Red Carpet
- Board's Eye View
- 44 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Designed by Anna Lucini, Pau Moré and Eloi Pujadas, the 2-4 players in Red Carpet are paparazzi (press photographers) in 1950s Hollywood, each competing to take the best photograph of the movie stars attending an awards ceremony. The stars walk down the red carpet on their way into the gala ceremony but they've come with their entourage, and you don't really want any of those nonentities spoiling your shot. In this game then from Devir, players are attempting to position the celebrities (standees) and place their cameras to get the best shot, and ideally with the logo in the background of the sponsor identified with that star. Players are also voting for award winners because their snaps of the winners will be worth double points...
Players have a hand of five cards in each of the three rounds. Each card has three alternative uses. The movement action variously let you move a standee, swap the positions of two standees or turn a standee around so that they face in the opposite direction. There's the option too of moving your camera tripod to a numbered position on either side of the red carpet. Three of your five cards are played for these actions. Of the two remaining cards, one is discarded and the other is used (face down) to vote for the star shown on the card.
The USP for Red Carpet is that players really are taking photos. The idea is that players use the cameras on their phones, and indeed the 'tripod' you place out functions as a stand for your phone. You take a picture at the end of each round and that will score 3 points if a celebrity is facing you, 2 more points if nothing is obstructing the view of their head and shoulders and 2 points if the celebrity is directly in front of you (ie: you're not having to shoot at an angle). You gain a point if the star's sponsor's icon is visible. However, if the faces of any entourage members are visible in your shot, you'll lose a point for each of them.
Players can't photograph the same celebrity in subsequent rounds, so Red Carpet increasingly becomes a game of deduction as you have an eye to which stars a rival player is trying to shoot. Important because you can use your move actions not just to set up your own shot but also to screw with theirs. Expect a lot of accidental and deliberate 'take that', especially with four players. Red Carpet tho' is a lighter game than the Picture Perfect (Arcane Wonders) deduction game, which similarly involves players organising a photo of various standees. This game doesn't involve the same puzzle solving as Picture Perfect or make the same demands on players' good memory, but Red Carpet's multi-use cards nonetheless invite some meaty but manageable tactical choices. The game is well produced, with its velvety red carpet board and standees that movie buffs will instantly recognise from Albert Montey's caricatures. Snap up a copy!
(Review by Selwyn Ward)