Llama Llama

• Designer: Kaya Miyano
• Publisher: Allplay
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 8+
• Time: 15 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

In Llama Llama, players pass cards to craft hands around the different scoring conditions. These conditions were chosen by the players secretly at the start of the round—you’ll have to try and guess at what others are going for to score big!

In Llama Llama, players will try to accumulate the most points in four hands.  To start each hand, deal out 4 hands of 8 cards, one to each player, and if any hands are left over, they remain facedown on the table as dummy hands.

Each player chooses 1 card from their hand as a goal card (each card has a letter at the top, but then 2 scoring goals on the bottom two-thirds of the card).  Dummies put in a random card to serve as a goal card.  These four cards are shuffled and then placed facedown onto the four display cards (numbered 1 to 4).

Each hand is played out over four rounds.  To start a round, flip over the leftmost facedown goal card.  Now, players pass the number of cards shown above the newly exposed goal from their hand to the player on their left.  Repeat this four times; at which point all four goal cards will be exposed, and cards will have been passed four times.   (Dummy hands simply have their hands shuffled before each pass, and random cards are passed to the next player).

At the end of the hand, all four goal cards are scored.  Each card will reward points for a particular letter card.  Each card will always award larger rewards for specific combinations of cards.  Record the scores on the included scorepad.

After scoring, deal out the hands again, but now the goal cards are placed down in order of current score.  The current leader places their card facedown on the first space, followed by the second place player, etc…

After 4 rounds, the player with the highest score wins.  The game can also end immediately after any round if one player has 100 points or more.  There is no tiebreaker.

My thoughts on the game

So I apparently played the predecessor of this game, Dog Poker, at some point in the past – and my friends told me that I didn’t like it much.  I was surprised to learn that because I’ve really enjoyed Llama Llama – and I think it’s the same game!  Maybe I prefer llamas to dogs…. Who knows?

In this clever small box game, you have to try to construct the ideal hand by the end of the round..; but you only learn one goal card with each flip.  Of course, you already know one of the goals as you chose it from your starting hand.  If that card comes up first, well then you’re a bit more in the dark than everyone else.  But… if that is the last to be revealed, you might have a small advantage as you’ve been able to work towards that goal for more time with your insider knowledge.

The goal cards give you two things to work for – first, they always give a flat payout for a particular letter.  If nothing else, just save those cards with matching letters.  Each goal card also pays out if you are able to collect certain combinations.  In general, if you need more cards to complete a combination, the higher it pays out.  In the case of the seven card combos, you’ll also need a bit of luck on your side as you’ll have to hope that your opponent passes you the letter that you need to complete the combination!

You play up to four rounds, and the game has a clever catch the leader mechanism built it.  As the current leader has his goal revealed first, it gives a bit more insider knowledge to the players with more ground to make up on the scoreboard. 

Though there isn’t a lot of art in the game, Sai Beppu has done her usual awesome job of making delightfully cute llamas for the cards.  The bright color scheme for the letter cards also helps them stand out in your hand and on the table.

As with many of the games in this micro box from Allplay, they don’t take long to play, so it’s nearly impossible to outstay its welcome.  But, I will say that Llama Llama gives you a lot to think about in the ten minutes that you play it – a bit of planning, a bit of risk taking, and lots of fun.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Doug G.: This was one of the surprises from Essen for Shelley and me. We’d never played (or even heard of) its predecessor, so this was new to us and we love it. It plays great with 2, and changes in interesting ways as you add a third and fourth person. It made my Top 10 of 2025. We discussed it in Episodes 1024 and 1027 of our podcast.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!: Doug G.
• I like it. Dale Y
• Neutral.
• Not for me…