Festival Review
Advert: this game was gifted by Hachette Board Games UK, this has not affected our opinion.
Baby you’re a firework! Well according to Katy Perry that is, it also implies you’re a baby. Maybe that’s why you cry salty tears when you lose a board game! In reality you’re neither because you’re here reading this pitiful excuse of an introduction to the board game review of Festival. If this hasn’t lured you in to read on, I’m not sure what possibly could’ve!
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Setup
Give each player a board, a starting objective card and the matching discs of their player colour. The boards are double-sided so players can choose their city, but there is no difference in gameplay. The starting objective cards are double-sided and they differ slightly.
Each player’s discs will need to be randomised a little and then stacked before being flipped face up and placed between the player on your left. Crowd-pleaser objective tiles will need to be displayed with their sides chosen at random.
The deck of objective cards will also need to be shuffled and split into four face up piles to form the market.
Setup is now complete!
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Gameplay
In Festival, players will be cities competing for the most spectacular firework display, or so the story goes. Ultimately you are pattern matching and competing for points by completing objectives!
The game turns are quite simple. You can either claim an objective card or take a firework token from one of the piles either side of your player board. In a three and four player game that means there are stacks you cannot take from. The firework token must then be placed on the player’s board with the aim of working towards an objective. They can also be placed on top of another firework token.
Players will then check to see if they have completed any of their objective cards or a crowd-pleaser tile. The latter are shared objectives and the first player to complete the contract takes the tile for end game scoring.
Speaking of the game end, this is triggered by someone completing their sixth objective card or one of the draw piles of tokens running out. After that (with play returning to the first player), scores will be tallied.
On each player board is a colour and type of fireworks that will score you points at the end of the game, for each token visible of that type. If they are on top of another token they are worth double the points, and triple the points if they are on the third level, and so on. A token that is both the colour and type will score twice. You will also score points for any objectives that you have completed.
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What it’s like
Festival is a lightweight, family-friendly pattern matching game. It’s a breeze to teach and is super accessible for all players.
There is a fair bit of luck involved in Festival as sometimes neither of the two stacks you can take from have what you want. The pattern matching objective fulfilment really reminds me of Shifting Stones, but I feel like Festival is less luck dependant than that, mainly because you pattern match on your own board and choose your objectives to work towards. I like that element of forgoing taking a tile you want to grab an objective, it means that there are decisions to be made and timing is often crucial.
As you can only do one of two things on your turn, play goes around the table fairly quickly. It can be frustrating if there are no good options, but then you have to focus your skills of adapting to what is on offer.
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Table Presence
I’m a big fan of fireworks so the theme really works for me. Festival is bold and colourful. Melody Leblond, the illustrator of this one, is clearly influenced by Keith Harring, especially with the dancing figures on the shared objectives. Despite the dark background of the night sky, the colours pop.
The simplified artwork aids with the pattern matching. I also appreciate the symbols on the cards and tiles that make this friendly for those that have colour vision deficiency.
The player boards have fantastic city outlines but are arguably a little flimsy. The chunky circular tiles are totally in contrast to the player boards.
The instructions were nice and clear and the components fit okay inside the box at the end of the game, but not in a deluxe way.
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What the kids thought
Max (9): It’s a really good game, I like everything about it.
George (13): Festival is a brilliant game, I love it!
Harrison (16): I think it is probably one of my favourite game that involves stacking-up. I like the pattern matching and changing objectives. I like the race for the shared objectives too.
Final thoughts on Festival
I don’t think there are enough board games about fireworks, so theme is a welcome one, even if the game is considerably more abstract than the artwork might lead you to believe.
Families are certainly the target audience for Festival. For that reason I think the publishers could’ve included a fifth player option. The gameplay is smooth and the drafting wouldn’t have been affected so I think that is a missed opportunity.
Overall, it is a nice little game that is simple to pick up and play. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing with my boys, especially George who is much more of a fan of pattern-matching games.
Key Facts
Number of players: 2 to 4
Board Game Review Recommended Age: 8+
Publisher’s Recommended Age: 8+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Setting Up and Take Down Time: 1 minute
Designers: Grégory Grard
Publisher: Scorpion Masque
RRP: £33.99
Summary
Festival is a light family-friendly board game that many pattern-matching families will enjoy. Perhaps there is still just a bit too much luck to have the longevity for more seasoned board gamers, but my kids really enjoy it.
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Artwork and Components
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Complexity
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Instructions
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Interaction
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Value for Money
Overall
Pros
- Fun pattern matching
- Family friendly
- Quick to learn and play
- Bright and colourful
Cons
- Quite luck based
- A little repetitive
- Sometimes there is no good option
- Quite an expensive MSRP
Need more games?
If you already own Festival and enjoy it, or are looking for other inspiration, you might also like these similar games:
- Shifting Stones
- Tribes of the Wind
- 7 Wonders Architects
- Kohaku
Buy Festival
If you want to buy Festival after reading our review click on one of our affiliate links below (note there has been no affiliate links until this point)
Reviewer’s Note
For clarity: we don’t get paid for our reviews. However, we were kindly gifted this game by Hachette Board Games UK We have tried not to let this affect our review in any way.
We may however earn a tincy wincy commission if you buy a game having clicked one of our affiliate links like the one above… this hopefully gives us a bit of pocket money towards hosting costs and new games to review!
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