Women have played a big role in the history of the world. In celebration of Women’s History Month, we were provided a copy of HerStory from Underdog Games to play and share our thoughts. Before playing this game, I hadn’t seen or heard much about it, so I did not know what to expect, other than it appeared educational.
HerStory Trivia:
- The game was designed with input from women educators
- Young girls were included in the research as student advisors
- A portion of game proceeds supports the Malala Fund
Game specs:
- Players: 2-5
- Playtime: 30-60 minutes
- Genre: Card Games, Set collection
- Publisher: Underdog Games
- Designers: Nick Bentley, Emerson Matsuuchi, Danielle Reynolds
- Artists: Eunice Adeyi, Cristina Aguirre
Components
Amazing and add to the enjoyment of the game, which sums up the components. Yes, they easily could have made this with simpler components, but the upgraded components included with this game make it a game that draws your attention. The theme may seem too educational for some, but the components make you want to play anyway.
The player token is a good size and shape for players to easily move, with no struggling to pick up a cardboard chit, and not easy to knock over. The cards (chapters) are of good cardstock quality. The player board and player aid assist with keeping your player space organized and clearing understanding of what you have and what you need.
The iconography on the chapters and research token are distinct and easy to see across the table. You may still need to pass a card to read the chapter’s bonus.
And finally, the game board isn’t a traditional card stock game board. This game comes with a gorgeous neoprene mat for the main game board. With most games, a neoprene mat is a significant upgrade. It elevates the game experience a little. As a bonus, the mat fits in the box. The box keeps everything organized very well. Kudos to whoever designed the storage!
Gameplay
Overview
In this game, you are working to write chapters in a book, each about a different famous woman. The game ends the round the player has completed their 8th chapter. After that, you add up the points and determine the winner.
On your turn you either do research (take a resource token), draft a chapter (reserve a card), or complete a chapter. Each completed chapter provides you with either ongoing or end-of-game powers. Player interaction is at a minimum in the game. Even if someone takes what you were hoping for, there are several other options and it shouldn’t completely halt your progression.
Theme and Immersion
Normally I do not read the flavor text on the cards, but with this Herstory, I wanted to stop and read them all. Between the illustrations and flavor text, it’s easy to be pulled into the theme of picking women to go in your book. In my first game, I made a book focused on women in physics and math. There is not a significant advantage to having a theme to your book, it just added to the experience for me.
Replayability
After the first game, I was ready to play Herstory again. The stack of women in history is sizable, so there are still many I haven’t seen. I also want to try different strategies for building my book. Additionally, I’m interested to see how the game plays at higher player counts (so far I’ve only played with 2-players), I’m curious to see if the cards cycle faster or if the strategy changes. I feel there is a good amount of replayability for this game.
Final Thoughts
Herstory is a gem. The rules and actions are simple, but the depth of decisions to make while drafting research tokens and chapters brings out a nice complexity to the game. You need to consider women to add to your book and what you want early in the game vs later for end-game scoring. Definitely, a game to consider adding to your collection.
Along with the game, Underdog games sent us a coupon code for you to use to get this $54 game for $19.19 in March of this year in honor of Women’s History Month.
Coupon Code
https://www.underdoggames.com/pages/herstory1919
Thank you to Underdog Games for providing a copy for us to review.