Customer Reviews

St. Petersburg

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A vexing and deep game of resource management and timing, St. Petersburg is one of the best and most intense games of the past few years--perhaps a bit too intense. In games with a small number of experienced players who are all playing well, this game has two problems: first, a single mistake early in the game can be nearly impossible to recover from and, second, the randomness of play order can give advantages (especially early in the game) that are hard for other players to overcome. Taken together these problems limit replayability, making it more of a challenging puzzle to be solved than an enjoyable gaming experience. They also limit opportunities to recruit new players: the gap between a novice and an experienced player is just too large.

Still, for those who enjoy intense puzzle games, where every nuance and gesture counts, and where a single draw or error can completely change the balance of power, St. Petersburg is about as good as it gets.

Workers, buildings and nobles are needed to gain supremacy in Old Russia. Although mostly a card game, a board is used to help keep things straight and keep score. Players want to have the most fame points to win at the end of the game. Play follows four phases that are each scored as they end. First workers are collected in the worker phase. They tend to generate money. In the Building phase buildings are built. These usually produce fame but can produce money. Next, nobles are brought in. These generate fame and or money. They are also very important at the end of the game as they offer large bonuses. Finally, an upgrade phase allows the other three types to be improved.

A different player goes first in each phase and the sequence rotates after each complete cycle. Workers, buildings, nobles and upgrades are in the form of cards. Money is handles as paper Rubles. Small wooden tokens are used to keep track of who goes first. On each phase, cards are played into a pool with limited spaces. If cards are left over from a previous phase, they take up some of the spaces. Sometimes a player must take a card to ensure there will be enough spaces in the next phase so they will have a chance at getting one. Money is very important at the beginning of the game but it is fame points that will win it in the end (the end of a cycle where one or more card decks have run out). The more nobles you have at the end the better.

The game consists of a game board for laying out the cards and keeping score along the edges, four decks corresponding to the four phases, paper money, wooden phase tokens, and eight small player tokens. The game works best with four players but can be played with three. Game time runs between an hour and an hour and a half although speed is influenced by familiarity with the game. Very fun and good strategy without having to keep track of dozens of different things. It is an easy game to pick up and follow. Check it out.

St. Petersburg, at its core, is a fun and exciting light strategy game. It is a "Euro" game (meaning that it was originally made and designed in Europe), and as such, the emphasis is placed more on strategy/tactical thinking (ex. chess/checkers) as opposed to random luck (such as with dice) (ex. Monopoly/Risk). The game breaks down into 4 phases:
1. Workers (generates rubles (money))
2. Buildings (generates victory pts.)
3. Administrator/Noble (cheaper ones generate money, more expensive ones generate both victory pts. and money)
4. Upgrade (buy upgrade and swap out one of your other worker/bldg/admin. for the upgrade version)

During each of the four phases, players take turns executing actions (buying, taking a card into hand, playing card from hand, etc.)(you can play cards out of phase (ex. playing a worker during the admin phase)) (
Each phase ends after all the players consecutively pass.). After each of the first three phases, the respective cards (workers/bldgs./admins.) pay out (money/victory pts.). After the upgrade phase, players rotate who goes first during each phase and a new round begins. The game progresses until all the cards in one of the piles have been used up, at which point the game continues to the end of the round. Bonus pts. are then awarded based on the number of different types of admins. you have in play plus 1 pt. for every 10 rubles you have left over.

The game is great fun. It is a staple of the gaming groups I play with. It is light and doesn't have a steep learning curve. The groups I play this with can whip through a game of this in about 30 mins. or less, but again, it is a staple of my gaming group (hence the alacrity of play). There is also an expansion of this game that allows a 5th player plus adds new cards to the game, and I'd highly recommend the expansion as well.

St Petersburg is played with four rounds of cards: workers, buildings, nobles and upgrades. A randomly selected player starts each round and everyone gets a chance to play until everyone has passed. On your turn you can take an available card and play it immediately, take a card and keep it in your hand, or play a card that is already in your hand. It costs money to play the cards, but not to take them into your hand, but a limited number can be in your hand at a time and you will lose points for anything left in your hand at game end.

Each card (once it's played) will earn you money and/or victory points during the scoring, which happens after each of the first three rounds. Obviously, you need victory points to win, but you can't buy more victory points without money. It's a tricky balance and timing is everything. While you can play any of the card types during any round, you only score the type for that round. You continue to cycle through the four rounds until one (or more) of the card stacks runs out. The game fizzles a little at the end since there is no scoring after the fourth round and sometimes that last round is unless.

Overall a good game though and usually playable in about an hour. The upgrade round can be kind of fun and the pictures on the cards are interesting to look at.

Amanda Hamm, author of Zero Station: A Science Fiction Novella

The first time I played this game, I fell in love with it. It was a pretty simple concept. Buy workers to gain money, buildings to gain victory points, aristocrats to gain both, and upgrades to add value to what you've bought. Also, try to make sure you have a good diversity of aristocrats to maximize your end-game bonus. The challenge comes in doing it better and faster than your opponents. After many plays, however, there are strategies that are vastly superior to others, and better players will gravitate toward using them. As a 2-player game it's just OK, but with a full complement of 4 there's a bit more unpredictability so the game is much more interesting. I highly recommend getting the expansion, as it increases the scope of the game with some really cool cards. It also has rules and components for a fifth player.

this is a gift to my friend. the beauty of this game is the simplicity of the mech. - quick and fun game.

Note - only 4 stars because only games like Go or Chess deserve 5 stars, but this game is as fun as Carcassonne, and Thurn and Taxis. Of European board games this is definitely one of our favorites.

While not difficult, learning to play well needs game experience - a lot depends on timing and balancing a number of resources well. There are several strategies to win but because of the randomness of the cards, it also requires being opportunistic and adjusting your strategy. The quality of the set is beautiful - with some artwork having little golden highlights, and the cards, though small, are durable. We also pre-ordered the upgrade from Rio Grande which should be out soon.

It has little conflict other than taking cards that others want (which is also a tactic to employ with the nobles) so good for couples where one doesn't like games that require destoying your opponents pieces. The randomness of the cards allows weaker players to have an advantage some of the time. Have not played with more than 2 but I can imagine the timing is more difficult.

I almost bought this game cuz I got Amazon's $25 gift card from time to time. I am glad I didn't buy it cuz t this is the TYPICAL HARD CORE GAMER"S STRATEGY GAME. What does that mean? It is boring for regular people like you and me. Skip this game, go buy TICKET TO RIDE or BOHNANZA, you will thank me for it.