I can sense the future. I sense that Soothsayers is going to be one of my favourite new-to-me games in 2026. I had not heard of the game prior to playing it. The theme and the art are a little quirky. The backstory is mumbo jumbo to me. However the gameplay completely took me by surprise. I would say there is nothing particularly ground breaking, yet the whole package just works amazingly well. This is so much fun. This is a game from Play to Z, and Zev Shlasinger (who founded Z-Man Games) is the key man behind this relatively new publishing house. Zev has always had an excellent touch in picking wonderful games for publication.

 

 

The goal in the game is to win a certain number of Fate tokens (depending on the number of players). Everyone starts with four Level-1 cards which define your strength when you perform the four possible actions in the game. During the game, you can upgrade your cards, making your actions more powerful. Let’s talk about these four actions. The first action type is to earn money. When you have enough money, this action also allows you to buy a Fate token. Only a limited number of Fate tokens are available to be purchased like this. Whenever anyone buys one, the price increases significantly. When you upgrade this particular action, you can earn more money when you perform this action. 

 

Another action you can perform is to claim cards from a central pool. Cards come in four colours representing the four action types, and they are numbered from 2 to 6. When you upgrade this action, you get to claim more cards from the pool. The third action is to use these cards to upgrade your actions. You play cards onto your four stacks of action cards. Normally cards must be stacked in strict ascending order. However you can pay to skip a level. It’s not cheap, but sometimes you need to do this. Upgrading this action means you can play more cards per action. 

 

The last action is to capture Tarot cards. These are powerful cards also found in the central pool. Each has a unique power. You start the game with one such Tarot card in hand too. To capture a Tarot card, you can pay a combination of money and other normal cards. The values of the normal cards is your currency too. A Tarot card is linked to one or more action types, and when you capture one, you must put it next to one of your four action stacks. 

 

 

Two other ways you gain Fate tokens are when you have the highest normal card or the highest Tarot card associated with an action type, compared to other players. Now these Fate tokens are temporary, because once anyone else overtakes you and has a even higher card, he takes that Fate token away from you. To secure these tokens, you will need to be first to reach the highest available number of that action type. 

 

Actions are not taken in simple turn order. Soothsayers uses a lead-and-follow mechanism, like Puerto Rico and Glory to Rome. The active player picks an action type to perform, and everyone else has the option of following (i.e. taking a usually weaker version of the action, depending on how strong your own action is) or passing to earn money. 

 

 

In this example above, after I upgrade my Ascend action (for upgrading cards) to Level 2, when I perform the Ascend action I can upgrade three times. However if I follow others’ Ascend actions, I can only upgrade once. 

 

 

 

Those purple triangles with an eye are the Fate tokens. When you have the currently highest normal card or Tarot card, you place a Fate token on it. 

 

On BoardGameArena.com it is easy to see who has the highest normal card and Tarot card in each of the four action types. The Fate tokens are represented by the purple aura. 

 

I enjoy the gameplay because I feel that everything I can do is important, and I want to do them all. Money is good, because when you buy a Fate token, it is secured and it can’t be taken away from you. Gaining Fate tokens in other ways are not entirely secure until you reach the top level and no one else can overtake you. Even then, there are card powers which let others steal your token when they are tied with you. Being able to draft cards from the centre of the table is important too. Without cards, you cannot upgrade your actions. You also need cards to pay for Capturing Tarot cards. And then there’s the Ascend action – upgrading your actions. Of course it’s a good idea to upgrade them. Your future actions become more powerful. You will be much more efficient. Doing upgrades also may give you a Fate token, if you are strongest in any action type. And then finally the Capturing, i.e. claiming Tarot cards. These cards may give you Fate tokens, and often their powers will help you a lot too. These are your unfair advantages in the game. 

 

In my first game, I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to do, and I chose to buy Fate tokens with money early. That helped a lot, because these tokens were secured, and I didn’t need to worry about them getting stolen afterwards. In my second game, because I was first player, I knew that if I pursued this again, no one could stop me. This was first player advantage. However, now that we were all no longer new to the game, going early into buying Fate tokens was not necessarily the best strategy. It meant I delayed claiming cards and upgrading my actions. There is a compounding effect to this. When others started upgrading earlier than me, they actions became stronger earlier, and thus they continued to upgrade their actions more efficiently than me. I had two early and secured Fate tokens, but I fell behind in everything else. Well, I’m glad I experimented with this “unstoppable” strategy and I’m happy to report it doesn’t work when your opponents know what they are doing. 

 

In some ways this is a race game. You are racing to upgrade your actions to the max, because that’s the only way to secure your Fate tokens. You are also racing to claim the Tarot cards. Most have nifty powers and will help you greatly. Tarot cards can have one to four suits. Only when you buy them you need to decide which suit to use. That means they give flexibility in competing for Fate tokens. There is an ebb and flow when players fight for Fate tokens. You are kept on your toes. I like that feeling of becoming more and more powerful. As you upgrade your actions, you can do more and more. There is an acceleration in the game which is exhilarating. When you make good use of your Tarot cards, you feel like a god. 

 

One thing I like to do is to claim the highest card early, the number 6. If I grab it early, it helps me in eventually reaching the top. However at the same time I also know this is not a guarantee, because there are two 6’s in each suit. Another element that makes the Ascending competition less predictable is that players can spend $5 to skip a level if they don’t have the right card. $5 is expensive in the early game, but later on it’s not too high a price to pay. Denying opponents cards can help, but it is not a guarantee. 

 

Now I find the theme endearing. It’s quirky. The topic isn’t something I’m particularly interested in or attracted to. However I like that a game I enjoy has an unusual theme and not yet another overused theme.