Allegory: “A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.” Today we are going to look at a game that takes the world of lore and adds bidding, strategy and so much more into it to see how well we can weave a story!
Allegory is designed by Zach Weisman with illustrations by David Cornish. It is published by Calliope Games and is for 2-6 players. The game plays in 30-60 mins.
Overview
In Allegory players take on the role of authors who will bid on and collect different theme cards to craft 3 Tales. You will score only the lowest valued tale at the end of the game. Morals and themes can be used to increase your score as well. The player with the most points is the master author and winner!
Gameplay
Allegory comes in a wonderfully packaged box with a felt-lined interior holding all of the contents. It comes with 90 Lore chips that are thick and well made cardboard chips. You will also find Theme and Moral cards along with 6 rest makers.
To begin each player receives one Moral card. These will provide bonus points for matching themes at the end of the game. Shuffle the Theme deck and lay out cards equal to the number of players. These are the inspirational pool. Each player is given 15 Lore chips and a Rest marker.
In front of each player they need to leave room for their three columns of cards, one for each Tale. These will be Nature, Energy and Spirit. Each Theme card’s tale type can be told by the frame around its value.
The first round is the Prologue where players will attempt to outbid the previous bid placed in Lore chips or rest and take back all their Lore chips. When you rest, place your rest marker in front of you. Play continues until only one player is left who has not rested.
Last player wins, takes a Theme card from the pool and places it in their appropriate tableau of the Tale it matches. Then the pool is replenished and the next round begins. The game continues this way with players placing bids, taking cards and adding theme to each of their Tales. Each of these are called story rounds. The difference here is that in story rounds when you rest you can claim the card with the most Lore chips on it. This will get them the chips with the card.
Each card claimed will either start or continue one of your three tales. The game will end at the conclusion of the round where a player takes their 10th theme card. The tales are now complete and players will tally their scores for each tableau by adding the value of each tale individually, scoring the lowest tale total only. Every set of three theme cards earns you 2 bonus points. Players then reveal their Moral card and gain one bonus point for each of the Tales that have at least one card matching that hidden Moral, for a maximum of 3 bonus points.
The player with the highest score wins, becoming the champion author of a legendary tale by mastering the art of the allegory.
Overview
Allegory is a unique experience into the bidding mechanic found in some different board games. In this game players still bid for wins but you gain back chips based on the card you choose so there is a move in a direction to spend chips but also gain them if you really need more. Gaining chips may put you in a position to get a less than desirable card now but will help you get in a position to get a better card.
I also really like that the points tally in such a unique way that you can’t just go all in on one or two but must try to evenly distribute so as to not tank one score. One low scoring tale can sink your score as that is the only one you will score. It makes the game really focus on evenly playing and scoring your cards. I liked that aspect and it was different than what I was used to in a game. Overall if you are looking for a fun game with some interesting choices Allegory may be the title for you!
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