Review of Basari

Basari is a board game that comes in a 9"x9"x1.5" box that’s surprisingly heavy because it’s full of components, instead of empty air. The box contains a hard board that folds out to 17"x17", 100 coloured glass "gemstones," a set of three wooden playing pieces and dice for each of the three or four players (Basari can’t be played solitaire or with only two players, and even if there were extra playing pieces to add players above four that might change the dynamics in frustrating ways), a handful of laminated cards (three per player), and a four-page rules card. The game’s illustration and graphic design are by John Kovalic, but (with the exception of a drawing of a human hand holding a gem on the box lid) don’t expect any of his familiar comic illustrations. All the components are easy to use and will stand up to repeated play.

In the game, players take on the role of gem merchants working in the bazaar, using luck and their deal-making skills to maximize their profits. The board features two tracks: a plain, numbered outside track where players move one of their markers to indicate their total point scores, and an inside track made up of rows of arched doorways surmounted by a Arabian-looking city skyline of domed buildings and crenellated towers where players move a different marker trying to earn points. In the centre of the board are four carpets on which the gem stones are initially placed, adding to the Muslim marketplace feel.

The game continues until the first player completes three circuits of the interior track, and whoever has the most points in the exterior track at the end of that time is the winner. At the end of each of the interior circuits the game stops and bonus points are awarded to the player with the most gems of each of the four colours: 14 points for the player who has the most red gemstones, 12 to the one with the most yellow gems, 10 to the one with the most green, and 8 for the most blue. Another 10 points go to the first players to complete each lap of the interior track.

At the start of each turn, simultaneously each of the players rolls a die and moves the indicated number of archways. The spaces they land on are marked with a point value (from 4 to 7) and with a number of coloured gems (from a lowly two blue gems to a princely three reds and a green), and each player has to secretly decide whether he’ll take the points (adding them directly to his point total on the outside track), take the depicted number and colour of gems (adding them to his total collection in hopes of cornering the market on one colour of gems, which will gain him bonus points), or roll the die again, moving that many spaces further along the inner track and subtracting the roll from 6 and adding that number to his point total.

Simultaneously, the players reveal their decisions by turning over cards marked with a numerals, gems, or a die, respectively. If all players selected different options, then they carry through their actions and the next turn starts. If three or four players selected the same option, their actions are all cancelled and none of them gets anything for the turn.

But if two players selected the same option, then they enter into a bartering session, offering each other different numbers and colours of gems in exchange for the right to be the one to carry out his selected action. The bartering follows a set of rigid rules: an offer of an equal number of gemstones of a more valuable colour is always a raise on a previous offer; and a larger number of gemstones is always a raise, even if the stones are lower in intrinsic value (e.g., four blue stones, the lowest value, are worth more than three red, the highest, in a barter).

At both the point of deciding which option to select and during any ensuing barter sessions there are numerous strategies one can adopt, and what strategy you pursue can change with the roll of the dice, with opportunism replacing planning since any plans you make can be undone not only by the spaces you land on but also by the plans and dice rolls of other players.

For example, if your piece lands in an archway offering a large number of valuable gems (e.g., three yellows) but only a low point value (e.g., 4) you might want to take the gems as your action -- unless one of your opponents landed on an arch with a good haul in gems, which means he might try to take gems as his action and a barter could result; unless you think you can out-bargain him, it might be best if you took the straight points, or even rolled and took your chances. And even if your arch offers low-value gems, if it also offers a large number of them (e.g., three blues), it might be worth your while to try get them in order to corner that low-value market if the other players seem to be attempting to corner the market of high-value red and yellow gems. And even if you land on a low point-value space or a space with gems that you don’t particular care for, you might want to take those points or gems as your action if you see that another player is on a high point-value space (and if thus likely to pick that as his action) or is on a space with gems of a colour he seems to be collecting, in hopes that he’ll offer you some of the colour gems that’s your actual goal in order to get you to back down on your picked option. And if you are ahead of the other players in points on the outer track, but you think they could catch up with you given a couple lucky rolls, you might want to ignore everything else and always pick as your action the option of rolling the die again in hopes of completing the third circuit of the board (and thus ending the game) before the others can close the point gap.

Unlike many other board games, Basari’s rules don’t come with a handful of strategy hints, which I first thought was a failing of the rules, but which I later decided was just a practical matter: it’s almost impossible to come up with strategy hints that aren’t either so vague as to be obvious or so specific to a particular combination of circumstances on the board as to almost never come into play. Still, the basics of the rules are easy enough to learn, and a game only takes 20 to 30 minutes once everyone knows that they’re doing. And my vacationing non-gamer friend (who I frequently inflict new games on) specifically wanted me to mention that she had fun with this game, even if she didn’t win. On the other hand, the “ages 10 and up” on the Basari box may be a bit generous if you expect each of the players to have an equal chance at winning.

Basari is a challenging game, where your skill at bluffing and bargaining can make up for bad rolls on your part, but your opponents’ skills can negate the advantages of your own good fortune; where figuring out the strategies that would most benefit your opponents can be more important than figuring out your own best strategy (after all, your opponents will always outnumber you); and flexibility can be more important than luck or skill when it comes to winning. The fact that you can only play it with exactly three or four players is a strike against it, but even considering that problem Basari is worth its cover price.