Last modified April 30, 2025 by Jarjar

Overview
Following a series of misfortunes that ravaged civilization, societies across the world are rebuilding in harmony with nature. Rebirth, the latest creation from the renowned Reiner Knizia, offers a tile placement game that seems quite simple. Each turn, players draw a single tile from their reserve and place it on the board. These tiles symbolize their clan's contribution to rebuilding the country. The challenge lies in the complete freedom of placement: without any restrictions, the entire board is open to you, offering multiple possibilities. Players familiar with Kingdom Builder will recognize a certain resemblance to Kingdom Builder.

AUTHOR FACT
Reiner Knizia is one of the world's most prolific and renowned board game designers, creating over 700 published games throughout his decades-long career.

First impressions
We played our first game with friends last week on the Ireland map. The game features two different maps (Scotland and Ireland), each with its own specific rules, and the Irish one is definitely the more complex of the two. My first observation from the first round: oh wow, where do I put my tile? Because as mentioned above, we have access to everything, absolutely everything without restrictions. Several good choices are available to us, including the possibility of interrupting the development of a promising opposing farm or blocking access to precious bonus tiles =). You also have to plan according to the 8 revealed objectives (specific to this map), which are more profitable for the first players to complete them, thus creating a constant tension that pushes us to carefully monitor our opponents' progress and adapt our strategy accordingly. Some tiles you place will be profitable (especially when farms expand), while others will prove to be unprofitable. So you have to choose wisely.
And visually, the game is splendid, especially when the board fills up at the end of the game!

I played a second game earlier this week with my wife and son, on the Scotland map this time. Indeed, this map is easier to approach than Ireland, but still very pleasant to play, because on this one, we start with no initial objectives, we will acquire them slowly during the game, and they will only be personal objectives. I led a good game thanks to my farms which grew without being blocked, but the castle count made all the difference, my son controlling 10 castles (therefore 50 points), caught up with us and escaped with the victory.

The rules in French are available here and I translated the cards here.

TECHNICAL SHEET
Number of games played: 2
Best player configuration: 3-4
Level: Family + (BGG Complexity: 1.99)
Price paid: CAD 79
My best score: 195

MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS
 I loved :
>> Access to the entire plateau.
>> the little dirty tricks against our opponents.
>> Quick to explain, less easy to master.
>> Great presence on the table, especially in the late game with all the castles and cathedrals (Scotland).
>> 2 cards that provide two ways to play! I like that both sides of the board are used.
>> The pieces are made of rewood (used for the first time in Kutna Hora), always pleasant to handle!

 I liked less:
>> My opponents' dirty tricks 🙂
>> The score markers, same design as the tiles we place, I would have preferred something different.

Impressive after more than 700 games published that the author still manages to surprise us, he is surely well surrounded 😉 Beautiful production, a fast and fun game, offering often heartbreaking choices.

FUN FACTOR 🙂 🙂 🙂 : )