy with the content of both KS Promo Packs. They definitely improve the game, not only because there is more variety of everything, but because the choices and variance turn it even more into a bona fide life simulator. If they weren't so impossibly overpriced, they could have reached perfection. I am hoping that the new pack which is likely to come from the current kickstarter will make that right.
For more info on The Pursuit of Happiness KS Promo Packs 1 and 2 and Artipia Games visit their website at http://www.artipiagames.com.
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