Martin-Wallace

You sit down to play Brass: Birmingham for the first time. Someone reads the rules. You build something. It gets removed. You try to connect to a city. Someone else already took it. You end the game with no idea what you did, what your score means, or why the winner is smiling like they just solved a proof. You probably never want to play it again. Then a friend convinces you to try it one more time. And again. And somewhere around play three, the whole board shifts into focus - and you realise you’ve been playing the best game of your life. ...

Brass: Birmingham has occupied the top spot on BoardGameGeek for years. Not one of the top ten - the top spot. That kind of sustained dominance is almost without precedent in board gaming, and it creates a specific problem: a mountain of hype that either pulls you in or makes you suspicious. So let’s cut through it. Is Brass: Birmingham actually worth buying? Or is it a game that suits a very specific kind of player that might not be you? ...