2015 · (Web published)
Brewin' USA is a thematic Eurogame in which players control a start-up brewery at the inception of the craft beer revolution. Players will need to collect key ingredients, launch a product line of "liquid gold" craft beer, and strategically compete for regional control across the nation.
A game turn consists of three phases: Ingredient Auction, Launching Beers, and Resolving any Brewfests. During the Auction Phase, players compete for the ingredient cards needed to launch their beer via a turn-based bidding system. Any bids entered are then turned into craft beer "market demand" that is dispersed at the discretion of the players making each play through unique and delivering many interesting decisions. Each beer card has an ingredient recipe that must be satisfied before the beer can be brewed and one of six different beer styles that tailor better to certain cities which will be key when competing for regional control. When a player brews a beer, they must choose to control an open city location or challenge an controlled city to a brewfest where the winner of the brewfest will control the city. If any player controls the most cities in a region at the end of the game, then they control the region. The game ends when the first player brews three beers, and points are then totaled counting beer quality and reputation on cities and any regions you control.
Brewin' USA aims to deliver a quick strategic euro experience paired with a very approachable theme and thrives on its player interaction. The game play revolves around Beer Coaster tiles delivering new twists on fun mechanisms and components including 105 Bottle caps to be used for both money and victory points. The player interaction comes from the Brewfest event in the game, which ramps us as more players grow their craft beer product lines and are chomping to establish their control in the regions.
