Ex Libris - A Photostory
on Nov 6, 2017
Ever wonder what it would be like to take the role of Madam Irma Pince, the Hogwartsâ
librarian? Wonder no more! In Ex Libris, you compete for the title of the Grand Librarian
of a magical library that contains tens of thousands of books sitting on thousands of
shelves.
Ex Libris is an excellent, challenging, and very thematic worker-placement game by
Renegade Game Studios in which you play a collector of rare and magical books who
competes against other collectors for the renowned position of the town Grand
Librarian.
To win the coveted title you have to expand your personal bookshelf by sending your
assistants out to acquire the most desired books in the village. Only certain locations in
the village are available on each turn; some remain at the end of the turn, some are
discarded, and with every turn you discover new ones. This mechanism makes every
game of Ex Libris different than the previous one and allows you to explore different
strategies with every game. The locations themselves are well thought-out and the
actions you can perform at each location serve the theme of the game and the location
(e.g., in the book swap you have to give books in order to get books).
Each collector has her/his a special assistant with an extra ability that is unique to each
player (you get a cool-looking meeple to represent this unique assistant). This extra
asymmetric workerâs ability adds another subtle level of strategy to the placement of
your workers and further enhances game play.
You have limited time before the mayor sends the official inspector to judge your book
collection with form B-7C, also known as the Official Library Inspection Form. The
official inspector grades you on several criteria, including alphabetical order of books,
shelf stability, inclusion of prominent works, and variety. You also lose points on any
banned book you own.
Be clever and crafty when placing your books (itâs like a fun puzzle), leverage the
uniqueness of each village location, explore the many strategies of scorings and donât
forget to read the original and funny book titles.
Get ready to become a Grand Librarian, because this game is magical.