Five Tribes Board Game - Conquer The Sultanate of Naqala! Worker Placement Strategy Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 13+, 2-4 Players, 40-80 Minute Playtime, Made by Days of Wonder

Why did I wait so long to buy this one?! I LOVE this game. It seems simple, but is deceptively so.The rules took a little longer to explain to my parents, but I think by halfway through the game they started (mostly) understanding the point of it. I wouldn't consider this a first or second gateway game, but could be one to introduce to someone who has a few games under their belt. I'd say it's a mid-weight Euro game with little luck involved.Why I love it:* There are multiple ways to achieve victory. This means your initial strategy may be foiled, but you can adapt to a new strategy. You will be putting some thought into every move you make, especially as you get farther into the game.* There are lots of parts and pieces to this game. It's overwhelming at first glance but all pulls together surprisingly well to make a rich, complex game. I think the Djinns are the only part I'd say I could live without, but even they add another layer to consider. (If you're playing with new gamers and want to make it lighter, you could definitely play without them.)* Theme fits pretty well. It's not super immersive, but I can see how every part and piece works together to strengthen the theme. Each meeple has a fitting purpose, and camels, oasis, and palaces all tie in nicely too.It's just a great game! I could go on and on about how much I LOVE this game (despite not truly representing any of my favorite mechanisms), but you should try it out yourself. If it does feel too complex, I'd definitely suggest playing without Djinns for your first game to learn the basics first.

Please remeber when you are choosing this game that it is not a quick get together with friends to kill an hour or so... This is a game you play with your family or someone who is staying for a long weekend! And, once you add an Artisans Expansion Set, it gets even longer. BUT, we would not have it any other way. Once, we added Artisans to our game playing, we could no longer play without them!One particular strong point of this game is the ability for just two people to play! And, not just play like some other games claim but still have lots of fun doing so without diminishing the complexity of the game. In this case, each person gets two turns to bet and two turns to move. This in itself introduces a whole new way to plan, setup and execute your moves!Since February, we played around 19 games thats almost three games a month with an average playing time of about 4 hours per game, some were a bit shorter but most were just about 4 or even longer... For some reason in my mind, this game relates to a complex version of chess. Every move you make with meeples is a trade off between available moves. The resulted meeple, tile, Djinn and magic item actions give you points. You win by accumulating the most total points. The beauty of this game is that there are many ways to win, by collecting: gold, resources, properties, Djinns, precious items, certain color meeples (yellow, purple and white) and certain property improvements. Lots of ways to win and lots of ways to play. The game is completely customizable from the board to resources to Djinns to meeples to (as an added chance bonus) magic/precious items. There is no single game setup that you will play that will be the same!So, to sum it up, if you are looking for a party game, this is not the game you want but if you have time for a fun family adventure (even just two people), then you are in the right place! If you do buy this game, as with some other Days of Wonder games, remember not to throw away card board cutouts but use them under the plastic tray to keep game pieces from spilling into adjacent compartments (see pictures).

It's hard to believe that Five Tribes is only two years old. This game burst onto my personal scene with a vengeance, and I'd have to class it as my favorite game right now (I've played the game probably 5-6 times, but only recently started logging plays). in Five Tribes, you will use a reverse worker placement mechanic smooshed with mancala to pick up meeples off the board and use their abilities. Meeples can buy you goods, help you court the favor of powerful genies, assassinate other meeples, and earn you victory points towards the game end.Five Tribes is an incredibly tight, tactical game. Every turn, you will be scoping out the game board for the best possible turn, and then bidding on the turn order (which brings in some nice bluffing and planning -- it's possible to entirely overbid as happened to one player in the latest game we played). Because of this, it can be prone to AP, but this doesn't happen often if you keep players moving.I love Five Tribes because it presents so many difficult decisions as well as so many paths to victory. I sprinted to a tight win in our latest game because I specialized on the market almost to the exclusion of everything else. I've seen other players win with Djinns, with conservative bidding, and with great area control on the board. The great part is, you need to focus on multiple victory point engines in addition to your primary one, because one specialty won't be enough to bring you to victory.If you love tactical games, beautiful artwork, and a great, elegant game that plays in under an hour and a half, Five Tribes is for you. I couldn't think of another game that better uses worker placement in such an innovative fashion, and it's one of my go-tos when we want a medium-heavy game to play. Highly, highly recommended.