Journey Adventure Quest: How Does Equipment Stack Up?
Head out on an exciting adventure to battle monsters with items that constantly upgrade in Journey Adventure Quest.
My husband often finds board games I might never look into, and Journey Adventure Quest was one of them. Yet with an included solo mode, I was actually kind of excited! It arrived the other day, and I decided it wasn’t going to delay its journey to my table. Ha ha! Just looking at the artwork and general idea of stacking cards made me eager to play!
Game Overview
Game Name: Journey Adventure Quest
Publication Year: 2023
Designers: Brandon Beam, Tommy Noel, and Jesse Stacy
Artists: Cole Munro-Chitty and Emilyn Noel
Publisher: Triceratops Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Over the course of 6 days, journey cards are drafted and purchased to add to equipment slots. Monsters provide ever-expanding challenges, with the mechanic of stacking cards making the final monster very dangerous! It all moves quickly with adventures and quests to complete.
First Play
June 28, 2023
Complexity
2
Latest Play
July 25, 2024
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
6
Play Time
25 Minutes
High Score
91
Game Area
42" x 24"
Low Score
45
Easy Card Names
The name of the game might seem generic, yet it perfectly describes the different card decks! It’s all about… JAQ. Ha!
My big mistake during setup was in not leaving enough space for the items. Seen here are the bottom cards to start stacking things like helmets, weapons, and spells.
This is not the way to do it! As I’ll show in a moment, cards stack and splay a little bit in a really cool way. But this means you need a bit more space to make it all work.
It’s actually a fairly straightforward game without going overboard with the components and mechanics. Excellent!
From Dawn to Dusk
In general, 2 days are played before battling 1 of 3 monsters. In this way, a full play takes place over 6 days.
During a day, cards are drafted in order from dawn to dusk. There are fun decisions, costs to consider, bonuses to think about, and the solo opponent to work against.
Some cards award extra bonuses for being placed at a certain time, but this is always a tough decision to make!
Additionally, personal adventures form general goals to work towards for victory points. There are also shared quests, which can be competitive or non-competitive.
A Menacing Hatchling
The level 1 monster in play was this almost adorable hatchling… But not with that attitude! Menacing. Ha ha!
I had to match or exceed its health in attack and have enough knowledge to defeat it. Shields would help against its own attack, too. Menacing hatchlings are dangerous!
In addition to the usual rewards, loot cards are an optional module. Each monster has a corresponding piece of loot that looks at which player has the most of something.
To pick up these menacing gold pauldrons, I would need to have more attack than the solo opponent. Neat!
Simple but Fun Drafts
A total of 8 journey cards are used during every draft phase. Most of these are face-up, yet a single card is placed face-down to take a chance… Good luck. Ha!
Decisions pass back and forth, with the solo opponent using a small deck of cards to randomize its priorities.
These choices aren’t easy! Equipment, spells, and consumables may have permanent or temporary abilities.
It’s important to look at the costs in the upper right, too. A card can always be discarded for 2 coins, but that means less stacking in the tableau. Definitely not a great idea!
Doing a Little More with Familiar Mechanics
Item slots and upgraded equipment are some fairly common aspects of many games. However, I really enjoyed the twist here with the way cards stack! It’s a simple enough premise, yet it feels thematically and mechanically appropriate. The very start of each play featured… Nothing. And by the end, I had some very fancy card stacks!
One of the big reasons why I enjoyed the game so much came with that familiarity. I quickly understood the concepts presented in the rulebook, recognizing a lot of ideas from other games. But that isn’t to say this didn’t feel unique, for it certainly has its own flavor! Being able to recall that knowledge can be very useful for learning new solo games.
It also explains why more experience and more games can make it quicker to pick up new rulesets. That doesn’t hold true all the time, yet it’s nice to see the similarities. Each game I play teaches just a little bit more that I might be able to use down the line. Absolutely a great time, particularly when a game turns out to be a fun experience!
The Crimson Knight
If you have the game, the solo rules are actually mixed in the deck. The rules are generally the same as a 2-player game, though, so it’s just a matter of finding the cards!
This means that there is a solo opponent to operate who collects and uses resources, but I didn’t find this to be a problem. Everything moved quickly with little downtime.
I also thought that there was a challenge, despite the fact that the Crimson Knight chose random cards.
Having 5 personal adventures and gaining bonuses during each round seemed to help balance everything out nicely.
Now That’s a Yeti!
With the way all of the similar cards stack, monsters get progressively more difficult during each battle. The cool part of this is the way descriptors make them unique!
This level 3 monster wasn’t merely a shrouded yeti. That right there is a menacing, enraged, shrouded yeti! All of the icons stack together, too, for lots of danger.
Final battles are obviously the most difficult, yet this makes sense since equipment is always being upgraded.
I found myself completely engrossed with gameplay, barely stopping to take any photos. That’s a good time!
Stacking Equipment
All of the different equipment or item slots correspond with a specific type, and it’s easy to see what goes where with the clear iconography. The trick is in the order…
During a card draft with some of the same equipment, it’s vital to figure out which of those should stack underneath any others. For example, angelic or lunar on top?
However, the Crimson Knight is always set to strike! So there are a lot of choices and limited planning possible.
I found these rounds to be a lot of fun as I balanced what I needed against the risks I could take with other items.
A Full Play Area
My first play resulted in a resounding victory by quite a high threshold, but I was quickly put back in my place when I lost by a single victory point the next time!
This is an example of what a lot of the equipment stacks will look like at the end. Lots of needed room, yet it’s well worth it for the cool names and added descriptors.
Tokens also provide temporary benefits, but are lost after each monster battle. Yet another interesting strategy!
And don’t forget about spells that stack a little differently… There is an example just barely visible!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Non-Competitive with Monster Loot
Outcome: 91-72, 69-70 (1 Win & 1 Loss)
I encountered the yeti again, but it was much different with the previous monsters! This was a pleasant surprise. My initial disappointment with using less than half of the journey cards may be solved with a rulebook variant that allows for all cards to be utilized. Good idea? Maybe, and maybe not. Yet I’m excited to try this out some more and make sure there is some more variability in my items!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
8
Originality
Design & Theme
5
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
4
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
4
+ Pros (Positives)
- There is a unique and whimsical style to the artwork, which has a lot of detail on many of the card elements.
- Flavor text is only present on the adventure and quest cards, yet it adds a little humor and personality to each play.
- Stacking equipment offers a clear and simple way to constantly upgrade items and think through the order.
- Gameplay moves very quickly with little down time to manage the solo opponent’s turn, cards, and resources.
- The choice of the competitive or non-competitive mode is a simple setup change that can customize the game.
- Drafting cards is filled with important decisions, yet the overall mechanics are easy to learn and understand.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Almost all of the iconography is easy to read from far away, but some of the negative effects are harder to see.
- Tiny text is used throughout the rulebook, which would otherwise be an excellent example of teaching the game.
- The play area requires a lot of space, and the setup instructions don’t provide an accurate depiction of this.
- For just 1-2 players, the journey card set is pretty limited, using almost every card during each play.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 60%
Goals and Milestones
Complete all 3 adventure cards in at least 1 game.
Defeat all 3 monsters in at least 1 game.
Win at least 1 game with the non-competitive mode.
Score the highest for all 3 quest cards in at least 1 game.
Win all 3 monster loot cards in at least 1 game.
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about Journey Adventure Quest? Are there other solo games that involve stacking cards to collect more icons? This was a great first session and I can see how the different elements create lots of interesting combinations. I still want to see what it’s like using the cards for 3-6 players, but that just makes me more excited to dig in some more!
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