It's always nice to have options in a board game collection. Big, meaty games can be a lot of fun and extremely satisfying, but just as often you're not quite hungry enough to finish the whole thing, and trying to reheat the leftovers later is never quite as good. I start with the food analogy because if asked how I'd describe Small World by Days of Wonder, I'd have to say its about the perfect gaming salad. It's light, accessible, and made of little bits of wonderful things from other games. It's also the kind of game best brought to a party when you just don't know what kind of games people like. More often than not, there's something in there they'll enjoy.
Small World is an area control game that tracks the rise and fall of kingdoms composed of a myriad of creatures from European folklore. At the start of the game 6 races will be dealt out and randomly paired with a special power to creature a civilization with a unique set of mechanics. Often times you'll find bizarre and hilarious combinations like Peace Loving Orcs or the mule crushing Mounted Giants. Each player takes a turn picking a race and using tokens to take over as much land as possible, with multiple game boards assuring that no matter how many players you have, the world will be a little too small for everyone. As one race gains dominance over the board, others will go into decline, allowing players to take a fresh race to try and take control. At the end of your turn, you receive coins for each land you control, and after a set number of turns, the player with the most coins wins.
Where Small World really excels is in providing a quick, light hearted game that can appeal to quite a few different types of gamers. It's a game of varied powers and combat, but with mechanics that can be carefully weighed and calculated. You can crunch numbers and look for optimal moves all game, or you can simply pick a spot on the board and expand down the path of least resistance. Out of the box, the game provides a good amount of variety to remain fresh, but over the long term, its a game that really needs its expansions to shine. The expansion races and powers bump up the number of races you won't see each game considerably and generally encourage a lot more conflict, making the game significantly less predictable. Without the expansions, a 5 player game can often see every race, every game, which leads to very little variety once you've got the hang of it.
Small World does a lot of things well. It's bright and colorful with some really charming art design and entertaining mechanics; it provides a quick, 45 minute game of conquest that scales well across a number of different players; and it manages to create a game with just a little bit of something everyone can enjoy. If you're looking to introduce new players to modern games or just need something for when no one can quite agree on what to play, look no further. Small World proves to be exactly what it claims. A tiny version of the world of modern board games, simplified and mixed into its own blend of flavors. It might not be quite as satisfying as a dedicated offering, but its perfect when all you need is a little taste.
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