Safari Jack is a simple "hip pocket" game for two hunters, by James Ernest.
Players: 2*
Time: 15-30 minutes
Difficulty: 2 (of 10)
* 2-4 with a second set of "Safari Jack"
This is a review of the second edition of Safari Jack, also called Safari Jack Remix, which was printed as a full-color Hip Pocket game.
The Components
As with the other Hip Pocket Games, this one comes in a plastic baggy. There are just two components: the cards and the rulesheet.
Cards: Safari Jack contains a set of 46 cards, printed full-color on heavy, slightly glossy cardstock. The cards can bend a bit, but are actually thick enough that they're a bit hard to shuffle.
A few of the cards allow special actions (Move, Bump, Jump), which are explained clearly on the card, but most depict one of several types of hunting terrain: water, forest, mountains, and desert. Some of the map terrains are "end caps" which have three walls along the side, and also a scoring value (from 2-5).
The artwork on the cards is computer generated. It's very colorful, but fairly plain. The mountains are a bit ugly, but the others are nice enough, given that they're abstractions. They look quite good when arrayed on a table during play.
Since the endcaps are supposed to be places where you discover animals to shootphotograph, my wife found it disappointing that there were no animals depicted.
Rulesheet: A small, four-fold rulesheet printed in black and white. It does a good job of explaining the rules, and contains one large example of play. There are also some nice game variants at the end, which can give you some different options as to how to play.
Other Components: You'll also need two pawns and 5-10 markers in those same colors. I used the Cheapass pawns & microchips, but the demands are so low that you'll be able to get by with whatever you have at hand.
The cards are of good quality given the cheapass price, with the color being particularly standout. However, the computer-textured backgrounds don't really make best use of that full-color. The game also gains some usability thanks to the full rules text on the "Bump" and "Jump" cards. Overall, I think it rates slightly above average, and thus give it a high "3" out of "5" on Style.
The Gameplay
The object of Safari Jack is to travel to "end caps" to hunt (or photograph, if you prefer) animals. This is done through the clever play of map cards and appropriate movement.
Setup: Two cards are placed face-down next to each other in the middle of the table; these are base camps. Each player places their pawn on one of the two base camps. In addition, each player gets an initial hand of 6 cards.
Order of Play: Each turn a player takes, in order, the following actions:
- Draw
- Play
- Move
Draw: The player draws a new card.
Play: The player plays one of his cards from his hand. This may be: a movement card; a map card; an end cap; or a base camp.
Movement Card. These are special cards which affect movement. Move 2, 3, and 4 cards let a player move that number of spaces rather than the regular 1; Jump lets them jump to any space other than an endcap; and Bump lets them move an opponent to any space on the board.
Map Card. These cards depict one of four terrains: forest, desert, mountain, or water. They must be played either adjacent to a base camp or adjacent to the same terrain.
End Cap. These cards depict one of the four terrains, but with three walls and a score (from 2-5). They must be played adjacent to the same terrain (but not a base camp).
Base Camp. Any card may be placed as a base camp by flipping it upside down and playing it to the board. The clear advantage of playing a base camp is that you can then connect up other types of terrain.
Move: If a player played a Jump or Bump card, his move is over. Otherwise, he may now move one space on the map (or 2-4 if he played a movement card), to an adjacent card. There's one exception: a player can't move on to a card he just played.
Bumping an Opponent. If a player ends up on the same space as an opponent, he may bump that players pawn to any space on the board (just as with playing a Bump card). Presumably this is also the case if a player plays a Jump, though it's not entirely clear from the rules.
Scoring an Endcap. When a player steps into an end cap, if the other player hasn't already scored it, he does. He places one of his markers in that space and earns the number of points shown.
Winning the Game: The game ends when one player has scored at least 15 points of endcaps; that player wins.
How the Game Plays
As a game of Safari Jack slowly unfolds, the players will start to play terrain cards around the base camps. And, they'll start to idly wander into the wilderness. Eventually one player will decide that his opponent is far enough away that he'll take a chance at playing an endcap, hoping that he'll get there first.
From that point on, the game is a constant back and forth. There's brinkmanship as players try and play endcaps at the "right" time, while conversely opponents will sometimes work on their own endcaps, and sometimes jump in to claim the other player's. Most of the building will be pretty simple, with endcaps connected to normal terrain connected to base camps, but sometimes new base camps will get played as well, to free up space to put down new types of terrain.
Eventually a player will place endcaps that would let him get to 15 or more points. There's a last try to prevent him, and he either gets away with it or not.
Relationships to Other Games
Safari Jack is an edge-matching tile-laying game, as tiles (cards) must be placed adjacent to other tiles of the appropriate sort. It'll probably generally appeal to folks who like other games in the same category, such as Carcassonne, but it's much simpler.
Safari Jack also involves the movement of pawns across the maps that are created, an element that I find is pretty rare in tile-laying games (and I'm always amazed it's not taken better advantage of, because I think it's a pretty cool game element).
The Game Design
Overall, Safari Jack is a pretty simple but well-designed abstract tactical game. Here's some of the best points:
Enjoyable Brinkmanship: The core of the game is built on fairly simple brinkmanship as you try and lay out endcaps without making them available to your opponent.
Some Hidden Strategy: There are some hidden levels of strategy in the game, mostly related to taking advantage of the ability to "bump" an opponent by moving into their square. It isn't immediately visible the first time you play, but it becomes a nice add-on to the brinkmanship in additional plays. There's also some hidden strategy in the playing of endcaps efficiently so that they may be moved to with a minimum of work.
Controlled Randomness: The majority of the randomness implicit in drawing from a deck of cards is controlled by: holding on to a hand of 6; and being able to play any card as a base camp. This helps make sure that you can always be doing something when you play.
Here's some of the problems with the design:
Some Randomness Remains High: Despite the majority of the randomness being controlled in the game, there is still high randomness related to the "move" cards. These can have a large effect on the game, and they're rare enough that they're high variance items--meaning one player can do notably better than the other in collecting them, and may thus do notably better in the game.
Unnecessary Plays Sometimes Required: Since you're always required to play cards, even when you don't need to, you'll sometimes play cards that are totally unnecessary, just to get them on the table. This isn't a problem per so (though it makes it more possible to forget the "play" phase), but it's inelegant.
Overall, Safari Jack is a quick, light game that still has some elements of real strategy and tactics. It's slightly above average, and so I'd give it a high "3" out of "5" for Substance.
Conclusion
Safari Jack is a Hip Pocket games that combines some color, some tactics, and some strategy into a tiny package than can be played by two players in 15 minutes or so. If you like edge-matching tile-laying games this one is a good bet.
Review Summary