The last day of Essen saw us rush in to grab a game of Kavango and boy was it a highlight.
Kavango is a medium weight game designed by husband and wife Matt Brown and Zara Reid, who are British but have lived and worked in Botswana until recently, with Zara being a conservation expert. The game theme feels extremely authentic as you draft animal cards, placing them gradually in your display as you use your specialist, money raised and your skills to build up your wild life reserve. Each card is individual and hand drawn by Matt, but this is not some vanity project but a proper game which runs smoothly in an hour. Over three rounds you draft cards and pass, trying to collect the right animals to build your ecosystem and allow other animals to flourish while also introducing local producers (insects, trees, grasses and fish) and donating to climate and local charities to assist you. Each round you draft and play 10 cards and try to raise donation money and points by meeting objectives. As the rounds progress the cards you draft are harder to play and the objectives harder to meet, but complexity remains at the medium level and the game is just a joy to experience. Each card also tells you about the animal pictured and an advanced version gives you personal objectives linked to symbols in the card text. The retail version has great components and good quality boards too.
We were gushing about the game by the time we finished and immediately bought a copy.

Thanks for reading along with us during SPIEL – now time to play games and write reviews!