Customer Reviews

Moai Board Game

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This is a very unique strategy game set on the historical Easter Island. Up to five Rapa Nui tribes are pitted against each other and against nature as their ecosystem crumbles around them. Players must allocate their tribesmen to gather food, obtain wood, or work on the Moai statues. Rapa Nui cards can be used to `birth' new tribesmen or to bid for first draft privileges on epoch cards (cards with player benefits like boat building abilities and additional Rapa Nui card draws).

As the game progresses wood becomes more scarce, topsoil erodes, fewer privileges are doled out, fires and wars between tribes increase, and cannibalistic raids break out...Just another day on Easter Island. The tension builds nicely thanks to the design of the epoch deck, which consists of three sets of epoch cards, each more brutal than the prior one. The game end when Dutch Admiral Van Roggeveen arrives on the Island at some point during the third epoch.

The components are very nice, especially the two decks of beautiful cards. The strategy level of the game is medium -heavy, with very little luck. There's a lot of in-your-face interaction as players battle over food and wood. It's definitely in my top 10 games, though I seldom get the chance to play this because of the many `light' gamers in my group. For 2-5 players, though it can be brutal as a 2P game. I recommend this game highly for anyone who enjoys deep strategy games AND have friends who do, too.