1st player wins

[Tobilerone29]

Have I got the strategy all wrong? If I complete a square on the same turn as the other player in a 2 player game, they'll get the higher bonus since they go before me. Is there a way to take 1st player from them?

[cosmosis]

It sounds like you're playing games where both people are just going for completing squares one at a time?

Maybe try the strategy of expanding to a lot of squares quickly and then filling them in. You might lose out a little on statues, but you'll get more points from being able to reach trucks and bulldozers first.

I find the game is a little straightforward if you play without goals too. I'd add those if you haven't already.

A lot of games players who aren't first at the beginning will finish the map first since they managed a more efficient path throughout the game.

[Terryfic]

I found a great tutorial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whLywB_JTQk

[cjr]

I think the first player has a decent advantage in 2p, probably about 4-5 points on average with or without objectives. There are some cases when starting with a smaller piece forces the hand on the first turn (e.g. if there is a panda objective, it is often not beneficial to take an N piece as first player as it can severely limit the options on consecutive turns. Bidding for first player is probably the most fair solution which is not "hacky", but I know it has never been proposed as part of the official rules.

Objectives can make the benefit for the first player larger, e.g. if there is an objective for a single bear type, the first player has a decent chance of locking out the 2nd player from that objective altogether.

[cctsai]

I think the first player has a decent advantage in 2p, probably about 4-5 points on average with or without objectives. There are some cases when starting with a smaller piece forces the hand on the first turn (e.g. if there is a panda objective, it is often not beneficial to take an N piece as first player as it can severely limit the options on consecutive turns. Bidding for first player is probably the most fair solution which is not "hacky", but I know it has never been proposed as part of the official rules.

Objectives can make the benefit for the first player larger, e.g. if there is an objective for a single bear type, the first player has a decent chance of locking out the 2nd player from that objective altogether.

Hope the bidding thing will be executed one day! And thanks a lot for sharing your expert opinion

Do you still hold the same opinion, and do you know if it is a "common sense" among experts? It's a bit sad that such a beautiful game has this discrepancy

[Nikoz2021]

Yeah in board games the 1st player always wins.

[Mio1Kenobi]

At two players, it certainly does feel like the 1st player advantage is too great. I haven't tried playing with more players, but I imagine it's the same. Depending on which achievements are used, it can really be a killer.

For me, at 2 players, Patchwork would be the preferred game to play. Specifically the Halloween version, as it has re-balanced patches, based on app data, to eliminate the first player advantage that the original has.

[wodan46]

Wonder how the game would play if covering a Construction Crew caused 1st player to rotate to you.

Overall though I'm not sure how much it matters. 1st player will be able to win a race for any specific thing, but the 2nd player can pursue other things. 1st player will also have slightly less flexibility and slightly slower on an even turn basis, given them being shorted one square on turn 1.

[DoubleFox]

I can confirm that being the first player is by far the most advantageous in a two-player game.
Not only is the first player to take the white zone tiles and the objectives tiles, which are worth two or three more points than the next player who takes them, but also, from experience in arena mode, if the second player completes the board before the first one, the first player can still take an extra turn, meaning one more turn than the second player. This seems very unbalanced to me.

[loungelizard24]

I just lost. And I was first player in a 2 player game. So first player does not always win.