There are games which serve as ur-texts, creating or growing from disconnected roots into a trunk that forms a foundation for dozens of games to come. Chess. Age of Steam. Terra Mystica.

Terra Mystica has spawned numerous pretenders, games that attempt to model its particular blend of deterministic resource management and area control. It even has had babies of its own: Gaia Project, Terra Nova, and several expansions.

Age of Innovation is Terra Mystica: Advanced, but before I can sing its praises, I have to give you an overview of what it is that makes the original great.

Chess puzzle deluxe

Terra Mystica is about carving out space. Each player plays a faction that is tied to a specific terrain type. This faction has two special powers: one they start the game with, and another that is unlocked through the construction of a specific building. Each player’s board has a number of different building types, each of which, when built, gives that player additional income generation at the end of the round. These grant worker income, coin income, priest-track-manipulation-income, ammo to manipulate the BOWLS OF POWER, and additional asymmetric power-up tiles that are first come-first-serve.

You are tied to a terrain type as a player, and…

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