K is for Karuba

By HABA

My grandmother knows we love board games, so she sent this one to us a couple of years ago. I'm just glad she sent us something we didn't have already!

Players: 2-4

Time: 30-40 minutes

Ages: 8+

Theme: Treasure Island Expedition

Mechanics: Tile Laying, Grid Movement, Race

Each player has arrived on the island of Karuba where they are attempting to lead their expedition team to temples to secure treasure before the other players get there first. Temples have diminishing rewards, so the quicker you get to them the more valuable treasures you'll receive. Instead of one map that everyone shares, everyone has their own grid and places their own pathways for getting to the temples.

The tricky part is that in order to move your explorers, you must sacrifice tiles rather than place them on your grid. It's quite an interesting balancing act. One person calls out the tiles drawn from the stack and everyone plays or sacrifices the same tile as they see fit.

We played this one several times in a row, because it's a nice quick game. We were finishing in 20 minutes and since everyone plays simultaneously, I'm not sure that additional players would add much to the overall time. This is probably a nice gateway game for newbie gamers. Another good one to keep on the shelf for when the girls are older.

We played three games and scored as follows:

D = 22, B = 19 (He beat me)

D = 19, B = 18 (He beat me again)

B = 27, D = 13 (This is the point I was able to stop playing, haha)

Overall, we give this game a 6-7/10. It's a decent game. A bit simple, but good and we'd usually be willing to play.