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I'm a gamer, always have been. Problem is for a large number of years that's really just consisted of the video variety. That's a huge mistake on my part, to not enjoy the video game's analog brethren... the board game. There’s actually a vibrant and intense board game world out there that’s been pushed to the sidelines by game players such as ourselves for too long. In this column I'll be diving into this world, looking at games that hopefully you'd like to try out for yourself.
It doesn't take long in playing games to start sorting them into different genres and mechanics, so you can at least know from the get go whether or not you're going to be remotely interested. You hear FPS, RTS, RPG, etc. and you at least know what kind of game to expect. Same applies to the analog game universe, the only difference being they don't have all the acronyms and they usually focus on the core mechanic. For instance there are "route-laying" games (Ticket to Ride), abstract games (DVONN & Hive), deck building (Dominion), bluffing, auction, deception, etc etc etc. So I've been trying to find all different types to cover here and today we're going to cover a "press your luck" type game called Incan Gold.
Ready to go in search of untold treasures? Adventure is out there!
Incan Gold puts you and your friends in the roles of treasure hunters, a la Indiana Jones. Together you'll be exploring ruins, splitting treasure, and seeing if you're tough enough to brave the dangers longer than your companions. It's a light, fast game that can be played numerous times in a row or serve as a "lead-in" to a more meaty game.
Each person gets the same items to start the adventure. Everyone gets 2 cards -- one to keep exploring the other to return to camp -- and a fold out tent to hide their acquired treasure. The game comes with a bunch of plastic "rocks" that serve as the counters for the treasure gained. A deck of treasure and danger cards serve as the ruins. The game starts with one person turning over the first card of that deck. If it's a treasure card it'll have a number on it stating how much treasure the party has found. That number is divided equally among the players with the remainder left on the card, so if there are 4 players and the treasure card says 7 then each person gets 1 piece and 3 are left on the card. The treasure is left in front of each player for now.
Before the next card is turned, all players play one of their hand cards to say whether they want to explore further or go back to camp. If you decide to go back to camp, all the treasure in front of you is safe and goes into your tent. You also take any pieces left on the cards so far. If multiple adventurers leave at once the pieces on the board are again split. So cards are turned over and treasure is divided and left on the cards. Before each round players decide whether or not to go back to camp or to stay. But it's not all treasure and riches!
There are also cards that have various dangers on them like spiders, rockslides, and snakes (why did it have to be SNAKES!). The first time one of these danger cards come up nothing happens. When the second identical danger card comes up anyone still exploring loses all the treasure they've gotten that round and the round is over. So mixed in with various treasure cards you may have a few different danger ones. The treasure you've gotten on that round isn't safe until you leave and go back to camp, so as dangers come up you need to really decide whether or not you want to press your luck and run the risk of losing all the treasure you've gotten so far by getting hit with that second danger card. Of course, the more people that bail means a bigger share for you if you stay, since once you go back to camp you don't share in the treasure acquired after you leave. In the example above, each person has 2 pieces of treasure, and there are 4 more on the board. If we get another spider or snake card we'll lose everything. Do we bail out, grab the other 4 on the board and take our total of 6 back to camp? Or do we press on for a big money card? (In all honesty the totals get much higher before people cut and run but this framed nicely for the picture)
 The entire game lasts 5 rounds and whoever has gotten the most treasure at the end is the winner! There are artifact cards that you can introduce that make the game slightly deeper, but that's essentially it. Not that that's a bad thing by any stretch.
My favorite thing about Incan Gold is how well it scales with how many people you want to play with. You need at least 3 but it goes up to 8 (and could go higher with some slight modifications). What's interesting is that the more people you have playing the more gold ends up being left on the cards (since for example a 7 value treasure card could be split among 3 people, but not 8), making it quite tempting to bail out early and take it all back with you. Though the danger lies that a bunch of people have the same thought and end up with next to nothing once it's split a bunch of ways.
Incan Gold is one of those games that is perfect for people that don't think they like games. It's one of those quintessential "gateway games" that you can use to introduce people to games. It's a great way to show people that board games are more than Monopoly and Candyland. With the holidays coming up fast this game would be PERFECT to take to family get-togethers to give you something fun to do after dinner. The game is light enough to even get Mom and Dad in on the action, and it's not expensive (as of the time of publication this game costs $15) . The components are also great for getting people into the fun. The little pop-out tents and the fantastic looking treasure pieces give the game a nice tactile feel that really help out with the theme of treasure-hunting. Keeping score on a card would be lame, having a pile of jewels in front of you is just awesome.
Incan Gold was designed by Alan Moon and Bruno Faidutti and was published in 2006. It is still in print and can be bought at Funagaingames.com or your Local Friendly Game Store.
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