Love Formula: Lucky in Love is an expansion for Love Formula by Dylan Gwin, published by Japanime Games. It is for 2-4 players. In this expansion, players will have Chance encounters and set Relationship Goals for the couples that they will be trying to set up in order to gain Victory Points. In the end, the match maker that can score the most points will be declared the winner.
For more information about Love Formula and how the game is played, please check out the link below.
https://jlnelson73.wordpress.com/2020/04/09/love-formula-review/
To use this expansion, a few additions to the rules for setup must be made. First players must decide if they would like to use the Chance expansion, the #RelationshipGoals expansion or both. To setup the Chance expansion, the Chance cards are shuffled together and placed face down on the table. One player is chosen to reveal the first Chance card. To setup the #RelationshipGoals expansion, the Goal cards and VP cards are shuffled separately. A number of Goal cards are then placed face up on the table equal to the number of players plus 1. One VP card for each Goal card is drawn and placed face down below the Goal card. The remaining Goal and VP cards are set aside, not to be used. The rest of setup for both expansions are exactly the same as explained in the base game’s rulebook.
As noted above, this expansion consists of actually 2 expansions; the Chance expansion and the #RelationshipGoals expansion. Each one adds new card types to the game which can be used separately or together. At this time, I’d like to take a few moments and explain how each one works. First there’s the Chance cards. These are used during the Play phase and have no effect on the Draw phase. Before the start of each round of the Play phase, one player will reveal the top card of the Chance deck. In the first round, it is the player chosen during setup. After that, it is the next player in turn order going clockwise. Once revealed, players will follow the instructions on the card. The card is then discarded to the Chance card discard pile and the round is continued like normal. One thing should be noted, on some of these cards the text will affect “you”. When this is stated, it affects the player that revealed the card.
In the #RelationshipGoals expansion there are two card types; Goal cards and VP cards. Goal cards have a condition that must be met for the player to score the bonus victory points. There are two types of Goal cards; First Goals and Game End Goals. First Goals are Goal cards that are gained by being the first player to complete it’s requirements. Once the card’s requirements have been met, the player that accomplished it first scores the victory points for the card immediately. Game End Goals are Goal cards that are gained only at the end of the game. Any number of players can gain the victory points for these cards, as long as they have completed the card’s requirements. One thing to note about Goal cards, they are not replaced once they’ve been completed. VP cards show how many extra victory points the player earns for completing the Goal card above it. One VP card is randomly assigned to each Goal card and remains face down until the Goal card is claimed by a player.
As with the base game, winning the game is accomplished by having the most victory points. With this expansion, bonus points are awarded for completing Goal cards and gaining extra points from the VP cards.
COMPONENTS
This expansion actually consists of 2 expansions, both of which include a number of cards. The Chance expansion contains 28 cards, while the #RelationshipGoals contains 44 cards. All total there are 72 cards in the box. Each of the two included expansions have a bit of a different look. They both have different card backs but they are all the same quality and finish as those cards in the base game. The Chance cards are a bit more artistic and have several different anime style pieces of art to them. Everything from the sun setting over the water to a Japanese school girl in her uniform. Each of these cards adds a bit more of that unique charm that I really enjoyed in the base game. The #RelationshipGoals cards are a bit different. These don’t have any of that lovely artwork. Instead these are bright and colorful with large easy to read text boxes. The VP cards have a sparkly background with a large circle in the middle that contains a number of victory points to be earned. While I do wish these had a bit of that same artwork and style as the other cards, I sort of understand the desire to keep them a bit more simplistic. I will say that I like these designs surprisingly well. Needless to say, there’s not a whole lot of material that comes with this expansion, but what’s here does add a bit more style and theme to an already great looking game. Overall, I’m happy with the look and feel of these cards.
8 out of 10
RULEBOOK
The rulebook for this expansion is very small, like the size of a playing card small. It’s also not very long. With only a few pages in it, it’s very easy to read through and understand all the rules to include either or both of the expansions into the game. It only has a couple of small pictures and examples inside but that’s more than enough to get a real feel for the game. Each of the new card types are explained in detail with diagrams explaining what each part of the card does. Like the core game rule book, this only takes a few minutes to read through. The book includes several variants to the rules, mostly dealing with the VP cards. Unfortunately I’m still waiting on a set of solo rules for the game. Maybe that’ll be in the next expansion. As it is, the expansion rulebook is well designed and easy to understand. I’m quite happy with it.
9 out of 10
GAMEPLAY
Looking over the list of components, it would appear that there’s not a whole lot that this expansion adds, however that would be incorrect. This little box actually adds quite a bit in terms of gameplay. The Chance cards play a lot like random event cards and can change things up during the game. The Goal cards give players something to aim for besides just using their own cards to create matches. On top of that, the VP cards give players more points to add to their totals. For me, this just adds more flavor and variety into an already beautifully fun game. With the expansion, players are able to add just one expansion or both to their game. Honestly I see no reason why players wouldn’t choose to add both every single time they play. Including both of these doesn’t change the game mechanics that much and doesn’t add that much more to setting things up either. To me it’s simply a no brainer to use both. I will most definitely play with both everytime. For such a cute and fun game, this is a great expansion that I’m glad to have. Fans of the core game will no doubt want to own this one as well. For everything that it adds, this is most definitely a must have expansion. I highly recommend this one.
9 out of 10
OVERALL
Love Formula: Lucky in Love is an expansion for Love Formula that adds two separate expansions to an already cute and fun game. The two expansions can be added to the game separately or together, however it doesn’t add any additional play time. In fact, most game sessions are still around 30 minutes. The cards for the expansion look really good and add to the charm of an already charming game. I will say that I like the artwork on the Chance cards a bit more though. The rulebook is fairly small but is simple to read through. It also includes a few variants that can change up the game a little bit. The expansion itself is a lot of fun and is one that I would definitely not play the game without. In fact, I would recommend playing with both the Chance cards, as well as the Goal and VP cards. It adds enough in terms of gameplay to warrant playing with both. I really enjoy this expansion and feel that it is a definite must have for owners of Love Formula. This is one that I would highly recommend. Don’t take a Chance, make owning a copy of this expansion your Goal today.
9 out of 10
For more information about this and other great games, please check out Japanime Games at their site.
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