Image Courtesy of SpiderOne
This 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.
In addition this is the 2nd in a series of reviews that will focus on the Kosmos series of games. A full list of titles I plan to review or have reviewed from the series can be found at the bottom of this review.
Summary
Game Type - Card Game
Play Time: 20-40 minutes (Playing Best of 3)
Number of Players: 2
Mechanics - Set Collection, Card Drafting
Difficulty - Pick-up & Play (Can be learnt in under 10 minutes)
Components - Excellent
Release - 1999
Designer - Reiner Knizia- ( Amun-Re, FITS, Indigo, Ingenious, Lord of the Rings, Lost Cities, Medici, Modern Art, Pickomino, Stephenson's Rocket, Tigris & Euphrates, Through the Desert, Ra, Taj Mahal, The Quest for El Dorado, Winner's Circle…and the list goes on!)
Overview
In Lost Cities, each player represents the Leader of an Archeological team, determined to scour the world to uncover the most precious of artifacts. Each player must decide on which of 5 locations they will visit and then they must prepare their resources for each trek before setting forth to find treasures of untold wonder!
Of course the reality is that this is a set collecting and card placement game that could have had any theme on the planet. In truth it is highly mathematical in the mechanics and execution and Dr. <PERSON> has made this foundation the basis of many of his designs over the years.
The Components
The Board - Like many games in the Kosmos 2-Player Series, Lost Cities features a small board. This one is a 3-fold design and upon it are 5 reasonably sized parchment maps. Each one is a different colour (which matches the 5 colours that the cards come in) and each colour has been selected to represent a different terrain. Red is the Ancient Volcano Regions (I didn't realise many tribes lived inside volcanoes but hey), Green is for the Amazon, White is the Himalayas, Blue is for the Ocean (Neptune's) Realm and Yellow the Deserts, most likely those of Egypt.
Each of these parchment maps are well illustrated, featuring tears and crude hand drawings to suggest that each one has been painstakingly found and put together.
Image Courtesy of ronster0
The background of the board features a wooden grain design to suggest a table and there are several archeological tools and a large magnifying glass also illustrated. 299
All told the board really conveys the theme of the game and looks good doing it. Kosmos are great for this sort of thing.
The Cards - Lost Cities features a total of 60 cards. There are 12 in each colour with 9 of them being Expedition Cards (1 of each numbered 2-10) and 3 being Investment Cards. The cards come in an unusual size, being slightly wider than a standard playing card and about 12cms longer (not that I measured or anything ).
Image Courtesy of -=Dani=-
Every Expedition Card features lovely artwork depicting a scene from its given location. Each cards artwork was drawn to form a mosaic or larger piece of artwork (when combined with other cards from the same set) and a super clever geek put these together for all of us to enjoy.
Image Courtesy of Major <PERSON>
The back of the cards also feature an old golden compass, which supports the theme nicely as well as being good to look at.
Image Courtesy of <PERSON>
The Investment Cards all feature the same artwork, a scene whereby 2 men shake hands. This is likely representing an investor sealing the agreement with the Archeological team to bankroll an Expedition. These cards are also identified as different to the Expedition Cards by way of a pair of shaking hand symbols instead of numerical values at the top of the card.
Image Courtesy of EndersGame
Rules and Insert Tray - The rules are very easy to read and also offer a variant for 4-player games (requiring 2 copies to play). The insert tray is a very simple affair but with only cards and the board to accommodate, it is a nice snug fit.
Image Courtesy of zombiegod
All in all the components don't blow you away but they are classy in their presentation non-the-less.
The Game Play
It's no secret that Lost Cities is a heck of a popular game and widely regarded as a favourite of many female gamers in particular.
Let's take a closer look at how the game flows.
Starting Hand - Each player begins the game by being dealt 8 cards. The remainder are placed beside the board as a draw pile. 872