Distilled: A Spirited Strategy Game, Highly-Thematic Euro Game, Strie for The Title of Master Distiller, 30 Minute Play Time, for 1 to 5 Players, Ages 14 and up

Product Information

Erik Evensen is the official artist and graphic designer for Distilled. Erik was the artist and graphic designer for Marrying Mr. Darcy, a strategy card game based on Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice. Mostly known for his comics work, Erik’s projects have been featured online at AV Club, Nerdist.com, Twitch, and Geek & Sundry, and in print in Graphic Design USA and the Washington Post. Over the course of seven rounds you will acquire ingredients, bottles, barrels, recipes, equipment upgrades and staff to create and distill the best spirits around. If you want to play it on Distilled's dedicated Discord server, find it here: https://discord.gg/Th9WFcX

Achieve the title of Master Distiller by having the most victory points at the end of the game. Points are obtained by distilling and selling spirits, which results in the creation of Unique Spirits. Distilled gives players a choice of two different distillery owners, from a pool of about ten, depending on the pre-game setup. Each distillery owner offers an ongoing power and slightly different starting resources. The next phase is the sell phase. This is where you, well, sell the spirits you have brewed. Selecting what bottle to sell the spirits in and reaping any immediate points or coinage. When you sell a spirit, if there is a spirit label of that type available, you get to take that and cover up one of the spirit label spaces on your board. This gives you a one-off boon and are all useful to you. Seth Berrier is the scripter behind Distilled’s digital presence on Tabletop Simulator. Seth is a seasoned programmer and software engineer. He has worked on projects in the commercial sector, for Benjamin Moore & Co. and ThermaSolutions Inc., and was a recipient of the Google Summer of Code grant project working on the Crystal Space 3D game engine. He teaches game development and web programming courses at the University of Wisconsin Stout and has guided dozens of games in the Junior and Senior level project courses for the game design program. Asymmetric characters aren’t totally balanced. I played one game where my character started with 1 coin, 1 water and my signature blend was worth 7 points and 1 coin. My opponent’s character started with 4 coins, 1 yeast and their signature blend was worth 17 points and 3 coins. This may have been down to me not selecting a balanced choice of characters, but it seemed odd that they could be so mismatched.

So Tight

Note: While this is a game about making alcohol, it focuses more on the true science and business behind it, not the consumption! Of course, for fans of games about beer, wine, and other alcohol - such as Viticulture, Vinhos, Brewcrafters, or Homebrewers - you might find this game interesting. Or if you've ever wondered how people distill liquor or brew beer, you might find this intriguing as well! As soon as I opened the lid on the box for Distilled, I knew I made the right decision to go all in on my pledge. “In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.” Benjamin Franklin It is really hard to find fault in this masterpiece. But I do have a job to do… “Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.” Frank Sinatra

For a game that comes in such a big box, Distilled is deceptively simple. From set up to scoring, everything flows smoothly and is a game that can be taught easily. Throughout your turns you will be acquiring various sugars, grains, upgrades, barrels, bottles etc all so that you can brew the best spirits that you can. And at the highest profits of course. At its heart Distilled is all about buying ingredients to fulfill recipes and scoring points. But there is so much more going on here. First off, you have a distiller with a special ability. So there is some asymmetry to the game. Each of these distillers also has a signature recipe and signature ingredient that only they can make.Now here’s why I recommend Distilled: it’s one of the best productions with one of the most thematic gameplay experiences of the year. There is a lot of other things going on in Distilled but hopefully the brief rules explanation gives you enough of an idea of how the game plays. Final Thoughts It is really hard to find fault in this masterpiece. But I do have a job to do… “Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.” Frank Sinatra Richard Woods is the Developer for Distilled. Richard is based in Lancashire in the UK and enjoys playing and designing board games in his spare time. Richard fell in love with Distilled after joining a play test in summer 2020, and has been helping Dave to refine and balance the game ever since. Distilling a spirit is a science, it is a craft that is finely tuned and perfected over a number of years. Distilled is in essence the embodiment of this craft. Distilled is a well crafted and tasteful blend of mechanisms that when mixed together leaves a very appealing taste on the metaphorical gaming pallet.