Via Magica

Cover Art - Via Magica
Dear students, Welcome to your crystallization exam! Hunt the Animus, trap their energy in magic crystals and open your portals. Take advantage of the effects of the portals to enter the Magic Way and always have a plan B ready in case the Animus are not the ones you wanted. And hurry up! The exam ends as soon as a student opens their seventh portal. Via Magica reinvents bingo, with a fascinating mix of luck, tactics and opportunism. Ah ... the thrill of pulling the next Animus out of the bag ... fingers crossed that it´s the wild card! The games are fast, fun and full of excitement; a safe bet for a game night with family or friends.
BGG Link https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/300936/magica
Designer(s) Paolo Mori
Publisher Hurrican
Player Count 2 - 6
Estimated Playtime 30 minutes (simultaneous play)
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Journal Entries

July 18th, 2022

A few years ago I found a game called Rise of Augustus (some markets know it as simply Augustus). It’s a little hard to explain to people in a way that sounds attractive to new players, but it’s very similar to Bingo. I was very much hoping that the new implementation Via Magica could help with this, and it seems to do a good job.

There are some extra rules that make Via Magica different to ‘just’ Bingo. Rules like one-off bonuses, permanent upgrades, set collection, and scoring objectives. It sounds complicated but is easy to play once you get your head around it. We very much dropped Rabbit in the deep end thanks to some Discord mishaps while setting up. Even with minimal instruction, Rabbit got the hang of Via Magica quickly.

20220718 - Via Magica - Sitting down it looks like too much is going on
Sitting down to the intiial setup can look daunting to new players

During the game, a player known as the Catcher pulls out tiles from a bag. In Via Magica, these tiles represent different elements. Players then place a crystal from their stockpile onto a ‘portal’ (bingo card) matching the element. When you complete the card, players call “Incantantum” (bingo) and complete any bonuses. These bonuses could be immediate, or end-game scoring. Once this is complete, they pick another portal.

When a player completes 7 portals, the game ends and final scoring takes place. The highest score wins. See what I mean by Via Magica is hard to make sound appealing? It sounds like a very dry bingo variant with extra bookkeeping, but it’s far from the case.

20220718 - Via Magica - Colorful Artwork makes for a great visual experience
Looking at the updated artwork makes the cards far more interesting

Via Magica benefits from streamlining and a new theme, and appeals to me in a very similar way to Century Golem. Even though the gameplay is almost identical to Rise of Augustus, the theme upgrade makes a huge difference. Via Magica’s elementals are far more interesting to look at than Roman districts.

There are also some quality-of-life improvements on the cards themselves. In Via Magica, the elements are shown on top of the card, meaning you can see everything easily. Compare this to Rise of Augustus having the components required down the side of the card. Couple this with meeples blocking your view, and a players life is instantly improved.

20220718 - Via Magica - The new card structure makes things easier to use
I like the new card layout a lot, I just miss the tiebreaker mechanic

There is one aspect of Via Magica I wish was bought across from Rise of Augusts – tie breakers on completion. In Augustus, each card has a number on it. If more than one player completed a card on a round, the player with the lowest number resolved bonuses first. It is a clear rule that stops arguments in their tracks.

In Via Magica, it is whoever first yells ‘Incantantum’. This can lead to arguments, especially amongst younger or more competitive players. I can’t see my group having an issue here, but when playing with others I prefer the clear ruling.

Either way, after winning three straight games, I don’t know if Alpal and Rabbit will want to play Via Magica with me again anytime soon. I hope so, it would be great to play every now and then!