by NinjaTweak
I've played the game about 8 times so far (got it less than a month ago). It should be easy, but I find it hard to remember whether I moved scoring tokens or not, and since the scoreboard is so small that the tokens have to be stacked in a tie, it does get bothersome when you play 5 player games.I recently set upon myself the unenviable task of collecting data for game sessions (trying to construct more practical ideas about the expected scoring range of which each traveler is capable). Anyway, long story short: I quickly discovered that the games go a lot faster when I'm not fussing about with scoring along the way. I usually re-tally the score at the end anyway, to be certain of the data, so the scoring tokens just seem exceedingly pointless to me.
Adding up points on the cards is easy, and figuring out the points from temple donations isn't too difficult despite the lack of cards, but the real easy thing to forget with end-game scoring is when a traveler gets non-card points as part of their ability (e.g. Old Man and Street Performer in base game).
That doesn't mean it doesn't work, but endgame scoring is not a method I would recommend to new players who aren't conditioned to check their character tile for bonus points. Otherwise, as long as it's an experienced player in charge, endgame scoring is much more reliable and efficient.