''Broom Service'' is a role selection

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

Ravensburger Ravensburger AG is a German game and toy company, publishing house and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market. History The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began ...

. It won the 2015 Kennerspiel, the Spiel des Jahres connoisseurs game of the year award. It is an adaptation of Pelikan's 2008 card game Witches' Brew. In 2016, a card game version was published as ''Broom Service: The Card Game''.

Gameplay

Players assume the role of

druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

es and potion gatherers. Each player receives an identical deck of 10 cards, each representing a role. A potion gatherer card allows the player to collect green, orange, or purple potions along the game board path. A witch card allows the player to move the player's pawn, and a druid card allows the player to deliver potions to a nearby tower of the same colour as the potion. Each card has a 'brave' and 'cowardly' option, which is chosen by the player when it is played. There are seven rounds in a game, each of which has four turns and an event card that alters game play. Each round, players select four of their ten cards as their hand, and play occurs clockwise. The lead player of the round plays one of their cards and declares the option they have chosen. If the cowardly option is chosen, the player immediately takes the associated action, but if the brave option is chosen they must wait for other players to play their cards. Subsequent players may only play a card if it has the same name as the one played by the round's lead player, also declaring the option they have chosen; otherwise they pass their turn. The last player to play a card that turn and to declare the 'brave' option can perform the action associated with that option; all other players that chose 'brave' forfeit their action for that turn. This is repeated for each of the four cards in the hand for that round. Players earn

victory point In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide the player's actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, a ludeme is an element of play like the L-shap ...

s by delivering potions to the towers, or by collecting clouds.

Reception

In a review for Meeple Mountain, Kurt Refling states that the game is a "comfortable hour of scheming" and gave it his "highest recommendation". In a review for ''Paste'', Keith Law stated that the game was "visually appealing".

References

External links

Broom Service
at Ravensburger North America *{{bgg title, 172308, Broom Service Board games introduced in 2015 Kennerspiel des Jahres winners Ravensburger games