Photosynthesis Under The Moonlight - Expansion to Photosynthesis Original Game- Family or Adult Strategy Board Game for 2 to 4 Players. Recommende...

I would normally write an extensive review for something like this, but others have so eloquently done so already (like Paul Bulger with whom I agree). I've been a gamer ever since I was in high school (almost 30 years ago). I've definitely played my share of games! I got my family into playing games, and we're always looking for the next fun, challenging game. This fits the bill! All the art work is beautiful. All the components are high quality and very well done. All four sets of trees are different and colored beautifully! You have Oak, Maple, Cedar/Evergreen, and one other deciduous tree with which I am not familiar. All the colors are brilliant and spectacular. My only quibble would be that a lot of the tree pieces do not fit together tightly (so they fall apart), but since this can be fixed with a very small dot of glue, I don't see it as a big concern (clarification: all the trees come in two pieces that you fit together perpendicularly so they will stand up). The theme is very fun and intriguing; growing your trees from seedlings to full grown large trees is enormous fun. Strategically placing your trees to get the most growth and light points provides just the perfect element of strategy and tactics to the game. The game is so intriguing, in fact, that my wife (who normally does not get involved in our gaming sessions) wanted to play the game over and over! For those of you who have not delved into the world of Euro-gaming, do not worry. I would put the rules complexity at around Monopoly. In fact, the rules are so easy to understand that our 7 year old daughter can play. The only thing is the strategy is more complex, so she had a hard time understanding where to place trees and why she would place them in those locations. Our 10 year old daughter had no issues with the strategy portion. The game box says for ages 8+. This is probably true if your 8 year old is especially sharp and observant, otherwise I would say 10+. Game time runs at around 45 - 70 minutes, but it seems to go very fast. Once everyone understands the rules, you could probably complete a game in 30 minutes. The game does allow you to extend the game one full "day" which adds another 15 minutes or so and changes the strategy a bit. You can play this game 2 player, but it does make it a bit too easy (too big of a play area with no interference from other players). My wife and I played several 2 player games. The game says to leave out the highest point (4-leaf) rewards -which only come from the middle of the board. Since you cannot reap the benefit of that space of the board, we decided to add a full grown, large tree (from a non-player color) to the center of the board (this affects light points and tree placement strategy). We also added 3 small trees in three of the outside ring (1-leaf) corners. Using the optional rule for tree growth along with these house rules made a VERY challenging 2-player game. Replayability is very good, but players do seem to settle into a set strategy once they know the game. If you on the fence on whether or not to get this game, don't! It is simply a stunning game with a very fun theme that will bring your family together for some fun moments!