Does that explain why gameplay seems to be... missing? Video I saw showed basically no meaningful interaction.
Just wanted to point out that during the Treehouse they mentioned that there is more to the game than the boardgame that they've showed off and they aren't talking about whatever that content is yet.
The game did look light on mechanics in the stream, but I did notice a lot of really cool touches that make the board come to life. For example, there's a day-night cycle and the game seems to follow a calendar progression with events on certain days of the week (in-game time). So you'll buy Turnips just like in the main series. Each of the spots on the board has a Turnip price and you have to try to sell your Turnips for a profit. Red showed up and sold cards that helped you in the game (advance 5 squares, roll the dice twice in a turn, etc). The Fortune Teller showed up and basically gave the players a boon or a curse (for the next five turns you'll lose money every time someone rolls a 2, etc). The calendar showed a fishing contest upcoming, but they didn't play that long.
In short, it looked incredibly simple and easy-going--like a REALLY attractive version of a kids board game. The presentation is really the reason to be at all interested in the game. It really does look beautiful, the music is the same fantastic music from the main series, and the writing of the events in the game is right in line with what you'd expect from Animal Crossing (I do worry there won't be enough of these though, it's going to get really old getting your hair cut over and over again...)
Unlike the main series I don't think the board game will appeal to as wide a swath of gamers. I'm really excited to play with my little girl, but I wouldn't be trying to play this with my 'gamer' buddies. Who am I kidding, I have no friends :-) Of course that assumes that I can even get hold of the Amiibos to play the game at all.... I am glad to hear that you don't have to pay for the software itself at least, but Nintendo's track record keeping these toys on the shelves has been really hit and miss.
I guess this is "free-to-play" in the same way that Amiibo-Tap is free-to-play. However, unlike Amiibo Tap's always-on-a-timer experience, this actually seems like a full end-to-end game. And let's not forget that Amiibo Cards will work just as well as Amiibo Figures for the game!
Awesome! I missed that bit. This should help make sure I can actually play this. Although I think I will have to try and get my daughter one of the actual figures...they look fantastic! What...I swear, they're for her...they're FOR HER. I...uh... (runs away and hides with his collection of toys)