YRO is a tableau-building set collection game.
Title: YRO
Year Published: 2024
Designer: Masato Uesugi.
Publisher: Play to Z
Players: 1-5
Game Time: ~30 minutes
Set-up Time: ~1 minute
Ages: 10+
Theme: An anime style anthropomorphic fantasy world.
Mechanisms: Tableau Building, Hand Management, Push Your Luck, Set Collection.
How to win: Score the most points by building a strong tableau of fantasy adventurers.
Game Description
The Sunrise Islands, The Wooden Conclave, The Wandering Market, The Mining Company, The Floating City, and The Dragon Knight.
From these factions you will recruit members for your guild, to create a powerful party and complete the most rewarding quests!
How to play YRO
Learn how to play the cute tableau building game, YRO!
Main Mechanisms
The real main mechanism is building that tableau. From there, you pull in the push your luck and set collection elements.
Drafting is optional and if played as part of the game would also be a key mechanism as card choice is very important.
USP
This is a reimplementation of Magnolia, a Japanese only game from 2021. It’s also from the designer of Paper Tales which has similar elements.
Theme
I really like the theme… The art and character names are really cute and while the theme is abstract, the world the adventurers live in is a fun one.
I’d love to see an Anime set in this world.
Setup & Rulebook
Setup is easy. Shuffle the cards and lay the boards and counters out. Easy.
The rulebook teaches the rules really well. However, as with a lot of games with multiple cards and effects it can’t cover every niche case that crops up.
Components & Artwork
The cards are nice and the dual layered boards really help you keep track of the game. The player boards sum up the rules for every phase in the game on them which is cool. The iconography is minimal which also helps.
I love the cute artwork of the adventurers.
Ease of Teaching
The helpful player board makes the game easy to teach.
Even if players don’t play optimally, putting adventurers into a tableau and activating them will give them something.
Similar Games
I’ve already mentioned Paper Tales and I can’t get more similar than that.
YRO Review
Positives
Fun and easy to play.
It looks great with really cute artwork.
The player board help sheet and dual-layered board helps keep game play smooth.
Pulling off combos is satisfying.
Negatives
It’s a little on the short side and steamrolls to a finish.
YRO Round-Up
A very fun and cute looking game.
Rating
I give it 8/10