Point of View: Circus Island

This is a microgame. This was given away for free at the 2024 Essen game fair. I should call this a brochure game, because it was given away by a guy walking the halls just like how brochures are given away. It's an advertisement. It's a free sample. Maybe this should be called a sample game. The idea is if you like the sample game, you'll visit the publisher's booth to try other games or buy the main game. 

These are all the game components - that small deck of cards above. Even the "game box" is just a folded card. This is a cooperative game. The key idea is four players are looking at the same scene but from different angles - north, south, east and west. Due to the different perspectives, what they can and cannot see are different, and they have different understandings about the situation they are looking at. The players are given several questions which they must answer together. They each get one card which they have to study and cannot share with others. They can only discuss what they see on their card. The more answers you get right, the higher you score. 

Point of View: Circus Island is just a demo game. The story is about a circus troupe stranded on an island. This photo above shows the perspective of the player to the north of the island. The three other players get different pictures. A question posed to the players may ask them to count a certain item. Some are only seen by only one player and blocked from view from the others. The player who can see it must alert their teammates. Some items might be visible to two or more players. When counting these, you have to be careful not to count them twice. Some questions may ask you about what you think has happened. You will need to look at clues in the pictures to piece together what might have occurred. 

This is a puzzle game and everyone works together to solve it. Everyone must contribute, because you are the only one who can see your picture. The copy I have is in German, so I needed to use my phone to translate while I played. If this sounds interesting to you, go look up their main game.