Image Courtesy of JackRandomThis review continues my series of detailed reviews that attempt to be part review, part resource for anyone not totally familiar with the game. For this reason I expect readers to skip to the sections that are of most interest.
Summary
Game Type - Euro Game
Play Time: 45-60 minutes
Number of Players: 3-5
Mechanics - Set Collection, Auction/Bidding
Difficulty - Pick-up & Play (Can be learned in under 30 minutes)
Components - Excellent
Release - 1999
Designer - Reiner Knizia - (Lost Cities, Tigris & Euphrates, Pickomino, Samurai, Amun-Re, Through the Desert, Lord of the Rings, Modern Art, FITS…and the list goes on!)
Overview and Theme
Finally I have found a positive to the fact that I am falling further and further behind the cult of the new. It is true that I am no longer buying all the latest fan-dangled titles to keep the latest uber-pup informed!!! (I think I'm about 2 years behind the curve on most things now).
But the silver lining is I still have plenty of 'New Wave' titles from around the turn of the century that I failed to review in years gone by and in doing so I can lay claim to that 'Retro-cool' tag that all old dogs eventually get to claim!
And so I decided to explore an old classic, from a time when <PERSON> was regarded as the 'Feld' of his day!
In addition it is worth noting that <PERSON> is the illustrator for the game. He too was not as well-known back at that time but this would be one of many collaborations between the two over the years.
For those that were playing with Ninja Turtles back in the 90s, 1999 was a time when the good Doctor could crank out innovative designs that had people oohing and aahing. It was smack-bang in the middle of his golden age and <PERSON> was one of his major hit auction/bidding games...tied loosely to the facade of theme that is Egypt.
Essentially the players are trying to collect various tiles that represent life in Egypt in order to score points. But collecting the right tiles at the right time is the key as players will post competing bids to get what they need and deny other players of their wants also.
If you haven't heard of this game then let me take you for a ride on my camel as we check it out. 470
If you know it well, then drop your dentures into a glass of vodka and let me take you down memory lane...don't drink the vodka until after you've read the review.
The Components
Given that Ra has been out now for 14 years it has enjoyed a number of editions over the years.
I will be looking at the components of the Uberplay edition, which matches the box front image used at the top of this review.
The Board – Unlike most games there is actually nothing for players to actually 'do' on the board of Ra, instead it serves as an organisational tool of sorts and serves to hold most of the things of interest, in this case tiles.
Across the top a series of 10 boxes are depicted. This is the Ra Track and its purpose is to store each of the Ra Tiles that are drawn during the play.
The middle of the board features illustrations of the 8 Egyptian Gods and they serve to separate the Ra Track from the Auction Track. A yellow location is illustrated in between the two rows of opposing Gods and this is where the Sun Token is placed during play (outlined further below).
The Auction track is used to hold the tiles that are up for grabs in the auctions.
The rest of the board is filled with some thematically appropriate hieroglyphics and in two of the corners the scoring rules for each type of tile is outlined, to remind the players of their objectives. It doesn't make too much sense upon first glance but once the players know what they are doing then this summary is helpful.
This summary also includes a number in bold, which denotes how many of each tile exists in the bag at the start of play. This can be helpful to the players as they try to extrapolate how many tiles of a given type may still be up for grabs and the odds of seeing the key tiles they need.
It's all done very well without being awe-inducing.
Image Courtesy of <PERSON> – The game comes with 180 tiles and reminds us that once upon a time tiles were the king of game-land. These tiles offer a nice thickness and represent all important facets of life in Egypt from the Pharaohs to the Nile to Monuments to the Gods themselves.
Each tile type features its own artwork and the use of distinct background colours helps to identify one type of tile from another. 84