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by Mischief Maker 02/03/2025, 5:10pm PST |
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Cut-throat card game about taking archaeological expeditions to lost civilizations while fucking over your rival.
There's a narrow board with colored spaces for each of the lost cities, and the players each have a hand of 8 cards. You take turns playing one card then drawing another.
You can start an expedition into a city, but that saddles you with an immediate -20 point penalty in setup costs and worse, alerts the other player that you want cards in that color. Cards can only be added to expeditions in numerical order from 2 to 10, but can also start with "handshake" cards before numbered ones that act as a score multiplier, for good or bad.
If you don't want to play an expedition card, you can simply discard to the center board on the colored space provided. But that makes the card available for the other player to snatch up, and you may have accidentally given them exactly what they need to set up a super expedition that crushes your score!
Thus, players find themselves in a situation where half the cards in their hands are ones they're building up until they're confident to start an expedition, and half are cards they're denying to the other player. There's a real game of chicken feel.
It's quick to setup, quick to play. We usually do best 2 out of 3. There is the option to play an "advanced" game with 6 cities instead of the default five. There are arguments in favor of either way; with six you're more likely to pull off satisfying high score mega expeditions. But with 5 expeditions you're way more likely to catch your opponent off guard by abruptly ending the game before they've cleared their -20 points deficit and not only wind up in the hole, but often in the hole with a negative score multiplier!
For negatives, the cards are a nice size but could be made out of sturdier stock, and my own copy came with printing defects that left white streaks at the edges of certain cards that screamed their identity (fixed with a black magic marker). But the biggest negative is the lack of any score calculating board; you get out pen and paper and math it out yourself!
Easy to learn and tons of fun. |
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I'm designating this the boardgaming forum by Mischief Maker 02/03/2025, 4:34pm PST 
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This is why I got kicked out of law school, I guess. by Mysteriobama 02/04/2025, 7:09pm PST
Is my explanation confusing, or did you get overwhelmed trying it before? by Mischief Maker 02/04/2025, 8:18pm PST
Re: Is my explanation confusing, or did you get overwhelmed trying it before? by Mysteriobama 02/06/2025, 5:47pm PST
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Thanks for the suggestion! NT by MM 02/05/2025, 2:31pm PST
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Come on, MM. Get the Dune app and we'll play asynchronously. by A sane, decent poster 04/12/2025, 8:23am PDT
Dominion is THE most aspie game I can think of besides MTG by Lord of the Dongs 04/13/2025, 12:19am PDT
I'm not playing tournament-level. We're just a pair of newbs having fun. NT by Mischief Maker 04/13/2025, 7:04am PDT
So you're saying the problem is a fixed market instead of a shifting random one? NT by Mischief Maker 04/13/2025, 8:01am PDT
You're right, pal! by Game recommendation 04/13/2025, 9:31am PDT
Ooh! I'll take a look at that one. NT by Mischief Maker 04/13/2025, 2:08pm PDT
I am! by a pal 04/20/2025, 12:32am PDT
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Thanks, I'll check it out! NT by Mischief Maker 04/12/2025, 12:27pm PDT
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Love is all this thread needs. NT by Mischief Maker 05/30/2025, 3:42pm PDT
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How long are the games? NT by Blackwater 08/08/2025, 8:05pm PDT
An hour, hour and a half, give or take. NT by Mischief Maker 08/08/2025, 8:36pm PDT
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