Widget’s Workshop

In Widget’s Workshop, players take turns drafting tiles to add to their workshop bays to build to best constructs (robots). It is for two to five players ages 14+ and plays in around 30 minutes. It is designed by Alex Cutler and published by Phase Shift Games.

Setup

Each player takes a set of three workshop bays and lays them out in order based on the scoring at the top (5-10-15-20-25-30), leaving enough space between them for tile overhang.

Shuffle the deck of part tiles, flipping approximately half the deck so some tiles are upside down and some are rightside up. Each player then drafts one tile and places it in the corresponding part of one of their workshop bays (left arm, right arm, torso, left leg, and right leg).

After every player drafts one tile, drop the remaining tiles on the middle of the table, ensuring that they spread out over roughly a 2-foot by 2-foot area.

Whoever dropped something most recently is the first player, and play begins.

Gameplay

Starting with the first player, each player takes turns drafting tiles and placing them in their workshop bays. Players draft a tile by using one finger to drag the tile to an open area where they can safely pick the tile up without touching any other tiles. Tiles can and will shift while being dragged, and that’s okay.

When a player drafts tiles, they have two options: They can draft one face-up tile or two face-down tiles. If a player drafts a face-up tile, they must place it on one of their workshop bays. But if they draft two face-down tiles, they pick one to keep and place, then drop the second tile face-up in the pile area.

If a player decides they don’t like one of their tiles, they can always draft a replacement tile and put the offending one back in the pile.

The goal of Widget’s Workshop is to create constructs (robots and golems) with matching traits to score the most points.

Traits

There are three main categories of traits in Widget’s Workshop: Element, Archetype, and Makeup.

The Elements are Fire (flame), Air (a swirl), Earth (leaf), and Water (water drop). The Archetypes are Strength (weightlifter pose) and Speed (runner). Makeup is either Mechanical (sequence of gears) or Organic (purple knot).

When a player completes a construct by placing tiles in all five slots in a workshop bay, that player immediately scores that construct.

Scoring A Construct

Players score their construct based on how many traits they’ve matched during construction. Players score each type of trait: Element, Archetype, and Makeup.

Within any trait, four matching tiles gives five points. If all five tiles match for that trait, the player receives 10 points. This means a construct is worth up to 30 points. Once the player figures out the construct’s score, they place the finished construct in the corresponding scoring slot at the top of the workshop bays.

End Game

A player triggers the endgame in Widget’s Workshop by completing a set number of constructs: four in a two-player or three-player game, and three in a four- or five-player game.

Every other player gets up to three turns to complete their constructs (up to the number required to end the game, no more).

The player who completed their constructs first gets five bonus points. All players add up their scores, and the player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most valuable construct wins.

Chaotic Variant

If the prospect of drafting one after another isn’t your speed, there is a variant called Construct Chaos. The major difference is that players simultaneously draft, rather than take turns. If you draft a facedown tile, you can choose to throw it back on the pile face-up.

Rather than being played to a set number of constructs, Construct Chaos continues until there are no more tiles left in the draw area.

Impressions

When I first saw Widget’s Workshop, I was intrigued by the prospect of drafting tiles to build constructs. I love how the completed constructs look when you stack the tiles on top of each other, thanks to the transparent centers with just the body parts (and parts of the construct’s name) on the tiles.

That’s the best part of the game: seeing the completed constructs. If you match all the traits, you have a perfectly matched construct, complete with a unique name.

There is only one of each tile in the game, so if someone drafts the Organic Speed Fire right arm you need, you’re out of luck unless they draft a different right arm and drop that tile back on the pile.

However, the game doesn’t come together as nicely as the completed constructs. For my family, the game didn’t hit for us. There wasn’t enough depth for the adults and the more accomplished teen gamer. Yet trying to track the details on the tiles was tougher for our younger children, so we think the 14+ age suggestion is right.

Widget’s Workshop is a solid game. The artwork on the tiles is fantastic. The mechanics for the game are sound. It’s just a little shallow, with little to do beyond drafting and assembling.

If your family or play group loves the drafting phase of Galaxy Trucker but just wants that feeling in a shorter game, then this game could fill that niche.

Find Widget’s Workshop on Amazon, direct from Phase Shift Games, or at your local game store.

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Widget’s Workshop from Phase Shift Games for this review.

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