Board Game Review: Sapiens | Geek Node Archive

Developer Cyrille Leroy
Publisher Catch Up Games & IELLO
Distributor Boardgames.co.za
Where we got our copy Boardgames.co.za
Table top type Board Games
Players 2-4

Pyro

Published February 4, 2016

Sapiens is an easy to learn game based on the classic rules of dominoes (but a lot more fun than dominoes I can assure you!) Designed by Cyrille Leroy and Illustrated by Marc-Antoine Allard this game is for 2-4 players (ages 10+) with a standard game lasting about 45min. This beautiful game is published by iello and we received our review copy from our friends at boardgames.co.za

Sapiens is an interactive, clever, and streamlined game – easy to learn, but hard to master. Based on the memorable, simple rules of dominoes, sapiens offer interesting choices on an ever-changing board. Venture forth and lead your tribe to prosperity.

Game Components:

The game consists of the usual cardboard cutouts that make out the playing pieces. There are 8 double sided valley boards that lock into each other that makes up your personal play board. Sapiens changes things up a bit by giving each player their own game board and not a shared board in the middle of the table. You have small cutouts depicting mammoth steaks and angry EVIL bears, the rest of the game’s pieces consists out of the actual “domino” pieces depicting two different scenes per side that will have to be matched up to progress through the game.

These can be Feast (Bone), Picking (Tree), Ritual (Rock), Fight (Fist), Water (Water), Camp (Hut), Hunt (Mammoth) or Fire (Flame). Each one of these 8 elements give you special bonuses as you play the game adding an extremely streamlined strategy factor into the game!

How To Play:

The game starts out with players picking their colour as well as 2 halves of the Double-Sided valley boards. All players receive their starting hand of tiles and chooses their starting point to one of the adjacent caves of the board by playing an eligible tile onto the board receiving the cave’s Mountain token (one of the elements mentioned before). Once all players chose their starting cave the play continues from the youngest player.

Play Pieces

Player Board

Each round you choose which tile you want to play taking into account the classic rules of dominoes. Depending on the scene you match up and where you match it up on the board, (Boards have numbers on them depicting the Food Points you score by building on them), certain bonuses are triggered as follow:

Feast (Bone): You may place an additional tile

Picking (Tree): You gain +1 Food points based on the square you built this on

Ritual (Stone) : You can take any Mountain token from any cave or waterfall

Fight (Fist): You can place a fight token on any tile in the common pool or anyone’s personal pool. Once you use a tile with a fight token on you lose 1 food and the person who the token belongs to gains 1 food.

Water (Water): You can swop one of your personal tiles with any of the common pool’s or someone’s personal pool (very sneaky!)

Camp (Hut): You gain 3 Shelter Points

Hunt (mammoth): You gain a mammoth steak token and you can turn in your collected mammoth steaks (The more you have the more you score, 1 steak = 1 point but 2 steaks = 3 points and 3 steaks = 5 points)

Fire (Flame): You can either chase a bear out of your valley or you can send a bear onto someone else’s board blocking them from using that particular block until they can chase away the bear with their own flame token (once again extremely sneaky and game changing) Depending on how many adjacent tiles you place the bear, you will gain a Shelter Point for each tile.

After your tile has been placed you replenish your personal pool from the 5 tiles in the common pool and you replenish the common pool with tiles from the facedown tiles.

Once you reach another cave and you can place a tile on it you will score the Shelter Points depicted on the boards. If you are unable to place any tiles your tribe has reached a dead end and you need to start in a new cave, the spots taken up by your old tribe in the valley is now lost and you are unable to place any tiles on those spots.

The game ends once the common pool is empty, the round is finished and scores are counted. Now this is where Sapiens really got me the 1st play-through. You remove your highest scoring token between Shelter and Food Points from the board. Winner is then calculated by the 2nd highest score (Food or Shelter). This basically penalizes people focusing only on Food Points and neglecting Shelter points. Since the aim of the game is to give your tribe Food and Shelter this mechanic makes you look at the scoreboard the entire game forcing you to change your strategy between Food and Shelter trying to build the most successful tribe before the dreaded winter arrives.

Positive Nodes:

Easy to learn with Classic Dominoes rules

Extremely strategic but still fun

Well thought out with personal boards

Great artwork

Awesome box insert

Negative Nodes:

The bonus effects can be confusing the 1st play-through with players referring to the rulebook. After the 1st round they are easily understood

THOSE DAMN EVIL BEARS!

The time has come for your tribe to leave their cave and head for new horizons. As their clan chief you must guide your prehistoric people through the valley to gather food and find shelter in caves. Interact with other groups and lead your tribe to discover the valley! Sapiens is an easy to learn game based on the classic rules of dominoes (but a lot more fun than dominoes I can assure you!) Designed by Cyrille Leroy and Illustrated by Marc-Antoine Allard this game is for 2-4 players (ages 10+) with a standard game lasting about 45min. This beautiful game is published by iello and we received our review copy from our friends at boardgames.co.za Sapiens is an interactive, clever, and streamlined game - easy to learn, but hard to master. Based on the memorable, simple rules of dominoes, sapiens offer interesting choices on an ever-changing board. Venture forth and lead your tribe to prosperity. Game Components: The game consists of the usual cardboard cutouts that make out the playing pieces. There are 8 double sided valley boards that lock into each other that makes up your personal play board. Sapiens changes things up a bit by giving each player their own game board and not a shared board in the middle of the table. You have small cutouts depicting mammoth steaks and angry EVIL bears, the rest of the game's pieces consists out of the actual "domino" pieces depicting two different scenes per side that will have to be matched up to progress through the game. These can be Feast (Bone), Picking (Tree), Ritual (Rock), Fight (Fist), Water (Water), Camp (Hut), Hunt (Mammoth) or Fire (Flame). Each one of these 8 elements give you special bonuses as you play the game adding an extremely streamlined strategy factor into the game! How To Play: The game starts out with players picking their colour as well as 2 halves of the Double-Sided valley boards. All players receive their starting hand of tiles and chooses their starting point to one of the adjacent caves of the board by playing an eligible tile onto the board receiving the cave's Mountain token (one of the elements mentioned before). Once all players chose their starting cave the play continues from the youngest player. [gallery ids="34417,34416,34415"] Each round you choose which tile you want to play taking into account the classic rules of dominoes. Depending on the scene you match up and where you match it up on the board, (Boards have numbers on them depicting the Food Points you score by building on them), certain bonuses are triggered as follow: Feast (Bone): You may place an additional tile Picking (Tree): You gain +1 Food points based on the square you built this on Ritual (Stone) : You can take any Mountain token from any cave or waterfall Fight (Fist): You can place a fight token on any tile in the common pool or anyone's personal pool. Once you use a tile with a fight…

Board Game Review: Sapiens

2016-02-04

Pyro

Total - 9

90 9

Could have been full points if those evil bears would just leave me alone! *sob*

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Pyro

Guest Contributor - Tabletop at Geek Node

Pyro is a rambling pyromaniac of unknown origin who has a burning passion for all things fire related. (And board games). Controller by day gamer by night. He turns caffeine into reviews.