Who fancies a puzzling session of traditional Russian folk art painting? In Mezen, you step into the shoes of a Siberian artist and, using ochre and soot, create a beautiful painting. Is your painting OK(re) or only so so(oot)?
Each player receives a unique grid of tiles, with each side featuring images of various animals and trees. Mission cards are placed in the centre of the playing field. You can see the current mission as well as the mission for the next round, allowing you to prepare ahead. Each mission indicates how you should position certain tiles on your grid to score points that round. For example, a mission might require you to place a specific animal in the middle row or in the corners.
Players take turns naming a particular animal they wish to remove from their grid. The chosen group of corresponding, adjacent tiles is removed, and the remaining tiles in the grid slide downwards (just like in Connect Four). The removed tiles are then turned over and placed back as desired. You’ll notice the reverse side is not red but black, with different symbols, including the tree. The tree acts as a joker, allowing you to expand your group of tiles or connect two groups, so you can remove more tiles. You can also use amulets to make such connections, and these amulets can be used to remove other symbols apart from the chosen ones. Afterwards, you count your points based on the mission.
Whoever has scored the most points after ten rounds is crowned the finest Mezen artist! Mezen is a wonderful game with a beautiful theme, featuring gilded gameplay. A great game for people searching for something in the simple puzzle game category!
