The card game L.A.M.A. Kadabra plays similarly to the 2019 game L.L.A.M.A., but with a few additions that complicate gameplay and your choices of what to do.
Ahoy, mateys! Time to grab your pirate hats and set sail! Ready to claim the bounty of a lifetime?
You’re each the captain of a pirate ship, and your lookout has just spotted a ship full of bounty on the horizon. You need to line up your pirates so they are ready to board when you attack. Start by placing each Pirate on any one of the 5 spaces on your Plank. Be savvy when playing your cards so you can move your Pirates to the highest value spaces. But make sure you don’t lose a Pirate off your Plank—you don’t want a pirate ending up in the water! A Pirate that has fallen in the water cannot return to your Plank and so will score you 0 points later on. Once you’ve all played all your cards, for each Pirate you have on your Plank, you score the points shown on the space that Pirate is standing on.
Skull Queen is a trick-taking game in which you determine before the game starts whether you will win or lose tricks for every suit. The player who chooses wisely and outplays their opponents will be victorious.
In Alpina, you explore the Swiss National Park with a camera around your neck to photograph animals in their natural habitat. The spotted nutcracker, grass frogs, and more are waiting for you and offer you a unique opportunity to collect points in an original way that is related to the landscape and interaction with your neighbors. Do you play a card to score more points, or do you use the opportunity to deceive your opponents? Find the card that allows you to strike a balance between these two objectives, and victory will be yours!
The journey to Kangaroo Island has been long and winding. It all started on February 21, 2021 when designer Jeffrey Allers took the time to teach and play his tile-laying design Pandoria with me over Zoom. I found the game and Jeff’s explanation fascinating because of how the game evolved tile-laying into a thoroughly nuanced, involved, and thinky experience. At the time, I had recently completed the bulk of the design work on my first ever design (First Monday in October with its 2020 design diary available here), and I had no intention of ever making a second game. Unexpectedly, there must have been some magical combination of inspiration from Pandoria and encouragement from Jeff on that Sunday afternoon that led my subconscious over the next week to come up with my own involved and thinky tile-laying game. I did my first playtest of what was then affectionately referred to as Galaxy’s Edge or Galactic Frontier on February 28, 2021, and I’ve continued to play what has now become Kangaroo Island countless times throughout the next few years as it evolved and grew into what I’m thrilled to say Rio Grande Games now plans to publish in 2025.
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Autumn has arrived, and the fall flowers color the forest. The robin announces the imminent cold and the hoopoe, almost ready for the great nocturnal migration, feeds itself with the last available food. The fox grows its winter coat and toads swarm the most humid areas of the grove, thriving with mushrooms and deciduous leaves.
In Fall you create, together with your opponent, an autumn ecosystem. You both place leaves tiles in the same environment to grow the forest and host its flora, fauna, and funga. However, each player scores points for different objectives, and only at the end of the game the opponent’s scoring conditions will be revealed, thanks to the Fox, Bird, and Flower scoring cards, which are different for each player in each game. During the game, try to understand your opponent’s strategy, to counteract it and make it turn in your favor. The game uses a single tableau for both players, with variable scoring opportunities for each player.
Live your best life in Adulthood! Every turn, this game challenges 1-4 players to spend Time and Energy to generate Money, Happiness, and positive Impact. Choose a Career, seek out Experiences, find a Partner, and try to spend time on Wellness while dealing with unexpected Life Events. Featuring the art of Tim Brierly, Adulthood highlights the joys and absurdity of everyday life.
Each turn, players have to choose how to spend their Time, Energy, and Money to maximize their personal Happiness and positive Impact. Spend Time and Energy on your Career to get Money. Seek out Experiences to gain resources and Happiness, spend Time on Health to maximize the benefits of your other efforts, and find a partner to build a relationship with! Earn your way to the top or make a difference in the lives of others! The game ends when a player’s Happiness and Impact tracks meet!
