Tabletop_Gaming__Issue_27__February_2019

tabletopgaming.co.uk 79

that gave them the chance to move a

whopping 30 spaces in a single turn

with no chance for the other players

to stop them, letting them place half

of the cubes needed to win in one

move. It was complete luck, and left

the rest of the group feeling more than

a bit mied. Adding to the issue is the

ability to place unlimited cubes on

a single scoring track, removing the

need to balance which colour you

focus on – in one game, none of our

players progressed from the starting

spot on one of the tracks.

ere are absolutely things to admire

in J. Alex Kevern’s solid design and its

eye-catching presentation, but Passing

rough Petra ends up wearing out

its welcome. Like passing through

the rocky walls of its namesake, it’s

fascinating to observe at rst – but

spend too much time in its midst and

your enjoyment might start to erode.

MATT JARVIS

TRY THIS IF

YOU LIKED...

COUNCIL OF 4

Council of 4

features a similar

pushing aspect to

its gameplay, but

adds in a fun chain

combo system that

makes it a little

longer-lasting.

P

assing rough Petra certainly

makes a statement. With 3D

plastic walls that protrude from

its board, the game strikingly recreates

the Siq – the straight gorge that leads

to the ancient city's iconic treasury,

here represented by a at cardboard

standee that completes the eective

diorama, even if it’s a good deal less

impressive than its entrance.

Visual panache aside, the rest of

Passing rough Petra’s board also

excites. ere’s a three-by-three grid on

which players move pawns, the direction

in which they move dictating which of

the four core actions they perform. It’s

an innovative and intriguing take on

action selection, with the opportunity

to perform some actions twice or nd

yourself accidentally hemmed into a

corner – and therefore unable to do

half of the actions that turn – oering

up some interesting decisions and the

need to plan ahead.

e actions feed into the main loop

of acquiring multicoloured tiles from

the Siq – or the more open plaza at

the end of the gorge – to add to your

personal board, where they push

their way into a line of tiles one end,

squeezing out tiles the other. Build

up enough in a column above your

board and they can be combined with

another colour in the row underneath

to propel your marker around one of

the four tracks on the board, scoring

points (here simplied as placing your

nine cubes fastest to win) and gaining

various other bonuses as you go.

It sounds promising, and it

is – to a point. e payo of lining

up scoring combos between your

columns and rows is rewarding, and

the grid-based action selection is

straightforward but thinky enough

to throw up some tricky situations.

e problem is that, like the four

markers that continually circle the

same scoring tracks, turns end up

feeling very samey. Being able to gain

secret objectives for extra ways to

score and villager cards with abilities

that spice up the standard collect-

squeeze-combo helps to avoid total

monotony, but – depending on which

tiles are drawn from the bag to ll the

Siq – it’s easy to repeat the same set

of actions turn after turn and score

big. e action-selection grid and tile-

pushing quirks are curious enough to

provide a few rounds of fun, but they

don’t do enough to keep the hooks in

for an entire hour-ish playthrough.

At other points, the tight loop

of working toward combos and

objectives can fall apart completely. In

one extreme case, one of our players

happened to draw an ability card

Passes the time

PASSING THROUGH PETRA

60m 2-4 14+ £58

WHAT’S IN

THE BOX?

◗ Game board

◗ Five canyon wall pieces

◗ Four player boards

◗ Treasury card holder

◗ 22 influence cards

◗ 24 villager cards

◗ Four reference cards

◗ 85 trader tiles

◗ 20 permanent

settlement tiles

◗ Five gold trader tiles

◗ 12 building tiles

◗ 30 camel tokens

◗ 10 market extensions

◗ Four merchant pawns

◗ 20 marker discs

◗ 20 workers

◗ 36 influence cubes

◗ Velvet bag

(^) PLAY IT? MAYBE
Not a bad experience by any stretch,
Passing Through Petra is a clever
design that falls short of being
something special. All the elements
are here – original gameplay,
easy rules, striking visuals – but
it’s hard to escape the feeling of
repetition that ends up wearing
down its impressive aspects.