Real-time games can be a positive or negative experience for many gamers. Most have a very strong feeling about this style of game and if they enjoy it or loathe it. Some like to sit down and embrace the rush and chaos, others prefer to not have that experience. Today we are going to talk about one of the newest games to explore the world of real-time and see how it stacks up to others and see if it is a game for you!
Pendulum is published by Stonemaier Games and designed by Travis Jones. Art is by Robert Leask. Pendulum plays 1-5 players.
Overview
In Pendulum players are assuming the role of a noble each trying to succeed the Timeless King. Each player can have unique powers, commanding their workers through the game to gain resources and votes. Ultimately you are trying to move up four different victory tracks and come out on top as the new ruler. The winner will be the player who best moves around in this turnless game as the real-time aspects require you to move fast and be able to plan ahead at the same time.
Gameplay
The game board is placed in the center of the play area and each player is given a game board that can be used on the same side or variable player power side. The council board is placed in the center as well. The 3 timers are placed on the game board. The achievement and province cards are set up on the play area as well. Each player is given their markers, cubes, vote tokens and stratagem cards. The council reward cards are placed onto the designated spaces as well.
Each player begins with a common and grande worker and place extra workers near their board, these can be gained later in the game. To begin, each player will place 1 grande worker on a bottom row action, then their 1 common worker. Once all players have their workers out, all three timers are flipped and the game begins!
The game is played over 4 rounds, each round being a real-time event that is ended with a council phase that is not real-time. At the end of the fourth round the game ends and a winner is declared!
There are no turns in this game, so it can be hard to explain the gameplay in simple steps. Basically, you can take any action you wish at any time during the round. The two options include 1-Worker Actions and 2-Untimed Actions.
1-Worker Actions:
Worker Actions allow you to move one of your workers around the board base on timer positions and what other players have done. These are done in such a way that you must follow two basic steps-you can’t move a worker on or from a row where a timer is. You can only take an action on a row where a timer is. Green and Purple action areas only allow one worker to be there, where black action areas allow any number of workers there. Grande workers ignore placement rules. Worker actions have costs that need to be paid or the action cannot be taken. Again, the timer in a row means you can use that action. If you cannot perform the action or choose not to, you must wait until the timer is flipped to have access to move that worker.
Here you can also gain the ability to conquer a province. When you are able to you take one of the cards and tuck it under one of the four production sites under your player mat. You may have an unlimited amount of them in a round but at the end of the round you will need to discard down to two or less in each column.
2-Untimed Actions:
Here players can carry out these actions during a round whenever they would like as they do not require a worker or rely on a timer to be done. These include:
-Flipping the Timer which will change the area of actions that are active and allow you to move workers or take new actions from places where workers have been waiting.
-Play and pick up Strategm cards. These cards are key to the down time and leaning how to use them well makes a big difference in the game. There is a cost to play some of them and a cost to pick them up back to your hand as well.
-Claim Achievement cards. This will allows you to gain the Legendary achievement point or more resources at the bottom of the card if you have already achieved it once in a previous round.
Once the final timer is flipped, Council is called. Now all players have the ability to finish the round in the turns they would like to do and then leave the workers on the board.
During Council phase you follow this progression:
1. Set turn order
2. Gain rewards by each choosing one per player
3. Check max slots at the bottom of the map, 2 in each column
4. Set up the Round
5. Place and/or move (optional)Flip all timers, resume play
The game ends after the council phase following the final and 4th round. If any player has advanced all of their victory tracks into the section on the parchment at the end of the tracks, this player is declared the winner and the new Timeless Ruler of the region!
Overall Impressions
First things first-the design and aesthetic of this one is great. The characters, the bits and the boards all look sharp. The board and components are all very vibrant and stand out on the game table. The only complaint I have is with the sand timers. Some people have had issues with the sand timers and getting stuck, ours even got stuck a few times on the purple timer the first game. But the bigger issue I have with the timer is that the sand can be hard to read on a darker background. There were times we weren’t even sure it was moving when it should have been.
Player count is important here also, I really enjoyed it the most at the 3-4 player count more than the 2 player count. I felt there was more push and pull of the different spaces with more players and there was more challenging decisions that have to be made throughout the game.
This game is not for players with “Analysis Paralysis”, aka the inability to decide what you want to do quickly. Although the game says a few different times that you don’t need to be the quickest to win, it definitely requires you to think and react quicker than your opponents to do the best. I really think the game requires quick and fast play and thinking through it all. If you enjoy that kind of challenge it is the game for you. If that idea gives you anxiety just thinking about it, this may not be the right style for you.
This is not a game to avoid if the words “real-time game” are normally a turn-off for you. Pendulum does not lean heavily into the pitfalls of real-time games, it has a speed element for sure but it isn’t the type of game where the faster player is always going to win. So don’t let the style description keep you away from giving this one a try! Overall I would highly recommend Pendulum as one of the more unique games I have played in quite some time and a title that deserves to get a play at your table!
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