North Star Games - Paint The Roses Board Game - Alice in Wonderland Strategy Puzzle Board Game - 2 to 5 Players - Average Playtime 60 Minutes

Product Information

Each player whose card was correctly guessed may now take a new card of a difficulty of their choosing. The first player will then choose one of the four tiles in the Greenhouse—featuring a combination of a hedge shape (spade, heart, diamond, club) and a color (red, pink, yellow, purple)—and place it adjacent to another tile on the board. Game Contents: 1 Deluxe Game Trayz Insert, 1 Deluxe Dual Layered Garden board, 32 Deluxe Acrylic Shrub tiles, 1 Dual Layered Greenhouse board, 132 Whim Cards, 30 Clue Tokens, 3 Notepads, 3 Character Miniatures, 4 Flower Tokens, 1 Velvet Bag, 1 Royal Log Notebook.

Another key aspect of the game you will experience is its strong sense of escalation. The Queen starts very slow but she progressively moves faster and faster giving you a strong sense of urgency. You soon realize that the better you play the faster the Queen will move and that she will always be very close to you when you arrive at laying the last tiles. It is not infrequent to place the last tile just to realize the Queen’s last move will chop off your head. Escape The Castle Let’s talk about the two main components of this game: the Shrub tiles and the Whim cards. The Shrub tiles have two parts to them: a suit (Hearts, Diamonds, Spades and Clubs) and a colour (pink, red, yellow and purple.) The Whim cards will have two parts to them, depending on the difficulty, and a number in the bottom right which represents the number of points it is worth.The review copy NorthStar Games sent me is the deluxe edition which comes with the Escape the Castle expansion. Just take a look at the artwork: The six expansions (plus the Queen of Hearts cards) of the Deluxe Edition. Although the trays look quite nice, I feel only the bottom tray adds some value to the game by organizing the cards and the expansions. All tiles could probably be better stored in the bag to be ready to be used instead of in the tray. Also, the tray does not have space for sleeved cards which for me is a big fail. You’ll have three opportunities in the game to not make a guess. The Red Queen will still move as if you guessed correctly. The Queen's whims are shared via cards, secret instructions each player is given into how the garden should be arranged. Her whims are always changing, so as soon as you solve one, a new one is in your hand. For the player(s) who had their card correctly guessed by the others, it has a number on it to show how far your team token will move (Easy cards are pretty short, and Hard cards are pretty long).

After my first play of Paint the Roses I was a little put off by what I perceived to be the imperfect information the game insists you play with. Color to color was fine, but the Medium and Hard cards presented too many choices with no clear idea as to which choice was correct. This was, I think, more of an issue when playing the game with two players. Having the consequences of a wrong guess, along with the possibility of losing the game, resting solely with my guess, didn’t sit all that well with me. Paint the Roses comes in either a standard version or the deluxe edition. The standard (retail) edition comes with a flat board and cardboard tiles. The deluxe edition comes with a two-layer board and bakelite tiles that sit easily in the recessed areas in the garden. Oh, and along with those six additional modules, it comes with this impressive and highly functional organizer. The game aims to work together to finish the palace garden according to a random set of cards that represent the Queen of Hearts’ whims. A nicely sculpted gardener miniature traces your progress while another one, the Queen, chases you. If the Queen reaches you before you complete your goals, the last thing you hear will be, "Off With Their Heads!" and the players will lose the game.In the box sits another organizer for all the Escape the Castle cards, as well as the other items used in the game.