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Overview
Project L is a game where old school video game meets modern board gaming. The creator has taken the block dropping beauty of Tetris and added the tactile magnificence of physical games. The bright coloured pieces and their shapes appear to be straight out of the computer-based classic, but that is pretty much where the similarities end. Project L is a sort of engine building game, where instead of forming lines, you are completing shapes on tiles. Completing shapes earns you more pieces to build better shapes as the game progresses. The aim of the game is that shape tiles mean points, and the most points means being victorious. For this review, I delve into the solo variant where you’ll compete against an automated opponent. You are ultimately aiming to beat its score. Easy, right?
The set-up of this variant is very similar to the standard version, with you having a player aid, a yellow level-1 piece, and a green level-2 piece to start. Instead of two separate draw decks for white and black shape tiles, you create one stack as the draw pile for the game. The stack is 10 random black tiles and 15 random white tiles on top.
*Just a little side note - this gives a real element of variety when playing through multiple times, but you can also generate your own fixed deck (a set stack of tiles in a fixed order) and essentially play the same scenario multiple times, trying to better your previous attempts. *
Another change is that you set up a puzzle grid using the top 9 tiles from the deck, placing them shape side up in a 3x3 grid. Shape tiles have a number on which is their value when completed and is used for end game scoring. They also have a picture of a piece in the top right corner, which is the piece you gain when the tile is completed. Shape tiles come in two difficulties, with white tiles being simpler to complete. Some of these tiles have no end game points (the number in the top left corner of the tile), just giving a new piece when completed. Black tiles are more complex shapes needing more pieces to complete, but they usually award higher points and a higher-level piece when completed. After laying the 3x3 grid of tiles, you select the difficulty by giving the opponent a supply of yellow level-one pieces. The rules suggest 6 pieces for easy, 3 for medium, no pieces for hard difficulty. I would strongly recommend starting at 6 (easy mode) to understand how this works for at least a couple of playthroughs. To finish set-up, take 4 more single pieces (although you can swap out pieces if you run low on yellow ones!) and place one above the first column in the grid, 2 above the second column, and one above the third. These act as locks, preventing a tile from being taken from a column by the opponent.
Game play
For your turn, you take three of your available actions:
• Take a level-1 piece.
• Take a puzzle tile from the grid (refilling from the deck and removing a locking piece and returning it to the opponent supply).
• Upgrade a piece one level (e.g. a level-1 piece to a level-2, or a level-3 to a level-4).
• Place a piece from your supply onto a tile in your player aid.
• The master action – unlike the other actions this can only be performed once per turn. The master action allows you to place a single piece on each tile on your player aid.
For the opponents turn, they just have one action, which is to take one single tile of the highest value available to them. The tile is immediately classed as completed. Any columns with a lock above (a yellow piece) prevents a tile being removed and if all of the columns are locked, a lock is removed from each of the columns and are removed from the game.* If a column has no locks, the opponent takes the highest value tile, and if there are multiple matching tiles then the choice is prioritised from top left to bottom right, as per this image from the rulebook.
When the opponent takes a tile, all the pieces in their supply are placed at the top of the column the tile was removed from. Alternatively, take up to one piece from each of the other columns to fill the space.
*Remember – pieces removed by the opponent when all columns are locked are removed from the game. Managing the opponent using these locks is where the game becomes a big strategic puzzle, so I recommend trying to keep locks in the game as long as you can!
Game end and Scoring
When the deck of tiles is fully depleted and a space in the grid cannot be replenished, you and the opponent get one final turn each. After that, you may complete finishing touches, which means using pieces from your supply to complete tiles. Each piece added to a tile in the finishing touches phase equates to minus 1 point from your end score, so only complete tiles if it’s viable! Once all turns, and any finishing touches, are completed, add the scores from your completed tiles and any negative points for finishing touches are removed from the total. Add the opponents score based on its tiles and whichever score was higher, wins!
Final Thoughts
The look of Project L is what initially drew me to it, with it’s gorgeous Tetris-style pieces and minimalist aesthetic, I really hoped it wasn’t a case of looks over content. Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed! The standard game feels well thought through, with a real balance to the options available and enough variety in the tiles to prevent one player from running away with it.
The solo variant feels like it was a genuinely considered variant, rather than just a tagged-on afterthought. If you enjoy puzzles, a solo game of this will ‘scratch that itch’. If you like a challenging puzzle, then Project L solo is a good option. The fact that the game gives you strategic power over the opponent means that with some thought (sometimes overly procrastinating!), it feels like you genuinely are in control, but that control can all crumble away very quickly. It plays quickly at about 15-30 minutes depending on how decisive you are, and whether you win or lose I find that I always want ‘just one more game’.
