Polyominoes meet poker hands meet engine building.
Sounds awesome, doesn’t it?
That’s what I had sitting in front of me with CENTI, a print-and-play created by Florian Fiedler.
After having a fantastic run with Echoes of Tomorrow and Rooftop Roses, I finally embarked on the third and final game from the first-ever PnP Bundle, launched by my friends Chris Backe and Florian Fiedler.
And this one is all mechanics, as Florian went straight in and fused three of my favorite things (cards x Tetris x engine building) without adding any story or narrative to the mix.
This... might just be a pure mechanical beast!
What’s CENTI about?
You begin with five cards laid out in a market, drafting one at a time to gradually build poker hands.
Pair. Straight. Full House. Four of a Kind. You know the drill.
But every card also represents a different polyomino shape, which you’ll draw inside one of the sections on your Bonus Sheet.
Complete a section, and you’ll unlock something handy. You may gain an ability to manipulate the market, increase the value of certain cards, or multiply the score of a particular poker hand.
In solo mode, you continue drafting and scoring until the deck runs out, trying to build the highest score possible.
Sounds simple enough. Until you start looking at what each card can actually do.
What do I need?
Not much, really.
A standard deck of 52 playing cards, the Reference Sheet, the Bonus Sheet, and something to mark them with. That’s it!
You can laminate both sheets and use a dry-erase marker, but regular printouts and a pen will do the job just fine.
I spent the past few days playing CENTI, and here’s what I found:
Card vs Shape
Do I need the card... or its shape?
This is a question that will buzz in your head throughout the game!
Maybe I need the King sitting in the market to complete a Full House. But the 9 beside it gives me the exact L-shaped piece required to finish a section on my Bonus Sheet. So, which one do I take?
Sometimes the card and its shape work perfectly together. Other times, I found myself drafting a card that did absolutely nothing for my poker hand simply because its polyomino fit exactly where I needed it.
That little tug-of-war makes every market far more puzzly than it first appears.
Drafted the 10, then marked its corresponding polyomino on the Bonus Sheet.
Take a card. Discard another.
Solo mode adds another crunch to every draft.
Whenever you take a card, the card immediately to its right is discarded from the market. The only exception is the card sitting at the far-right end.
So, grabbing the card you need may also remove the card you were planning to take next.
That means you’re considering not only what your chosen card gives you, but also the opportunity you’ll sacrifice by taking it. Lovely little Opportunity Cost moments in almost every turn!
One solo turn: drafted the 10, discarded the Ace beside it, then marked the 10’s matching polyomino on the Bonus Sheet.
The recipe for spectacular poker hands
The Bonus Sheet isn’t simply there to hand out occasional rewards. It gradually shapes the scoring engine you’re building.
You may start increasing the value of Kings. Then perhaps you unlock a multiplier for Straight Flush. Complete another section, and watch that multiplier climb even higher.
For example, a regular Full House may begin at 10 points. But add upgraded cards, multiply the entire hand, and that respectable score can quickly turn into something absolutely spectacular. I’ve had a single hand cross 70 points!
So, you’re not only thinking about the best poker hand you can make right now. You’re also planning a few rounds ahead, deciding which card values and hand types to invest in so they can eventually work together.
That’s the real recipe here: think a few rounds ahead, build the hand, build the right bonuses around it, then watch the points pile up.
Scored a Full House with a x2 multiplier for 20 points!
Poker is only part of the deal
Sometimes you draft for the hand. Sometimes you draft for the shape. And sometimes you draft simply to avoid burning something far more valuable.
While at it, you’re building an engine against a deck that keeps thinning with every turn, as most drafts remove two cards from circulation. So, every decision also eats into the limited time you have to turn all those cards, shapes, and bonuses into points.
That fusion is what gives CENTI its groove. Poker hands may handle the scoring, but the puzzly placement, disappearing opportunities, escalating bonuses, and ever-shrinking deck make sure they’re never the only thing on your mind.
CENTI is available as part of the first-ever PnP Bundle, alongside Echoes of Tomorrow and Rooftop Roses.
If polyomino puzzling, poker-hand building, and cooking up some spectacular scoring combos sound like your kind of jam, check out CENTI and the complete bundle!
- Tas.
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