Black Market Bargain Quest Review

(This is a review of an expansion and assumes some knowledge of the base game).

Bargain Quest has always occupied an odd place in our family's gaming preferences. All five of us like it, despite differing tastes. But none of us love it. Is the Black Market expansion the missing ingredient to tip this amiable game into anyone's top ten?

What's In The Box?

This expansion does a couple of things: firstly it adds a new deck of black market cards. These are, in format, the same as the conventional items that players draft at the beginning of rounds. The best way to express what's different about these new cards is that they are spicier. There are very powerful cards which will ensure the success of any adventurer, but are expensive. There are cards that will ensure the adventurer does not return, but that you, the shopkeeper, benefit. In some ways these are less 'balanced'. But, their inclusion means that you need to commit more clearly to a potential outcome. This sharpens the competition for customers.

The new items are the centrepiece of this expansion. Alongside them are upgrades, characters and employees, which allow you access to the new deck. The most reliable way to access the new items is a black market upgrade. Instead of giving up money for these upgrades, you sacrifice points, which is neatly thematic, but doesn't usually signify much in the end.

Other than the introduction of the black market, there are some new adventurers to play with, and monsters to conquer. The adventurers are just as evocative and diverse as the base game ones, and it’s hard not to root for them. The new monsters are a little tougher than the base game ones. This can extend game time a little, but each offers a wrinkle on strategy which maintains interest, while adding to variety.

The designers have also tackled the problem of balance within an expanded deck of adventurers. With so many adventurers now available, you could end up with some types predominating. This is overcome by tweaking the setup, and introducing items which increase your flexibility when selling to adventurers.

Does It Add As Well As Expand?

Taking all this as a whole, how much does the Black Market expansion add? Like most expansions, it adds interest by increasing the variety of what can be encountered. It does so with a mechanism which requires minimal explanation, but adds a definite spice and edge to proceedings.

But in the end, it's an excellent expansion to a good game, which can only elevate the base game so far without changing the fundamentals. These remain somewhat flawed. The game is still too simple to give any sense of narrative or epic sweep, but not intuitive enough to provide the satisfaction of elegance.

Conclusion

So do I recommend the Black Market Expansion? If you love Bargain Quest, definitely. If you like it but need more variability and spice, then this will do the trick. But if you're looking for something revolutionary, to ‘fix’ the system, this ain't it.