Joined in 2023 
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Golem has been an instant hit for me because of the way the systems intertwine and work. Moving your golem is a frustration as moving assistants is much harder. This means you will need knowledge to pay for control of them, but you receive income before that so you can push it a bit right? Then you must maintain control of your Golem, paying knowledge dependant on how far in front of your assistants each golem is. There are heavy penalties if you can’t pay too! All of this can be offset a little depending on how you upgrade your player board. Upgrades can be pricey but can also bring permanent upgrades and all tie in to the end game scoring. Claiming contract cards (with required gemstones) provides end-game points. But that’s not all! They also contribute towards engine-building, which benefits your future placements. They become less expensive, and likewise all the more powerful in resource-gathering. Other cards reward you with unique set collection goals for end-game scoring. New areas on the board get opened up as the game evolves, increasing the options and levels of strategy.
Saving the best till last, this is my personal favourite. Not only is it fun and easy to play on a weekend or after work, but it's a really stunning game too - from the gorgeous Golem illustrations to the multi-coloured crystals and elaborate coins that each player uses.
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Against human players, you can’t read minds, but you can scan their resource piles and player boards, deducing certain things from their overall behavior and perceivable strategy. Are they clearly pushing to build artifacts and need only one gold to complete a juicy, artifact development slot? Then maybe they won’t take the Golem action you need and you can spend an extra turn gathering resources to maximize that play. Timing is crucial to strengthening your score in Golem.
In Century: Golem Edition, players are caravan leaders who travel the famed golem road to deliver crystals to the far reaches of the world. Players will take it in turns to can take market cards which entitles them to specific crystals before trading or harvest their crystals, with the aim being saving up their crystals to spend on Golem cards, with each Golem card worth a different number of points. The top two tiles contain the four, all-important Golem locations where you can trade the right combination of crystals for the points-gaining Golems. All the rest are workable. Up to half of these start covering up. Each bird - of which there are over 170 on beautifully illustrated cards - has specific powers that can be used in your habitats. These habitats focus on gaining food tokens via custom dice, laying eggs using egg miniatures, and drawing from the pile of bird cards and playing them. It’s hard to define what makes a game qualify to be hot, but Century: Spice Road has definitely had it. Maybe it’s the promise of gateway goodness, pretty components and fast play. Maybe it was the comparisons to the lightweight accessible darling of the board game scene, Splendor, or maybe it was just the certain je ne sais quoi. The Italians have done it again. No, not the Mario Bros. Not the Corleones. I’m talking about the group of Italian game designers who’ve been churning out quality Euros for several years now. Golem’s designers, Simone Luciani, Virginio Gigli, and Flaminia Brasini, have contributed to standout games like Tzolk’in, Grand Austria Hotel, Lorenzo il Magnifico, and Barrage in various combinations, along with a few other compatriots, such as Daniele Tascini.
While the bot’s decision tree tends towards taking the best short-term option, it obviously doesn’t have the long-term strategic thinking capabilities that would allow it to fully maximize its score. For instance, the Automa cards will lean towards taking a marble from the row with the most marbles. But the better option might be to draw from a row with one fewer marble (really only marginally inferior), allowing for completion of an artifact that will begin earning extra income this round. Card-based solo AI isn’t sophisticated enough to perceive these minute strategic implications and therefore goes with what appears to be the most beneficial action in the here and now. But one more resource now is strictly worse, of course, than an extra six resources and two points right after this turn. Final Thoughts: Lastly on the negatives, I have heard that this is not a great game for colourblind people, depending on the colours you struggle with. Summarising the Golem Edition
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