Karuba - Tile Laying Puzzle Game

Oh boy, this game has grabbed my husband and me and won't let go. The product description says it's addictive and it IS. We're in our 60's and were looking for something new, fun, and different from our usual Parcheesi, Sorry, Scrabble, and Challenge Rummy routine. We got this in hopes it would create challenges, new ways of thinking, fun, a short play time, and be a game that isn't mostly chance (like so many card games) but instead requires pre-planning, spatial awareness, etc. This does that. We really love it. First of all, the board and all pieces are gorgeously painted and produced. Pieces are sturdy, and that's important and necessary because the playing boards and tiles are cardboard. The pawns are either wood or sturdy plastic, I don't know which, and the gems which you collect on your journey through the jungle are plastic. Either way,it's all built to last. Layout is simple. The directions, however, were a bit complicated for us, but that's probably because we're old. Easily solved though. We just went to You Tube where there are quite a few videos on how to play the game, and that saved us. Play time is about 20-25 minutes as each player moves his adventurer to the same-colored temple across the board. You're laying out tiles with every turn that will hopefully get you there, but you have to watch out for intersecting paths leading to the other temples. Anyway, it's a fun game, absolutely deserving of its Game of the Year award, and probably would be easily understood by children as well as adults.

This is a very fun game. Ill usually do a quick practice round with new players since it has a few different game pieces to understand. But after you get the hang of it, its very easy and fun! There are some short Youtube videos that help out as well. Everyone I've showed this to loves to play.

Really fun game and easy to learn. First time setup was a tad confusing but once we played 1 game, it was very clear.

-After about 2 games kids and adults have the hang of it -You're all playing your own board concurrently, so no waiting for turns and game goes faster -It's not annoyingly addictive where you're getting constantly hassled to play, but you do want to play a few times in a sitting because it's really fun! You could probably play 3 or so times in around an hour. -If you have one younger player they can be the expedition leader (draws the cards for the whole group) -Great for casual and serious board game people -Pieces and boards are sturdy/quality made Love this game, played it at a friend's get together and have since bought it for myself and gifted it 3 times!

In Karuba, players are placing tiles to have their explorers reach the temples before others and collect gems on the way. Players set up identical maps and then one players calls out different tiles (by their number) that need to be placed on the board (respecting a few simple rules) or use the tiles to move explorers along their paths. You can decide to stop and pick up any gold or gems on the way or move along as quickly as possible to gain more treasures at the destination temples. Learning the rules are simple. There is some set up to each game as players may want to lay out all their titles in numerical order. It's a great play experience as every one is puzzling their way through the map. There is not a lot of player interaction meaning that you can't affect other players which is great for younger or newer players that may not like direct competition. Overall, a great gaming experience for families.

If I could give this 10 out 5 stars, I would. Perfect mix of puzzle and game. My 8 year old picked it up quickly and was having fun with it. Even my mom loved it and is buying her own copy. Pieces are wonderful and well made. Gold and crystals are a nice touch instead of cardboard. Doesn’t take too long and usually everyone wants to play another round right afterward. Note- we did not play with the expedition leader. There is a website a fan made that random selects the tiles for you so that everyone is able to view their tiles. I might play as expedition leader with my 8 year old next time so that it gives me a slight handicap.

The game plays fairly quickly and is fun for both older folks and children. It's interesting to have to decide to use the pieces for your map or to move your explorers. If you want to play the game with younger children than recommended you can as long as you simplify a little bit by going down to two explorers and two tokens. I think you could also buy another game box and play with more than 4 as the game play is all at once instead of one by one it wouldn't slow down the game play (although you may need some fun substitute rules with temple tokens). I bought the game for a gift for a friend who wants me to learn the games and teach them as part of the gift. But one of the temple tokens made it into the laundry and didn't survive. Since the game was a gift I really wanted the original token. I found Haba's website and sent an inquiry to their company in Germany and they sent me a free replacement token! Thank you Haba!

Karuba is a good puzzle. It bills itself as a multiplayer game, and I hesitate to say that it's a great example of that simply because there is no player interaction whatsoever. It's almost bingo-esque in that the player who is essentially emceeing the round calls out what tile everyone has to place, then everyone places it (or discards it to move an explorer). This can be a good thing, sometimes you want a very passive sort of background experience. But I think that the four-people-playing-solitaire aspect does prevent it from hitting the five-star mark for me. I actually have had a pretty enjoyable time playing it as a solitaire game. On the surface this doesn't make sense - playing for points wouldn't work since the tile draws can be so different from game to game. Instead I line all of my explorers and temples up and randomly place them based on d12 rolls. From there, I play as normal, with the exception that every temple has a cost of entry (1 gold or 2 gems seems about right), and my goal is simply to get to each temple. It's a good little brain exercise. Component quality in the game is good, tiles are on par with (say) Carcassonne tiles. The pieces are nice as well, I quite like the gems. All in all, a fun little lightweight game which lends itself to rather passive gameplay.