Supply and demand. Sustainability. Healthy ecosystems. There’s an ebb and flow in certain industries that rely on the natural world to provide success. Survival of the fittest is not just about domination—it’s about thoughtfully maintaining a species and a way of life.
The solo-only bag-building game Conservas, designed by Scott Almes and published by 25th Century Games, asks you to experience this way of life. Reaching goals of profit by way of mindful process and conservation. Such is the life for those fishing the waters off Spain and Portugal.
Gameplay Overview:
Play begins by selecting a month to play in the market book, which runs from January to December. Each month features different marine animal types, setup, and goals. Goals typically require specific money and sustainability requirements by end game, though some also require specific numbers of boats or upgrades to be purchased along the way.
Tokens are added to the bag, these could be water, sardine, mussel, scallop, or octopus, based on setup instructions. For example, January asks you to add five sardines, five scallops, and ten water tokens. As such, this becomes the ecosystem for that month. You begin with money and a starting boat as well.
Each round has three phases. During Phase 1: At Sea, five tokens are drawn from the bag for each boat and the always-present Open Water card. Each boat has a printed catch amount that requires you to keep a specific number of tokens out of the bag economy. A boat may have space for three tokens, and you can determine which you want to keep. The other two, in this example, would go into the open water below the boat. Tokens drawn for the Open Water card (and any open water areas below boats) return to the bag at the end of the round.
Phase 2: On Land is all about converting your catch into upgrades and money. Each month features a different market based on the marine animals in play. Selling to the market and thus turning these animals into conservas (canned seafood delicacies) removes these tokens from the bag permanently. Thus, your available options begin to thin out.
Money can be spent at this time to buy new boats for your fleet. Each boat has an initial cost and features its maximum catch. Upgrade cards can also be added to your tableau, but these require you to spend your catch tokens, so they must be selected carefully to improve your efficiency throughout the game.
Phase 3: End of Day is when you pay for boat upkeep. Upkeep costs range from zero to two per boat. If unable to pay, the boat must be returned to the supply. Marine animals also spawn during this phase based on how many are present in open waters. You add the total of a specific animal and subtract one and then add that many new animals into the bag. This becomes the way that you maintain the ecosystem for the next round.
Game Experience:
Solo bag building is a lot of fun. And Conservas tackles this with a wonderful setting and theme. During play, you truly feel the weight of the decision space regarding what to catch and what to release. Goals are transparent, the demand and supply are also, and every attempt to make money or upgrade your operation pulls at your accessibility to future profit.
Each month has a specific direction, and the markets may have new conditions to consider. These get considerably more difficult as the months progress by limiting your options, asking for specific seafood prior to others, and/or having you build in specific patterns. Each market space has a payout value associated with it, too. Some months even provide new wrinkles via the round tracker, asking you to pay upkeep or add more water to the bag.
Variation exists from month to month. Yet it’s the gameplay loop that can stagnate a bit as you play through the full game. The financial and sustainability goals do help with this, as does the need for specific numbers of boats or upgrades, but it is this area where the game feels too safe. You draw, you distribute, you purchase and spawn, you repeat.
The illustration and graphic design are great. Kudos to Jorge Tabanera Redondo and João Duarte-Silva. Each card looks great, including the backs of the cards, which are designed to look like tin cans. Such a great touch. Each boat features an inspired, unique name. And the upgrade cards feel relevant to the theme, even if they are not always great mechanically for your current situation.
The system here has potential for additional market books or even new settings/themes. Maybe a multi-player option? With that said, I truly think the conservation angle on display here does an excellent job of melding everything together. It does feature a bit of luck of the draw, and it does require some mental acuity related to what’s in the bag (as you are not supposed to look!). I’m not certain that it is going to be a game that lives beyond its twelve-month puzzle, though.
Final Thoughts:
Fight the urge to catch-them-all! Conservas is a fine example of sustainability through purposeful action. It doesn’t take up too much table space, and it looks great too. You are on the hook if you lose, though. Overfish and you’ve doomed the ecosystem and your community. It does not explicitly state this on the box, but these are the stakes in every session. Yet this is a pleasant solo puzzle. Some months are too easy; some take some time to solve. It’s a pleasant time on the open seas. Just don’t get too greedy.
Final Score: 3.5 stars – A successful self-contained commentary on sustainability told through bag-building.
Hits:
• Bag building decisions
• Well-considered puzzles
• Components and illustrations
Misses:
• Gameplay loop lacks variation
• Certain month goals are too easy
• Upgrades can be hit or miss
