“Complete challenging tasks by running through the Andes and more!”
Link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/368975/cuzco
Playing Time: 75-120 Minutes
Weight: Heavy
Genre: Dice Activation & Placement
Designer: Stefan Feld
Players: 2-4
Once upon a time there was a game called Bora Bora, where you manage a small pacific tribe competing against other tribes. To win, you’ll need to outperform them by doing crucial things such as building huts, praying and, um… collecting shells and getting really dope tattoos. Stefan Feld wanted to reprint this but couldn’t land the rights I guess, so instead we have Cuzco, where you manage a small mountain-dwelling tribe competing against other tribes by building huts, collecting shells and getting really dope tattoos.
The dice placement is really the engine of the game. At the start of a round, everyone rolls three dice. They can place them on one of 7 potential locations. The benefits an action space gives is based on the number on the dice. So you get less resources if you place a 1 on a die — but it still may be advantageous! Because you can only place a die on a spot if that space is empty, or if it’s lower in value than any dice already on the space. This means that all die rolls have gameplay values: high rolls earn you more benefits, but low rolls are optimal for blocking opponents.
Bora Bora was on my list for years but fell off due to the fact that, frankly, the teach is brutal. But this reprinting reminded me – there’s a really good game in here, and the juice is worth the squeeze.
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