Parfum has players creating a selling perfumes.

Can you gather all of the ingredients?

Parfum takes place in the wonderful world of fragrances. Using ingredients like vanilla, lavender, or violets, you distil precious essences in order to create unique perfumes. Only the player catering to their clientele’s preferences will be able to sell their perfume.

Parfum Game Overview

Players choose a wake up time starting with the player with the least money. These determine turn order and how many actions the player will have on their turn.

In turn order, players will ‘Prepare Distillation’ spending their actions:

• Fill an empty fragrance note space with a tile from the bag
• Take an aroma die from the market
• Take a water tile from the fountain, and put it on your fountain

They then ‘Distil’ by rolling all the aroma dice you took.

You can discard a water tile to re-roll all flies of one colour or to reroll all of your dice. You can discard 2 water tiles to flip one die to the flask symbol.

Then they ‘Compose Fragrance Notes’ by spending rolled flasks to claim fragrance note tiles from the distillery.

They gain the money value as they take each tile.

If a small (2 tile) bottle is completed, place 2 wooden flacons above it, 3 if it’s a large (3 tile) bottle.

Then, sell perfumes. Each player in turn order may do one of:

Sell 1 flacon to a customer who has the desired notes in the perfume they’re selling, sell 1 flacon at discount price or pass

How do you win?

Draw fragrance tiles from the bag and replenish the board, if there are not enough tiles to fill all spaces the game ends immediately.

At the end of the game, most money wins!

Main Mechanisms

Action point allowance is the biggie. You’re then using that to draft and collect sets as well as push your luck a little on the rolling.

USP

Not much unique from my point for view, even in 2015 when this game was released.

Theme

Making ‘a thing’ and selling ‘the thing’ to people that require ‘the thing’ has been done and will continue to be done.

Perfum is one of the rarer products used in board games I believe.

Setup

Stuff out, dice out, things in bag, done.

Components & Artwork

Very standard queen games, bang average. The bottles are nice through.

The iconography is clear.

Ease of Teaching

This s a very straight-forward game with very few rules and everything is open information.

No issues here.

Similar Games

I always find this section difficult when the game doesn’t have any standout points.

Any mid-weight euro is good. Or any light-midweight game like Harmonies.

Turn order based on when you wake up reminds me of Viticulture. But that’s a stretch.

Parfum Review

Positives

I always enjoy a game that has a turn order system that also determines what, or how much, you can do on a turn.

The tension to snag the best customers and dice is real, and that’s where turn order comes into it again.

When you roll well it’s very satisfying…

Negatives

..if you don’t it’s frustrating.

It looks 10 years older than it is, and it’s 10 years old now.

It doesn’t do enough to stand out.

Summary

Meh!

Jesta ThaRogue