Designer: Dan Hallagan (Obsession)

Artist: Dan Hallagan (Obsession)

Publisher: Kayenta Games (Obession)

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, deck building, tile placement, worker placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Upstairs, Downstairs: an Obsession Expansion is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total more than 2.5x the initial funding goal with 8 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-high

What It’s About:  The expansion to independently-produced tile & worker placement game, Obsession, set in mid-19th century Victorian England. The new expansion adds 5th player capabilities, as well as 4 new servants, the Hall Boy, Cook, Head Housemaid, and Useful Man.

How It Works: The base game of Obsession is played over 16 rounds divided into 4 Seasons, with players working to renovate a neglected estate in Victorian-era England. At the start of each season, a Theme Card is revealed, and then players take turns completing the following six steps, or passing: Rotate Service, moving servants from Expended Service to Servants’ Quarters or Servants’ Quarters to Available Service; Host Activity, taking an Improvement Tile and adding it to their Player Board; Inviting Guests, from among the cards in their Active Hand to a tableau position beneath their Player Board; Providing Service, using Workers from Available Service and sending them either to Improvement Tiles and/or Guest Card locations; and Enjoying Favors from the various Improvement Tile and Guest locations– collecting money, reputation, befriending or dismissing gentry, and buying from the Builder’s Market. Then the player Clears their Player Board. On a subsequent turn, when the player no longer has available guests or servants, or wishes to refresh their Gentry Deck by reclaiming already-played cards, the player passes. During their turn, the player may also take the following Special Actions: Borrowing Money, Service Help (refreshing servants by paying Reputation), and Refreshing the Builder’s Market. Every 4th round (or every 5th round in the Extended Game) at the end of each Season, players take part in a Courtship Event, where each player totals the values of their Improvement Tiles, and the player with the highest value receives a visit from the Fairchild of their choice, earning them an extra future Guest. During the final Courtship Event, the player with the highest value receives a Fairchild for end-game scoring, as well as a VP card from the round track.

During end-game scoring, players computer the values of their Improvement Tiles, Gentry Cards, completed Objective Cards, Reputation & Service VP from their Player Board, 1 VP for every 200 money rounded down, Courtship VP. The player with the most total VP wins.

Comparisons:  The mechanic that really distinguishes this from other worker placement games is the round-ender for each player where they pass to redraw their cards. This feels a lot like the central card mechanic in Concordia, a sort of adapted type of deck-building. Some of the art design of the Supply Board and Round Track boards also evokes some of the artwork of Viticulture.

What Should I Pledge?:
$15 George Eliot: just the Wessex expansion.
$28 Emily Bronte: the new Upstairs, Downstairs expansion, with all unlocked applicable stretch goals.
$42 Charlotte Bronte: combines the rewards of George Eliot & Emily Bronte.
$47 Pax Britannica: the Obsession base game, with all unlocked applicable stretch goals.
$61 Charles Dickens: combines the rewards of George Eliot & Pax Britannica.
$64 Prince Albert Loyalty Bundle: combines the rewards of George Eliot, Emily Bronte, and Pax Britannica, but is only for owners of the 1st printing of Obsession in Kayenta Games’ database (essentially it’s a cheap way for owners of the 1st edition to replace it with the 2nd edition).
$73 Lady Mary: combines the rewards of Emily Bronte & Pax Britannica.
$87 Queen Victoria: combines the rewards of George Eliot, Emily Bronte, and Pax Britannica.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives:
None.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $87 for the Queen Victoria all-in pledge and $10 in shipping, for a total of $97.

Upstairs, Downstairs: an Obsession Expansion completes its Kickstarter on Tuesday, October 15th and tentatively ships in March 2020.