Gnome Hollow Components Overview and Impressions

Gnome Hollow was one of the must-have titles from GenCon 2024, and I’m still not sure whether that was because of the gameplay or because of the magnetic player board and pieces. I wasn’t able to get to GenCon this year, but this would have been on my list of games to pick up – thankfully, The OP sent over a copy of the game to review, so let’s dive in and see what comes in the box!

Gnome Hollow will have players playing tiles down to the table, collecting mushrooms, moving their gnomes, and attempting to collect points. In my opinion, there is a certain quality expected from tile laying games – players are handling the the tiles so much, and they are randomly placed into a draw bag as well, so having them at a certain thickness is pretty important.

I would argue that in a blind bag drawing game, tiles can be too thick. If everything is nicely stacked and easily accessible, I love a nice thick tile, but when it comes to drawing tiles randomly from a bag, a slightly thinner tile is preferred, in my opinion. Gnome Hollow balances this well. The tiles are not as thin as I’ve seen from other companies – looking at you, Life of the Amazonia – but also not too thick to make drawing them from the bag a hassle. They punched out really well too, which was nice – no torn corners here!

The included bag is fine – I’ve seen really great draw bags in games and really poor draw bags in games. This one sits right in the middle. Functional and durable, but not flashy.

In 2024 we are accustomed to overproduced board game experiences, and I know a lot of people are going to be clamouring for a deluxe version of the game that turns all the cardboard mushroom tokens into wooden tokens. While that might be a nice addition to the game, it’s also going to drive up the price substantially, so I’m glad to see that not included here. The cardboard tokens are actually really practical to the experience, since there are times when they will be stacked on top of the tiles being laid. Thick wood pieces could cause an issue where cardboard tokens will not.

I love board game designs where the use of wooden pieces is specific and impactful. Everything wood makes games grotesquely large and heavy, while key components only being available in cardboard makes games feel cheap. Again, Gnome Hollow balances this well. Each players pawns they move on their board, as well as the gnomes they places, are nice wooden pieces that feel great to use. I also really enjoyed the wood signposts that will be placed around the hollow as the game progresses. They are easy to read, and since they stand up as opposed to lying down on the board, they are easy to read and don’t take up any of the central areas important real estate.

Gnome Hollow is making waves because of one key component – magnetized player boards. As many companies are moving towards the standardization of dual layer boards so that tokens on player boards don’t move around, The OP has taken the next step by magnetizing their player boards. All the little wood pawns have small magnets in them, and instead of a dual layered board – which becomes pretty expensive – the pieces just stick to the standard board with the use of magnets. I think this is a pretty cool and innovative solution that could become the next “it’ thing, but I’ve already seen rumblings from folks who wish Gnome Hollow had dual layerd slots instead of magnets. Time will tell which I prefer.

The production here is fantastic. It’s not over produced and prohibitively expensive, but the team has made sure that key pieces are high quality productions. I’m looking forward to getting Gnome Hollow to the table in the near future!