Camel Up Review

Camel Up Box

Foreword

This is a low-strategy game, and it’s fun. Frequently, my favorite part of gaming is testing new strategies. So, I generally prefer games with a lot of strategic choice or games with unique strategies. This game offers neither, but I enjoy playing it anyway. I can play this game with most groups and have a great time.

Camel Up In Progress

Object

Each player is trying to make the most money by betting on a camel race.

How to Play

Setup

Roll all 5 dice, each die color matches the color of a camel. Put each camel onto the starting space dictated by its corresponding die. All camels with the same starting space must be placed on top of each other to form a “camel stack” (even a single camel is considered a camel stack). In setup, it does not matter which camel is on top. During the game, the camel on top of a stack is farther ahead then the camel(s) below it.

Camel Up Set Up

Each player selects a character and takes the matching set of 5 cards, matching obstacle tile, and 3 Egyptian Pounds (Victory Points).

Camel Up Set Up 2

Race Legs

The overall camel race is divided into multiple legs. A leg ends when every camel’s die has been rolled.

Player Actions

On a player’s turn, they must take 1 of 4 actions:

  • Advance the camels

To advance the camels, the current player takes a pyramid tile worth 1 Egyptian pound. Then, they pick up the pyramid, shake it, place it face down on the board, push the insert so one die comes out, and then set that die aside. Finally, move the camel that matches the color of the die that many spaces forward. (Every die can roll a 1, 2, or 3 with a 1/3 chance of each.)

Camel Up Advance

Any camels on top of that camel stay on top as it moves; this is a camel stack. If the camel stack ends its move in a space with another camel stack, put the stack that just moved on top. They are now a single camel stack.

Camel Up Advance 2

Once all 5 dice have been rolled, the leg ends. Leg bets (explained below) are resolved, and then all 5 dice are put back in the pyramid for the next leg.

As soon as a camel stack crosses the finish line, the game immediately wraps up.

  • Place your Obstacle

Each player has an obstacle tile that shows an oasis on one side and a mirage on the other. A player may place, move, and/or flip this tile as an action. An obstacle tile may not be immediately adjacent to another obstacle tile. Whenever a camel stack ends its movement on a tile, the tile’s owner gains 1 Egyptian Pound, and the camel stack moves.

Camel Up Obstacles

If a camel stack ends its movement on an oasis side-up tile, that camel stack moves one more space forward. The camel stack would go on top of any camel stack in that space.

If a camel stack ends its movement on a mirage side-up tile, that camel stack moves one space backward. The camel stack would go underneath any camel stack already in that space.

  • Take a Leg Bet

Bet which camel will be in first at the end of the leg by taking a tile of the matching color. The first bet for each color rewards 5 Egyptian Pounds, if that camel is in first at the end of the leg. The second bet rewards 3, and the third bet rewards 2. If that camel comes in second for the leg, that tile is worth only 1 Egyptian Pound. If it comes in third or worse, that tile loses you 1 Egyptian Pound. Once the leg is over, take your won Egyptian Pounds and then return the tiles for the next leg.

With regard to camel stacks, the camel on top is farther ahead than the camels below it.

CamelUpLeg

  • Place an Overall Race Bet

Place one of your cards representing a camel into one of two piles. If you think that camel will win the overall race, put it in the left pile. If you think that camel will lose the overall race, put it in the right pile. Each wrong bet will cost you 1 Egyptian Pound. However, the earliest correct bet rewards the most.

Camel Up Race

End of Game

As soon as a camel stack crosses the finish line, the game immediately wraps up. The current leg betting tiles are resolved. Then the race bets are resolved. Finally, the player with the most Egyptian Pounds is declared the winner.

Conclusions

This is a high-luck game; it is a betting game after all. Early, high-risk bets have the most potential gain. Later low-risk bets are less valuable but more guaranteed. The ideal bets in the game are when you can take a 5 on a color with a greater then 2/3 probability of success. For example, only the blue and orange camels have yet to move in this leg. Blue will win unless orange is rolled first, and it is a 3. So, you should generally pick blue to win (even if only the blue 3 and 2 bets are left.) I, on the other hand, would much rather pick orange, especially if the orange 5 bet is available.

I am a very competitive person. Also, I haven’t always been the best winner/loser. (I have gotten much better recently though.) Because of these things, Camel Up is perfect for me. I place those high-risk high-reward bets, and I really ham it up. I put a lot of effort into building the excitement and anticipation. (Admittedly I did have to force it a bit at first, but it comes naturally now.) So, if the fates align and I win the bet, it feels great for me. If I lose the bet, it feels really great for everyone else, and it doesn’t bother me much since it was a long shot anyways. In addition, not doing great in one leg doesn’t knock you out of the game. I am able to play to win, enhance the fun for myself and everyone else, and don’t really care if I lose.

The pyramid for rolling the dice works really well for this game, and the pyramid is pretty cool too. The art is great, and I really enjoy playing as essentially Nigel Thornberry from the old Thornberry cartoon. In addition, the camels stacking on top of each other is excellent. Gameplay wise, the camel stacks make for a lot of really interesting situations. One camel could be 6 spaces ahead of the last camel. Then, that last camel hops onto a stack. That stack then moves that camel twice, and now that last place camel is on top of the first place camel. Crazy stuff like that happens frequently.

If you are looking for a high-strategy game, this is not that game. It is, however, a really fun, high-luck experience that works with most groups and ages. This is actually the favorite game of my friend’s 8-year-old brother, and it is one of my dad’s favorite games as well. For me, it is one of the games I frequently break out with people new to gaming. I do recommend trying this game, but don’t expect rich strategy. (Obstacle placing can be pretty interesting though.)

Seasons Preview

Seasons BoxSeasons is a dice-rolling card game with drafting. You define your strategy with your cards, and you execute it 1 die choice at a time. There are no bad rolls, so the winner is generally the player who makes the best choices. While not too difficult, high variability allows for multiple interesting strategies, and randomization makes them fun to execute.

Seasons In Progress

Seasons Close Up

Epic Card by Card Analysis (Drafting) Wild Update

EpicDraft

My Epic Card by Card Analysis (Drafting) article has just been updated to include analysis for all of the Wild faction cards. Click the article title in the previous sentence to be directed there.

My analysis of all of the factions against each other will be completed by end of day 2/22/16. I’ll explain why I like certain factions over others and my general drafting philosophy.

Kahuna Preview

Kahuna BoxKahuna is a 2-player game that exemplifies the importance of timing and card advantage. Balancing expansion and over-extension is critical. Move too early and you become vulnerable. Move too late and you miss opportunities. However, it feels fantastic when you make that big play after saving cards and scheming for multiple turns.

Kahuna In Progress

Kahuna Close Up

Race for the Galaxy Review

Race For The Galaxy Box

Foreword

Race for the Galaxy is one of my favorite games. I love building my strategy and watching it flourish. I love the massive variability in each game. I love the costing system to play cards, and I hate how difficult it was to learn from the rule book. In addition, the amount of options available at a given time can be overwhelming for new players, but once you understand how everything works, it is incredibly rewarding to play and replay.

Gameplay Overview

At the start of each turn, every player chooses 1 of 5 phases. Then, each of those chosen phases will happen in order (Explore, Develop, Settle, Consume, Produce). If no one chooses a specific phase for the turn, that phase is skipped. The phases allow players to draw cards, play cards, use goods, or gain goods.

Once all of the chosen phases have finished, this process repeats. The game ends when a player has 12+ cards in play in front of them or when there are no more victory point tokens available.

Cards Overview

Phase Selection Cards

These cards have a roman numeral in the top left in a box. Each turn everyone simultaneously selects one to play. After the turn, all of these cards are returned to their owner’s hand. There are 7 per player (2 for Explore and 2 for Consume).

These cards are not “in your hand.” They do not count against your hand limit, and you can’t discard them.

PhaseSelectionCards

Developments and Worlds

Every card you draw will either be a development or a world. Developments have diamonds in the top left corner, and worlds have circles in the top left corner. You can only play a development in the Develop phase, and you can only play a world in the Settle phase.

Developments And Worlds

You generally pay for these cards by discarding other cards in your hand (you choose which cards to discard). The number to discard is listed in the diamond or circle in the top left. For example, to play the Replicant Robots in the picture above, you need to discard 4 other cards in your hand during the Develop phase. To play the Spice World, you need to discard 2 other cards during the Settle phase.

Each played card is worth a number of victory points equal to the number in the hexagon in the top left.

In addition, each card will usually have 1 or more abilities. These abilities help the person who played that card for the rest of the game. The abilities are phase specific.

How to Play (Phase by Phase)

At the start of each turn, you select a phase to happen that turn. While everyone will be able to utilize that phase, each player gets a bonus in the phase that they personally picked. If multiple people pick the same phase in a turn, that phase will still happen only once, but all players who picked it would get the bonus. If no one picks a certain phase in a turn, that phase does not happen that turn.

Explore (Draw Cards)

If any player chooses to Explore, all players will draw 2 cards and keep 1 (Draw 2 keep 1). The card that each player does not keep is discarded face down.

If you choose Explore, you have 2 choices of bonus:
You can draw 1 extra card and keep 1 extra card (Draw 3 keep 2) or
You can draw 5 extra cards (Draw 7 keep 1).

This phase is important because it gives you more potential cards to play, and it gives you more cards to discard. If you need 2 more cards to be able to play a 6-cost card, draw 3 keep 2 is an attractive choice. If you are looking for something specific, draw 7 keep 1 can be much more helpful.

Develop (Play a Development)

If any player chooses to Develop, all players may play a development card from their hand. The diamond in the top left is the card’s cost to play. To play a development, the player must discard a number of cards from their hand equal to the diamond on that card.

If you choose Develop, you discard one less card to play a development.

This phase is important because it lets you play cards that will help you throughout the game. Developments have the potential to help you in any phase.

They can let you draw or keep more cards in the Explore phase.
They can give you discounts or draw you cards in the Develop phase.
They can help you settle worlds or let you draw cards in the Settle phase.
They can give consume and trade powers in the Consume Phase
They can help you produce and draw cards in the Produce Phase.

In addition, the 6-cost developments can give a lot of points at the end of the game. For each of these cards, they award points for having certain types of cards in play at the end of the game.

Developments

Settle (Play a World)

If any player chooses to Settle, all players may play a world card from their hand. Worlds differ in how to pay for them, how they produce, and what they produce.

If you choose Settle, you draw a card if you play a world.

Worlds are either peacefully acquired or conquered

To play a world with a black solid number in the circle in the top left (peacefully acquire), a player discards cards the same way they would for a development.
To play a world with a red outlined number in the circle in the top left (conquer), a player needs that much military power.

World Costs

Military power is gained by having developments and/or worlds with a red circled value in the III row (as depicted below). To conquer a 5-cost world, you need at least 5 military among all of your cards in play. You do not discard cards when conquering a planet. (The card Contact Specialist is an exception.)

Military Power

Worlds are windfall worlds, production worlds, or non-producing worlds

Windfall worlds have white filled in circles and a halo around them. They start with a good on them when played. (To place a good on a world, take the top card of the deck and place it on the world face-down without looking.) Once the good is used, (discarded face down) it is difficult to replace.

Production worlds have solid color filled in circles. They do not start with a good. Instead, whenever there is a Produce phase, all production worlds without a good get a good.

Non-producing worlds have gray filled in circles, and never get a good.

Types Of Worlds

There are 4 different types of goods that can be produced

Alien (yellow) goods are the least common and most valuable, then Genes (green), followed by Rare elements (brown), and most common/least valuable are Novelty goods (blue).

Different Goods

This phase is important because it lets you play cards that can generate a lot of points. Worlds generally provide goods in the Produce phase, provide consume powers in the Consume phase, and occasionally give military power in the Settle phase.

Consume/Trade (Get Points and/or Draw Cards)

If any player chooses to Consume, all players must consume as many of their goods as possible. Goods can only be consumed by a player if that player has consume powers from their developments and/or worlds.

If you choose Consume, you have 2 choices of bonus:
You Trade a good (discard it) to draw cards (5 cards for an Alien good, 4 for a Genes good, 3 for a Rare element good, and 2 for a Novelty good) or
You double the number of victory points you get while consuming.

Consume Powers

Goods can be consumed with a large variety of consume powers. Consuming gives victory points and/or cards. Some consume powers can only consume goods of a certain type. (Due to this, it is possible to order the use of your consume powers in such a way that some goods can’t be consumed that turn.)

This phase is important because Trade lets you draw a lot of cards, and consuming goods is a powerful way to gain victory points.

Produce (Get goods)

If any player chooses to Produce, all players gain a good on every production world that does not currently have a good.

If you choose Produce, you may put a good on one of your windfall worlds, in addition to all of your production worlds.

This phase is important because it allows you to get more goods to Consume/Trade.

End of Turn

At the end of the turn, each player discards down to 10 cards in hand.

Set Up

Each player starts with a homeworld and 6 cards. Each player picks 4 of the 6 cards to keep, discarding the other 2. The rules come with recommended starting hands of 4 cards for players’ first game.

A pool of victory point tokens is also needed, 12 victory points per player.

Finally, each player gets a large reference sheet. The reference sheet gives an overview of each phase, and it has explanations for all of the abilities on cards.

Race For The Galaxy Initial SetUp

Conclusion

As mentioned, I love this game.

The Bad

This was one of the hardest games for me to learn. It is hard to learn from the rules, but not quite as hard to teach to people with some gaming experience. The rules framework for this game itself is not that complicated, but in order to understand it, you need to understand how everything works together. In addition, the large number of cards and abilities can be very overwhelming. The trick is to be able to recognize which cards can be ignored for your strategy. Once you have identified these cards, you can set them aside to be used exclusively for discarding.

The Good

I love the idea of paying for cards by discarding other cards, and as I game designer I plan on utilizing it. This cost system allows for a massive, diverse card pool and keeps every card relevant. In addition, you don’t need to draw any special cards to play your “real” cards.

The number of strategies are plentiful, but they are also slightly informed by your starting homeworld. Do you go heavy military and focus on conquering high point worlds? Do you get a few production worlds and a couple solid consume powers and churn out victory point tokens? Do you focus on alien worlds or rare element worlds? Or do you do a combination of these or something entirely different (6-cost Development cards)?

Simultaneous phase selection and essentially simultaneous turns are excellent in this game. They keep the game moving quickly, and they add a level of deduction to the game. For instance, I see that my opponent is probably going to Produce on their turn, so I’m going to choose Settle and put out a production world before that. Or, I have two cards in hand I want to play, but I need someone to Explore to be able to effectively use them this turn. You won’t always be right, but when you are, it is incredibly satisfying.

Limited player interaction also really works well in this game. I have played a pretty good number of games, and I have never felt the need to interfere with my opponent’s plans. Instead, I get to just focus on making what I am doing the best possible strategy. There is some interaction with the phase deduction mentioned above, but you primarily focus on your own strategy.

This game also works well as a two-player game. I enjoy the variant where each player chooses 2 phases.

If you like high strategy games, don’t mind learning the rules, and have like-minded people to play with, I highly recommend this game. I also have the first of many expansions, and I enjoy what I have used from it.

Race For The Galaxy In Progress

Ninjato Preview

Ninjato BoxNinjato is a game of influence and subterfuge; by invading clan houses, you get treasure to influence envoys and spread rumors. Each action will help to define your strategy as it alters the board for everyone. Therefore, deciding how to invade, where to invade, and what to do afterwards will be largely informed by how your opponents are doing the same.

Ninjato In Progress

Ninjato Close Up