Don Quixote: The Ingenious Hidalgo

• Designer: Andrea La Rosa
• Publisher: Llamascape Games
• Players: 2-6
• Age: 8+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Based on the famous novel from Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote is a fast game of wit and strategy.

Each round, the ingenious Don Quixote will head for a new adventure, and players vote simultaneously on whether to help him or not. Success in an adventure means Don Quixote progresses on his quest towards glory or love, while failure increases his delusion.

The twist: the more the knight progresses in one track, the more valuable your contributions to that track are, in a set collection mechanics where sets change value dynamically. Can you outwit the other players, anticipating what their next move will be, while not giving away your focus?

Throughout the game, you will explore the stories told in the masterpiece that Miguel de Cervantes created. It’s a great way to learn about this beautiful work and its message, while having fun.

Discover how Alonso Quijano became Don Quixote, how he asked a tavern host to make him a knight, the famous encounter with windmills turning into giants, his quest for Dulcinea’s love…and many more!

To set the game up, place the Value Track on the board and all the tokens (delusion, love, obsession, glory) on the first space of that track.  Next, shuffle the adventure deck and deal 4 face up to the table.  Each player is dealt a hand of 9 Character cards as well as given a secret objective cards.  Finally, refer to the setup card to distribute diamonds to players and put certain tokens into play.

On a turn, the starting player chooses one of the face up adventure cards to happen this round. Players can then play a previously gained item if they wish. The items have varied effects:

• Poison – when played, all players play a random card in this round
• Donkey – reveal with your character card to give 3 votes 
• Tent – copy the special ability of a card

Then, players secretly and simultaneously choose a character card and then they are revealed.  From the starting player, any abilities on played cards are resolved.  Then figure out the vote. If there are more checkmarks than Xs, follow the checkmark result box.  Otherwise follow the X result box.  In the first chapter, the tokens must follow the path.  In the second chapter, the markers can use the rivers as shortcuts.  All played cards are flipped face down and kept in a stack in front of each player.  You will score the cards that you played at the end of the game.  Pass the starting token and repeat.  Do this four times until the chapter is over.

In between Chapter 1 and 2, players can discard any cards from their hand and re-draw up to a hand of 9 cards.  Reveal 4 new adventure cards.  Play Chapter 2 in the same way that you played Chapter 1, and then the game moves into scoring.

Players score points for:

• Diamonds – worth 2 points each
• Secret Objectives – worth the value on the card if successfully completed
• Each played card scores points equal to the final position of the corresponding marker on the value track

The player with the most points wins. Ties broken in favor of the player with the most points from the secret objective.

My thoughts on the game

I’ve never been quite sure how I feel about games with secret and simultaneous voting – in part because I seem to be quite bad at reading what other people are going to vote for.   I knew that his mechanism was at the heart of Don Quixote: The Ingenious Hidalgo, and I was very interested to see how it would play out after getting some rave reviews from trusted friends at Spiel.

In this game, your votes have dual purpose.  First, you are voting on one of two choices – on which scoring marker will move.   But… second, the card that you play from your hand end up being the cards that you score.  Sometimes things work out well, and the card you want to play for scoring also happens to push the vote the way you want it to go… but when it doesn’t – you’ll have some tough decisions to make.  Third, the cards also help you get gems, or zap other people’s votes OR give you zap protection.  It’s a lot to think about with a single play.

When the game starts, you’re dealt a hand of cards, and you’ll have to look at the distribution of colors to see what your card playing options will be.  For instance, if you are only dealt one blue card, you’re probably not going to want to advance the blue marker far on the value track because you surely won’t be able to benefit from an advanced position as much as your opponents…. You will get a chance to discard and re-draw between rounds, so be sure to use that option if the game isn’t going the way you want.  Of course, remember that dramatic shifts in value can happen in the second round because the scoring markers must now take any of the river shortcuts that they encounter…

In the game, you only have the opportunity to play 7 or 8 cards (I’m still trying to figure out why the 3p game only has 3 cards in the second round when all other player counts have four) – so there isn’t a lot of room to waste a card.  And that’s the beauty of the game to me; it really creates a tight experience where you must consider each of your limited actions.

The game has a nice pacing with the first round being a bit of setup  – so players can see where the scoring markers are at the halfway point (as well as seeing what colors the other players have played).  Then in the second round, everything accelerates a bit with the possibility of scoring marker shortcuts.

The theming is wonderful, and as someone who has read the novel a number of times, I do really appreciate how each of the cards brings a passage of the book to life.  The artwork is well done, as are the physical bits.  The box itself looks like a book, and it is very attractive on the shelf.

Don Quixote: The Ingenious Hidalgo will take players back into the world of the world’s first novel, and you will vote on the outcome of the different scenes in the book.   With some good planning, helpful temporary alliances in the voting, and clever card play – you can hopefully achieve the Impossible Dream of winning a game of Don Quixote: The Ingenious Hidalgo.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Alan H: I have played this game since its inception in 2024 and seen how it has evolved. Like most games, the core ideas have always been present, but have evolved across time. The published version looks attractive and plays well with different numbers of players. It’s a quick game as each player simultaneously selects a card and the speed of the games makes it easy to play as an end of evening game. I’ve enjoyed every play and pleased to see it start the book series as I’m sure there will be more to come.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it. Dale Y, Alan H, John P
• Neutral.
• Not for me…