I played this with four Germans: an 81 year old and three other adults who don’t play board games at all and would consider skipbo their limit. We all had a blast. Why? Dorn has definitely based this design on the ancient and still very popular German game ‘mensch argere dich nicht’ (ludo) but with some added bits for more strategy. That is how basic this game actually is. It is as gateway as you can get, but considering the audience this is aimed for, it’s a perfect fit. Like ‘mensch’ you move four pawns in a circle, you release pawns, you need to get your pawn home, you roll dice and cards to move. Only the ‘take that’ of kicking home pawns that you land on has been removed.
Luxor is probably the most under-the-radar of the three nominees, with Azul being all the rage and The Mind played a lot at gaming conventions (and enjoyed especially by the GameBoyGeek). But my family enthusiastically enjoys Karuba and Las Vegas, and I personally enjoy Istanbul (and am awaiting the dice game). So Luxor will probably be another Rudiger Dorn family favorite in the future. I have my copy already pre-ordered at my FLGS. Thanks for the review! :)
When this came up in the nominations, it was the only one I hadn't heard of. I really like the adventurer type theme, but I'm a bit surprised this isn't a part of the Karuba universe (dealing with exploring the interior of the temples on the Karuba island). Missed opportunity? In your reviews, it would be cool if you could give a specific look at the components. For example, I was unclear as to whether the game comes with card holders for all of the players.
Karuba is held by HABA, so Queen Games wouldn't have been able to put this in a Karuba line. When a game has components that warrant a closer look, I definitely do that. When you saw my cards up it was just in the ledge line of my Rathskellers gaming table so you could see the cards up and the board in the background without hands in the frame :)
Yeah, I get that it's from another publisher, but I think it would have been cool if it had been part of the Karuba universe, since it's the same designer. It could have been a trilogy! Get to the temple (Karuba), explore the temple (Luxor) and a third game about escaping the island. Thanks for the clarification. I think including card holders in the game would make a lot of sense. I'm sure my kids would be tempted to slowly shift cards around in their hands when playing to get around the first and last card rule. Having them in a holder where everyone could see them on the table would definitely keep everybody more honest in my family. :)
I played this with four Germans: an 81 year old and three other adults who don’t play board games at all and would consider skipbo their limit. We all had a blast. Why? Dorn has definitely based this design on the ancient and still very popular German game ‘mensch argere dich nicht’ (ludo) but with some added bits for more strategy. That is how basic this game actually is. It is as gateway as you can get, but considering the audience this is aimed for, it’s a perfect fit. Like ‘mensch’ you move four pawns in a circle, you release pawns, you need to get your pawn home, you roll dice and cards to move. Only the ‘take that’ of kicking home pawns that you land on has been removed.
In addition to Luxor, Karuba, and Las Vegas, Rudiger Dorn also had Jambo and Arkadia nominated for the Spiel des Jahres, IIRC.
Luxor is probably the most under-the-radar of the three nominees, with Azul being all the rage and The Mind played a lot at gaming conventions (and enjoyed especially by the GameBoyGeek). But my family enthusiastically enjoys Karuba and Las Vegas, and I personally enjoy Istanbul (and am awaiting the dice game). So Luxor will probably be another Rudiger Dorn family favorite in the future.
I have my copy already pre-ordered at my FLGS. Thanks for the review! :)
When this came up in the nominations, it was the only one I hadn't heard of. I really like the adventurer type theme, but I'm a bit surprised this isn't a part of the Karuba universe (dealing with exploring the interior of the temples on the Karuba island). Missed opportunity? In your reviews, it would be cool if you could give a specific look at the components. For example, I was unclear as to whether the game comes with card holders for all of the players.
Karuba is held by HABA, so Queen Games wouldn't have been able to put this in a Karuba line. When a game has components that warrant a closer look, I definitely do that. When you saw my cards up it was just in the ledge line of my Rathskellers gaming table so you could see the cards up and the board in the background without hands in the frame :)
Yeah, I get that it's from another publisher, but I think it would have been cool if it had been part of the Karuba universe, since it's the same designer. It could have been a trilogy! Get to the temple (Karuba), explore the temple (Luxor) and a third game about escaping the island. Thanks for the clarification. I think including card holders in the game would make a lot of sense. I'm sure my kids would be tempted to slowly shift cards around in their hands when playing to get around the first and last card rule. Having them in a holder where everyone could see them on the table would definitely keep everybody more honest in my family. :)
This or karuba? What do you prefer? I am in Germany now and can get both, but do I need two similar themed games?
shatnershairpiece I definitely like Karuba better but they are so different you can't really compare them.
Seems like a fun, point saladish design // ty i like the mech of pieces moving back to the beginning, interesting
Nice, would have preferred smaller box
Thanx good video.
So, this doesn't look like DAT PC/Phone game at all...
SpikePlay ? I tried searching for DAT im both app store and google, but nothing meaningful came up?