Review – Take Time: Mirage

Take Time is one of those games you have to play to truly understand, as the rulebook does very little to convince you of the fun inside. Play cards face down and pray they’re in order? That’s it? However, after seeing the game nominated for so many awards, I decided to bite, and I’m glad I did. Now Take Time has been expanded with Mirage, including a new sleeve of 4 clocks and a new “Rebirth” option. Let’s take a look!

While I’m not the one who wrote our review of Take Time, I played through the entire campaign with my spouse. Other than Clock 9-4 almost destroying my marriage, I thought the game was excellent. My only complaint really being that sometimes you’re just screwed before you even start without realizing it, due to only drawing half the cards. However, while we thoroughly enjoyed the campaign, we had zero desire to start again with the “Rebirth” options. So, when I first heard about Mirage, I had mixed feelings. It’s basically a “DLC” chapter, but was I wanting to go back to the game? 

Fortunately, I found an unexpected use for Mirage. I have a friend that is excellent at deduction games, who I’ve played through The Crew and the Lord of the Rings trick-taking games with, as well as a few rounds of Bomb Busters. I knew he’d love Take Time if I showed it to him, and probably buy it. I wanted to play the game in-depth with him, but no spoil the later chapters, because for me the real joy of the game was learning each new rule and being surprised at how simple and clever they were. 

So, in this case, I taught him the basic rules from the first sleeve by doing the very first and then the fourth clocks, and then we switched over to Mirage and played all four clocks. One took six tries, while the rest took one or two tries. It was about the difficulty of the third or fourth sleeve in the main game, which was perfect. I was able to demonstrate a “meaty” version of the game without spoiling anything.

As for the mechanics of Mirage, they were fine. It worked well, and was easy to understand, providing an interesting challenge. However, I found the concept of the Sand Bird far too similar to one of the later clocks, so it didn’t feel especially unique or interesting. If I had just played it through with my wife as a way to continue the game, I think it would have fallen flat. However, as an alternate introduction to the depth of the game, it works really well. However, it’s not an especially high value at $9.99; it’s basically 1/10th of the base game for 1/4th of the price. Still, for Take Time enthusiasts who have already gotten everything they can out of the main campaign, it’s worth picking up.