REVIEW OF Anasazi
Anasazi (Phalanx and Mayfair Games, 2006 – Klaus-Jurgen Wrede) is a difficult game to quantify. It’s a game that has elements of dexterity, an unusual theme (the Anasazi Indians in the American Southwest), and mechanics unlike any other game that I’ve played. Coming from the man who designed Carcassonne, I was expecting something fairly interesting, especially considering the odd components.
And I found playing Anasazi a pleasant experience. It’s not a great game, or one that I would request often, but I’d not turn down a game. The odd mechanics are probably too odd for this to become a major hit, and the drab artwork on the box certainly doesn’t help matters! The game can have some heated interaction and allows players to really mess with each other during the quick games. It feels fairly random (and perhaps it is), and everyone had a good time; but it has a few flaws that keep me from wanting to play it more often.
A pile of mesa pieces is placed on the board in a pattern shown by the rulebook. Each of these mesas are large cardboard tokens with pueblos marked on them. Players place six start tiles in a circle around the outer mesas, and then sixteen small towers (each with a hidden color on the bottom – red, yellow, blue, or white) are placed on any pueblo that has a dividing line on it. On the other half, as well as non-divided pueblos, players place a random “treasure” (colored cubes). A bonus treasure of each type is placed near the board, as well as a scoring track for the different colors. A pile of mission cards (each denoting a different color) is shuffled, and each player randomly takes one. Players take seven “camp” tokens of their color and in turn order place two of them between the mesas. The spaces between the mesas are known as the valleys. A pile of expedition markers (long thin cardboard tokens showing a ladder and a little man on one end) is placed near the board. Players are allowed to secretly look at the base of any three of the towers at this point. Then, one player is chosen to go first, and then play passes clockwise around the table.
On a player’s turn, they may take two actions. There are two things that they may choose from, and they may do the same action twice.Set up another camp: The player may take one of their camps and place it in any valley on the board, as long as it sits flat on the table. The player may then look secretly at the base of any one tower.
Take part in an expedition: The player takes an expedition marker and adds to the end of an expedition. They may place the tile any way they want, as long as the new tile covers up the little man on the preceding tile. The first marker must start on a start tile (one per tile), and after that, they may go in any direction – even crossing each other.
If a player places an expedition marker so that it is the first one to touch a mesa, the player may look at one of the towers on that mesa. When a player touches the line around a pueblo with an expedition marker, they receive the treasure in that space. If there is a tower, it is removed, revealed, and placed on the first available space on the corresponding color track. When a player touches one of their own camps with an expedition marker, they may take a treasure token from another player.
The game continues until either all the expedition markers have been placed, or when four towers of one color have been placed on the color track. When this happens, players score points for each of their treasures. Treasures are worth one point for each color dot VISIBLE (not covered by a tower) on their color track – there are five spaces to start with. If the player has a bonus card for a specific color, those treasures are worth double points. The player with the most points is the winner!
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: Setting up this game requires more table space than you might think, and it’s a bit of a chore as you have to make sure the mesas are at least similarly laid out as shown in the rulebook. The towers are white blocks onto which you must affix stickers to the bottom – a bit crude, but it works. The mesas themselves are nice, with easily defined pueblos and nice scenery. I do have one large problem with the mesas, however. Unless you play the game on a tablecloth, they slide around too easily; and in a game that requires skillful placement of tiles, this can be a liability. The cubes and start tiles are nice; the base camps are okay, although the colored tents on them can be difficult to see in poor lighting. Everything has a bit of a dull overtone, because of the desert theme, I suppose, but it just isn’t very exciting. The name and box are just vastly uninspiring, and I had to talk one group into playing the game, as they thought it looked horrifically boring.
2.) Rules: The rulebook explains everything fairly clearly, although the strange naming doesn’t help too much. People understood the game easily – although the scoring takes a bit to understand, as it seems a bit reversed to some.
3.) Arguing: One of the major faults I would have with the game is what I call the “debate” factor. With the possibility of the mesas sliding around, it’s sometimes a close call as to whether an expedition tile actually makes it onto a mesa or pueblo or not. In every game, I have seen this hotly contested, and it takes some of the joy out of the game. Now you might exclaim that the problem lies with the players, not the game, but I would contest that we are working with tiles so small that too many close calls happen for me to be comfortable.
4.) Bonus cards: This is another problem I have with the game, as players are seeking to get cubes of a specific color. First of all, there is no reason at all that these should be secret – the first time a player has a chance to steal a color, everyone knows what their card is. Secondly, there are TWO cards of each color. If two players get the same color bonus, they will be fighting over it, while the other players are laughing as they go their merry ways. I really didn’t understand why there are two of each card, especially in a game that only supports four players.
5.) Strategy: Lest this sound like I hate the game, it actually has some fun ideas. You want to extend the expeditions, but not too far, because then another person will get the benefits. Players also want to force the expeditions towards towers/cubes that they want, and it’s a neat idea to be able to place base camps. Camps don’t seem to help much, but having a knowledge of which tower is where is critical – I’ve seen people lose because they extended into a tower that devalued the color they had the most cubes from. Know which towers are which, and remember where they are! (something I had a lot of trouble with)
6.) Fun Factor: Taking away the arguing and piece shuffling, the game is fairly fun. For one thing, it’s fast, and it’s an enjoyable thing to watch the expeditions trail around the board. I like the idea of making other players’ treasures worthless and steering the expeditions to the places I want. Anasazi won’t win any points for deep strategy, but it is entertaining for a short while.
I wouldn’t recommend that people pick up Anasazi without giving it a try first, as it certainly is unusual and may surprise people expecting a “normal” game. The arguing and physical laying of the pieces may annoy some, and I don’t like the current bonus card situation. However, changing that to just one card per player, and playing this game on occasion with people who don’t take life so seriously, I have a little fun but not enough to want to do it twice in a row.
Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games”
www.thedicetower.com
And I found playing Anasazi a pleasant experience. It’s not a great game, or one that I would request often, but I’d not turn down a game. The odd mechanics are probably too odd for this to become a major hit, and the drab artwork on the box certainly doesn’t help matters! The game can have some heated interaction and allows players to really mess with each other during the quick games. It feels fairly random (and perhaps it is), and everyone had a good time; but it has a few flaws that keep me from wanting to play it more often.
A pile of mesa pieces is placed on the board in a pattern shown by the rulebook. Each of these mesas are large cardboard tokens with pueblos marked on them. Players place six start tiles in a circle around the outer mesas, and then sixteen small towers (each with a hidden color on the bottom – red, yellow, blue, or white) are placed on any pueblo that has a dividing line on it. On the other half, as well as non-divided pueblos, players place a random “treasure” (colored cubes). A bonus treasure of each type is placed near the board, as well as a scoring track for the different colors. A pile of mission cards (each denoting a different color) is shuffled, and each player randomly takes one. Players take seven “camp” tokens of their color and in turn order place two of them between the mesas. The spaces between the mesas are known as the valleys. A pile of expedition markers (long thin cardboard tokens showing a ladder and a little man on one end) is placed near the board. Players are allowed to secretly look at the base of any three of the towers at this point. Then, one player is chosen to go first, and then play passes clockwise around the table.
On a player’s turn, they may take two actions. There are two things that they may choose from, and they may do the same action twice.
If a player places an expedition marker so that it is the first one to touch a mesa, the player may look at one of the towers on that mesa. When a player touches the line around a pueblo with an expedition marker, they receive the treasure in that space. If there is a tower, it is removed, revealed, and placed on the first available space on the corresponding color track. When a player touches one of their own camps with an expedition marker, they may take a treasure token from another player.
The game continues until either all the expedition markers have been placed, or when four towers of one color have been placed on the color track. When this happens, players score points for each of their treasures. Treasures are worth one point for each color dot VISIBLE (not covered by a tower) on their color track – there are five spaces to start with. If the player has a bonus card for a specific color, those treasures are worth double points. The player with the most points is the winner!
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: Setting up this game requires more table space than you might think, and it’s a bit of a chore as you have to make sure the mesas are at least similarly laid out as shown in the rulebook. The towers are white blocks onto which you must affix stickers to the bottom – a bit crude, but it works. The mesas themselves are nice, with easily defined pueblos and nice scenery. I do have one large problem with the mesas, however. Unless you play the game on a tablecloth, they slide around too easily; and in a game that requires skillful placement of tiles, this can be a liability. The cubes and start tiles are nice; the base camps are okay, although the colored tents on them can be difficult to see in poor lighting. Everything has a bit of a dull overtone, because of the desert theme, I suppose, but it just isn’t very exciting. The name and box are just vastly uninspiring, and I had to talk one group into playing the game, as they thought it looked horrifically boring.
2.) Rules: The rulebook explains everything fairly clearly, although the strange naming doesn’t help too much. People understood the game easily – although the scoring takes a bit to understand, as it seems a bit reversed to some.
3.) Arguing: One of the major faults I would have with the game is what I call the “debate” factor. With the possibility of the mesas sliding around, it’s sometimes a close call as to whether an expedition tile actually makes it onto a mesa or pueblo or not. In every game, I have seen this hotly contested, and it takes some of the joy out of the game. Now you might exclaim that the problem lies with the players, not the game, but I would contest that we are working with tiles so small that too many close calls happen for me to be comfortable.
4.) Bonus cards: This is another problem I have with the game, as players are seeking to get cubes of a specific color. First of all, there is no reason at all that these should be secret – the first time a player has a chance to steal a color, everyone knows what their card is. Secondly, there are TWO cards of each color. If two players get the same color bonus, they will be fighting over it, while the other players are laughing as they go their merry ways. I really didn’t understand why there are two of each card, especially in a game that only supports four players.
5.) Strategy: Lest this sound like I hate the game, it actually has some fun ideas. You want to extend the expeditions, but not too far, because then another person will get the benefits. Players also want to force the expeditions towards towers/cubes that they want, and it’s a neat idea to be able to place base camps. Camps don’t seem to help much, but having a knowledge of which tower is where is critical – I’ve seen people lose because they extended into a tower that devalued the color they had the most cubes from. Know which towers are which, and remember where they are! (something I had a lot of trouble with)
6.) Fun Factor: Taking away the arguing and piece shuffling, the game is fairly fun. For one thing, it’s fast, and it’s an enjoyable thing to watch the expeditions trail around the board. I like the idea of making other players’ treasures worthless and steering the expeditions to the places I want. Anasazi won’t win any points for deep strategy, but it is entertaining for a short while.
I wouldn’t recommend that people pick up Anasazi without giving it a try first, as it certainly is unusual and may surprise people expecting a “normal” game. The arguing and physical laying of the pieces may annoy some, and I don’t like the current bonus card situation. However, changing that to just one card per player, and playing this game on occasion with people who don’t take life so seriously, I have a little fun but not enough to want to do it twice in a row.
Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games”
www.thedicetower.com
