The Little Prince, Build Me A Planet – The Review

This time I’m looking at The Little Prince, Build Me A Planet. This game was designed by the team of Antoine Bauza and Bruno Cathala and is published by Ludonaute. It’s being distributed in the US by Game Salute.  This game is based on the novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

The game is a tile laying game where you choose tiles to build a planet. It plays two to five players and takes about 30 minutes to play.

So I’ll start with what’s in the box. There’s a rules sheet, 5 score markers, and 80 tiles. That’s about it. Let’s talk about the tiles since they are the core of the game. The eighty tiles are divided into four groups – Characters, Planet Center, Uphill Edge, Downhill Edge.  These are used to build your planet. Oh, and there’s a box insert to hold the tiles and tokens.

Now let me talk about how the game is played. The tiles are separated into stacks of their different types. The stacks are flipped face down and separately shuffled. They are then  placed in the center of the play area.  On a turn, the start player chooses one of the stacks and takes a number of tiles equal to the number of players.  He flips the chosen tiles face up and chooses one for himself. He then chooses who picks next. Around it goes with each player choosing the next. Players arrange their tiles in a 4×4 grid with the Character tiles at the corners, four Center tiles in the center, and the Edge tile around the edge of their planet of course. Play continues until everyone has built their planet.  Then each player scores their planet.

How do you score in this game? Well, each tile has certain features on it. There are features like snakes, sheep, stars, roses, and various others. The Character tiles each have a character on them. Characters score based on the features on all the tiles of the planet. For example the Lamplighter scores one point for each lamppost on your planet. The Gardener scores 7 points for each Baobob tree. Speaking of Baobob trees, players score 7 points for the first two. But if a player has more than two on their planet, all tiles with them are flipped over and those trees are lost. Another way of losing points is to have the most volcanoes. The player with the most volcanoes loses as many points as volcanoes on their planet. So each player scores based on their characters and the features on their planet. The player with the most points wins.

What Do I Think About The Little Prince, Build Me A Planet?

I really like this game. It’s very easy to learn and teach. It’s minimal. It doesn’t have a lot of components and the art on them is charming. It plays quickly. There is a light level of strategy. There’s a chance for take that with the variable turn order. And the opportunity to swipe tiles that other players may need.

Who Will Like This Game

I think pretty much anybody will like this game. It has something for everybody. I think this is a great family game. The game play is simple enough that casual gamers, even young players,will pick it up. The math involved in scoring is not too difficult. It’s a good, relaxed thirty minute game with a good deal of social interaction thanks to the ‘current player chooses the next player’ mechanic.

Gamers will enjoy the small bit of strategy involved with trying to optimize their scoring. And there is enough ‘take that’ in the turn order choice and the potential of taking tiles that another player wants. Again that new, interesting player turn order mechanic adds that social element that changes this game from a simple filler to a much more enjoyable filler.

The Little Prince is a wonderful little game. I am glad that I have gotten to play it.

This review was made possible by Game Salute who provided a copy of The Little Prince, Build Me A Planet.