I’m playing a board game every day this month and blogging about it (I did a similar challenge last year). Feel free to join me during my Every Night Is Game Night: My Daily Play & Blog Challenge. And tweet me with what you’re playing these days!
Whenever I play Lost Cities it’s a reminder that I need more Reiner Knizia games in my library. This card game of set collection and hand management plays quickly since each turn consists of two actions: 1. Play a card onto your tableau or the community area, then 2. Take a card from the face-down deck or the community area.
The theme is a nod to going on adventures Indiana-Jones style, but it could’ve been anything. Basically, you’re trying to play cards from five different colors/suits in ascending order, 1-10. There are “deal” cards that you can play first before any of the five suits and these will double the score on that suit.
The game play is smooth and offers tough decisions from the get-go. Players must try to figure out which suits they’re going to play and hope that they have enough of that suit to score points. For each suit you begin, it’s an automatic 20-point deduction. You’ll regain these points as you play those cards from your hand.
Lost Cities is an excellent two-player game that is easy to pick up and play, yet still offers a decent amount of strategy. I’ve been a fan since I first played it and it’ll always have a spot on my shelves.