Sagrada is a game of “dice drafting and window crafting” from Floodgate Games where players compete to construct a stained glass window masterpiece while gaining extra prestige through the completion of public and secret objectives and even calling upon the church for favours from time to time in order to achieve their goal.

Played in a series of 10 rounds, this abstract family game by Adrian Adamescu and Daryl Andrews sees players drafting dice from a central pool and adding them to the window grid on their lavishly illustrated player boards. Players are given two window cards during set-up and can choose a window pattern from the four available sides – they all offer different dice placement options and vary in complexity.

Each round the first player will draw two dice per player, plus one additional die and roll them (so seven dice in a three-player game, for example). They will then choose a die to add to their window – the drafting continues in a clockwise direction until the last player has completed their turn – the last player will then take another turn as the drafting direction shifts to anti-clockwise, ending on the first player who will be left with a choice of two dice.

Placement rules are such that a new die must be placed adjacent (either orthogonally or diagonally) to previously placed dice and no numbers of the same value or same coloured dice are ever allowed to sit orthogonally adjacent to each other. This presents a nice little special puzzle that some often compare to the popular number-placement puzzle, Sudoku.

Three public objectives are drawn at the start of each game and can give players extra points when achieved. These can relate to filling rows or columns with colour varieties or counting up numbers of shades in their window. Each player also has a private objective that gives them points equivalent to the visible dice pips on a specific colour of dice in their window.

Favour tokens can be spent on using tools – three of which are revealed during set-up – and these tools can give players special abilities that can aid them in times of need. But watch out, once a player has used a tool it becomes more expensive for subsequent use.

Sagrada has proved to be a popular family game, and despite being recommended for ages 13+ on the box, it can easily be enjoyed by children of a younger age. It is pretty simple and quick to play while being very engaging and fun.

Players: 1-4

Ages: 10+

Playing Time: 30-45 mins