OUR REVIEW
FROM KAIRO TO CAPETOWN
Africana
TREASURE HUNTING IN AFRICA
Back to the 19th century - expeditions on the African continent create interest from different companies and the former colonial powers race each other to acquire the most remunerative exploration expeditions and treasures.
The game board shows the continent of Africa with many locations depicted as single stations on an overlaid network of connecting routes. The equator is marked with a red line across Africa and thus separates the northern half from the southern half. Next to each station you find one or two symbols which are repeated on the travel cards; you need such cards to travel to stations. In two corners you find a picture of a book, that’s where you place the wooden books which hold the order cards. Finally, in the bottom part of the board you find areas to display expedition cards and the board also offers an overview of the points you can score.
The cards comprise adventure cards, expedition cards and company cards and also travel cards and assistant cards. Assistant cards and travel cards come in five colors corresponding to the colors of the symbols next to stations on the board. At the start of the game you are assigned a color and receive on explorer marker and four company markers, all made from wood. Other game components are silver and gold coins. All in all the board is prettily done, the cards are clear and the various components are clearly structured and easily recognized.
As so often, in Africana too, the aim of the game is to acquire most victory points. Each of your turns offers you three different possibilities: You must decide if you want to draw two travel cards, buy an adventure card or move your explorer marker. You choose a starting player; he is assigned a certain color, that is, colonial power which is Italy. This determines how much money he has at his disposal at the start of the game. The colors and colonial powers for the remaining players are assigned according to seating order (Italy, France, Germany, and England). You begin with a joker card and an additional travel card. These cards come in five different colors (Magenta, Turquoise, Gray, Orange and Violet) and different symbols. You use those travel cards to move your explorer. The symbol on the card must correspond to the symbol located next to the station you want to reach. You cannot leave out a station, but can travel to several stations in one turn. Each travel card you play to move your explorer is discarded at the end of your turn. When you move your explorer, do not forget to join one of the expeditions that are laid out. As soon as you travel to the starting point of an expedition you can place one of your company markers on the card of this expedition in the bottom part of the board. This grants you the corresponding award which is marked on the board above the card - either one or two coins or an additional travel card. When you are first to reach the final station of an expedition all company markers on the card are returned to their owners and you take the expedition card and place it underneath your own company card. You also earn the number of coins noted on the expedition card.
Should you have played the joker card or an assistant card which are played like travel cards, you take them back in hand at the end of the turn. Assistant cards can be bought as an adventure card and when you complete such a card you cat the corresponding assistant for use as a travel card.
The adventure cards also offer artifacts which are important for a special scoring at the end of the game. As soon as you complete such an adventure card by visiting the station marked on it the card is placed underneath your company card. In case of an assistant you can use the card instantly and you take the card back in hand after each use, as you do with the joker card. You can change the color of a travel card to any other color by paying five silver coins. There is a limit of five cards you can hold, a surplus must be discarded at the end of your turn.
The third choice you can make for your turn is to buy adventure cards. These cards are located on the wooden books in the corners of the board. At the start of the game only the top adventure card is visible. Each player may, when he decides to buy, turn over one card for free in any direction, each additional card he wants to turn over costs one silver coin. When you decide to buy you can only buy the two visible cards. It is also important to know that you can only buy cards in that half of the board where your explorer marker is currently located, but that the targets of those adventure cards are always in the other half of the board. Adventure cards you bought you must display openly, you can in theory buy as many as you want and can pay for, but should you have more than three such cards on display at the end of your turn you must discard the surplus. As soon as you reach the target station noted on the adventure card, you might be able to acquire - depending on the card - coins or an assistant; completed adventures are placed underneath your company card. You can look at them anytime and score you victory points at the end of the game.
The game ends when you cannot replenish empty expedition areas. The current round is finished, so that each player had the same number of turns. Then the game is scored. Each player adds the victory points on the cards that he has collected underneath his company cards. Then you score the artifacts: If you acquired two artifacts of the same kind, you score six points, three identical artifacts score 12 points; each pair of different artifacts is worth two points and a set of four different artifacts is worth 10 points, but you can use each artifact only for one score. Should you hold more than one assistant card, you must deduct points from your score - two assistants cost you five points, three or more assistants lose you 10 victory points. Additional victory points are earned with each pair of gold coins (= 10 silver coins), for any two travel cards and for each uncompleted adventure card showing an artifact. Should there be a tie in the score for victory points the winner is the player with most silver coins.
That’s it. As you may have gleaned so far it is very important not to overlook the expeditions on display; it happens too often that one travels to a station and find out later that you have missed participating in an expedition, because one is so busy to plan ones travels and which adventure cards one wants to complete that one forgets to pay attention to new expedition cards in the display. Another important factor in the game is timing. Only if you manage to take part in many expeditions you will be able to collect enough coins to acquire the coveted assistants. As soon as there is enough money in circulation the run for cards with the assistant symbol begins. You must pick the right time, before others have bought up most of the assistants and as soon as one has enough money to buy at least two adventure cards. The assistants are usually the deciding element in the game. You should acquire at least one of them, two would be even better. Don’t be deterred by the penalty points for assistants at the end. If you acquire three helpers, you can forget the drawing of cards for the rest of the game. It must be mentioned that it is essential to pay attention when adventure cards are bought to the cards that have been turned, because then you can assess where assistance might be found - each stack holds five assistants, one of each color - or which items are still available to complete your collection - each artifact is present twice in each stack. You should actively prevent another player from buying a third artifact of a kind, so buy them on time, even if you have to discard it. In a game of two players this is not such a big problem, but in a game of four players the pressure to complete expeditions and to buy adventure cards is much bigger.
So, all in all, the game is rather chance-driven, as it depends on the cards at your disposal if you can complete certain expeditions or if it takes too long and somebody else reaches the target station first. If you are lucky, the available expeditions fit together perfectly so that you can complete more than one in one turn. But of course the exact opposite can also happen. Searching for the perfect adventure cards depends on luck, too, it can happen hat all your money goes into searching the cards in the book.
All over the chance element is mitigated by planning, each player can easily plan his moves in advance - you must assess if maybe an opponent can reach a target first and eventually aim at an additional target or another target yourself-
The principles of the game are easily learned and the rules are very well written. The game mechanisms are already familiar from previous games, also by designer Michael Schacht, and rouse memories of games played. If you want to try your hand at a game with a measured element of change and easy planning elements I can absolutely recommend Africana to you.
Astrid Willim
Players: 2-4
Age: 8+
Time: 60+
Designer: Michael Schacht
Art: Franz Vohwinkel
Price: ca. 35 Euro
Publisher: Abacusspiele 2012
Web: www.abacusspiele.de
Genre: Card-driven collecting game
Users: For families
Version: de
Rules: cz de en es fr hu
In-game text: yes
Comments:
Standard mechanisms nicely combined
Good timing is essential
Expeditions must be taken into account
Do not underrate assistants
Compares to:
Valdora
Other editions:
Z-Man Games, USA, Lautapelit, Finland, Filosofia, Canada, Albi, Czech Republic
My rating: 4/7
Astrid Willim
Africana is a game in which several components are joined - a little planning is necessary to find the best route and yet the chance element is very strong due to the randomness of the cards. You must be involved everywhere early enough to avoid lagging behind. Timing is one of the most important elements of the game.
Chance (pink): 2
Tactic (turquoise): 1
Strategy (blue): 0
Creativity (dark blue): 0
Knowledge (yellow): 0
Memory (orange): 0
Communication (red): 0
Interaction (brown): 1
Dexterity (green): 0
Action (dark green): 0