Lacuna Review
Advert: this game was gifted by VR Distribution UK, this has not affected our opinion.
I think generally I have a fairly good vocabulary. Still, it never ceases to amaze me how many words I don’t know. Lacuna was one of those that was off my radar until a board game of that name arrived on my doorstep. It defines as a gap or missing part, particularly in a manuscript or text. Having played the game I kinda see how that fits. But perhaps the burning question is… does this two player only board game fill a gap in my collection?
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Setup
Spread out the fabric board, give each player the gold or silver pawns and then place all the wooden tokens into the cylindrical box. Place the intermediate lid back on and as Outkast would say: ‘Shake it like a polaroid picture!’. This will spread all the components out upon the fabric board in a randomly haphazard way. If there are massive clusters spread the tokens out a bit or leave it as it is. As Elvis would say that is Lacuna ‘All shook up, mm-mm’, obviously he meant all set up, but he was distracted by a burger.
Gameplay
Lacuna is an abstract strategy where players will place their pawn on an invisible line between two matching tokens of the same colour. This line cannot be interrupted by other tokens or by another players’ pawn. They then can pick up those two tokens. Play continues in this way until all players have placed their pawns. Then, there is a second phase where players collect tokens based on the area control of their pawns. There are seven different coloured tokens and seven of each colour. The player with the most tokens of each colour wins that colour, and the player who wins the most colours overall is the winner!
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What it’s like
Lacuna is an abstract strategy game for two players through and through.
The cylindrical box describes the game as cozy, a bit of a buzz word around board games at the moment, it’s fairly accurate though. Lacuna is indeed relaxed and laid back.
It’s also quite quick to play. So much so, you may want to agree to the best of three or five games. The quick play time doesn’t mean that you are not making meaningful decisions in the game though. Where you place your pawn, even where you place it along the invisible line, is super important.
You might think that working out the area control of which pawn is closest to which token would be tedious. It really isn’t. Players can quickly sweep around the board working 95% of the ownership out. You then come to some contentious tokens, but some of these colours will already be won by a player making it a moot point. I’ve found you tend to only get the ruler (provided) out for one or two critical tokens.
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Table Presence
The cylindrical box will likely fill a nice slot on your board game shelves. The box doubling up as the token dispenser is pretty neat. The contents within this cylindrical wonder were equally appealing.
The fabric playing area was scrunched into the box in my copy, which meant it looked like it needed an iron. I believe life is too short to ever use an iron, so it’s stayed a little creased although I do store it rolled now. It’s quite a thin fabric that feels a bit slinky on the table, but can shift around a bit if you’re not careful. I like the border design which adds a splash of colour.
The flowerhead tokens are delightful and really do add to the gameplay. These get a big thumbs up, along with the metal player pawns. Overall I was surprised with the quality contents. The rulebook also got us playing nice and quickly, not that there was much to digest.
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Final thoughts on Lacuna
Lacuna is a very good little two player game that you will want to keep in easy reach of the dining room table. It is a great option to grab as a digestif after a meal or a nightcap at the end of a night. I really like making it a best of three or five to counterbalance the quick playtime, and because I enjoy having an excuse to play it more than once!
There is a nice amount to think about without it hurting the brain too much. At times if the analysis paralysis kicks in you have to remember this is intended to be a quick game!
Lacuna is an easy game to recommend and I think even players who are not usually endeared by abstract strategy will find something to enjoy with this one!
Key Facts
Number of players: 2
Board Game Review Recommended Age: 8+
Publisher’s Recommended Age: 8+
Playing Time: 10 minutes
Setting Up and Take Down Time: 1 minute
Designers: Mark Gerrits
Publisher: CMYK
RRP: £24.99
Summary
Lacuna is a fun two player abstract strategy game, that looks great on the table. There is plenty to think about in a really quick play time.
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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
- Really pretty game
- Good quality components
- Set up is fun too!
- Quick play time
Cons
- Can be over too quick
- Abstract strategy isn’t for everyone
- Fabric board is a bit slippy
- Might get neglected after initial flurries of plays
Need more games?
If you already own Lacuna and enjoy it, or are looking for other inspiration, you might also like these similar games:
- Power Plants
- Aqualin
- Othello
- Quantik
Buy Lucana
If you want to buy Lucana 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 VR Distribution 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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