Lost Cities: Quest for the Perfect Card Game
Written: Jan 01 '08
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Pros: Quality cards and game board, easy to learn, high repeat value
Cons: Can't be played by more than two persons
The Bottom Line: Lost Cities is a fantastically fun, easy to learn card game for two. An excellent example of quality German gaming.
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| bob_tomato's Full Review: Rio Grande Games Lost Cities |
Fancy yourself as something of an Indiana Jones-style adventurer? Willing to take risks to reach the ultimate reward of discovering long lost civilizations and treasures?
Don't have a team of Sherpas handy to make your dream a reality?
If so, then Rio Grande Games Lost Cities is for you!
Created by famed German game designer Reiner Knizia, Lost Cities is a fun, easy to learn card game for two based on the premise of funding and completing a successful expedition to any of five fabled, ancient locations and civilizations. The goal is simple - to win, you must create expeditions that are more profitable in total than your opponent's in three rounds of play.
Each of the five expeditions, represented on the sturdy game board by color-coded pictures depicting each of the legendary goals, has twelve cards: three "investment" cards, and nine "expedition" cards, individually numbered 2 through 10. The cards are over-sized, colorful and of thick paper stock, laminated to ensure long-lasting durability.
Every expedition costs twenty points to undertake, so in order to have a profitable expedition, you will need to accumulate more than twenty points in the values on your played expedition cards. If played in an expedition series, investment cards can double, triple or quadruple the profit OR the loss of the expedition. It is VERY important that you be careful to ensure the profitability of an expedition, especially if you play an investment card(s).
Game play is simple: lay down a card, pick a card up.
The trick is in knowing when and where to lay a card down, and paying attention to the cards your opponent is laying down and picking up. You can lay down a card to add to an expedition you are attempting, or you can discard a card onto the game board between you - when a player picks up a card, he can decide whether to take a card blind from the unused deck, or to take the face-up top card from one of the piles on the game board.
If you want to play investment card(s) for an expedition, the investment card(s) must be played before any expedition cards. All expedition cards played into an expedition must be played in ascending order. So, a profitable expedition series might look like this:
Investment card / 2 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 9
To score the expedition shown above, add the expedition cards for a total of thirty-five points. Then, subtract the cost of the expedition (twenty points) for a sub-total of fifteen points. Mulitply the profit / loss by the investment multiplier (one investment card equals a 2x multiplier) for an expedition total of thirty points. Add up all your expedition totals to see how well you did this round. A complete game is normally three rounds, which usually takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the players' skill and familiarity with the game.
Lost Cities is one of my favorite card games, combining simple rules with subtle strategy to create a satisfying gaming experience that can be enjoyed by players of all ages and skill levels. It's also a great educational tool to use to introduce children to simple math and basic logical thinking. My only gripe with the game is that only two persons can play it; I've long thought that this game would be even more fun if they could figure out a way to make it playable by three or four persons. But, this minor quibble of mine doesn't preclude the fact that Rio Grande Games Lost Cities is a terrifically fun card game that can be enjoyed in a short amount of time and by players of varying ages and skill levels.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 12
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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bob_tomato
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