Review by Bryan Carpenter (jobby)One of the main reasons I picked up Livingstone was because I'd heard it is good for two players. Me and my girlfriend like hosting the occasional games night but we also like to play with just us so two player games are important to us. We weren't disappointed!
Upon opening the box the first impression was how beautiful the art on all the components is and how thick the card used for the counters and the money boxes is! The board itself comprises of a lovely illustration of an African landscape from an 'eye-in-the-sky' view with a grid superimposed over it. A score track runs around the edge and river along the bottom is used to keep track of turns by pushing a wooden steamboat token along it.
Playing pieces include 11 wooden tent tokens in a different colour for each player. Also a small wooden disc in each colour for the players to use on the score track. They are a little large for the track but that's only a minor detail.
The game is given a real tactile element by the inclusion of a cloth bag filled with plastic 'stones' which is used for mining in the game. Some stones are transparent, others opaque which relates to their worth. The other tactile element is the money boxes. This are flat-packed and the parts must be pushed out of the sheets of card, folded and assembled. The card is really sturdy and the parts come out with no fuss and no tearing. The card is pre-scored so folding is easy. Once assembled the little boxes are really solid and look great.
So, to the gameplay. Well, the rules are really simple and span only 4 sides of A4. About half a dozen languages are included in the box so I guess Playroom are seeking a truly international market here. The premise is simple but learning the best way to score may take some time I feel! Basically, each round a player will roll all the dice (two dice for each player). Each player then takes it in turns to select a die and perform an action. The only restraint on taking a die is that it must be showing a higher number than the previous dice a player took and this is where the strategy comes in.
The number on the die affects your action. For example, if you go mining you pull out a number of stones from the bag equal to the number shown on the die you picked so a high number let's you take more stones. This is a chancey way to make money: some stones are valuable but others are worthless. A guaranteed way to make money is to just take a number of pounds sterling equal to the number on the die. You can place tents, the game's main way of scoring points, but this requires you to pay a fee. This fee increases as the game goes on and so ensures that players must keep mining or taking pounds. Finally, you can take a card which may help you place tents, give you money or earn you points.
Points are generally earned by placing tents. Each tent is worth points equal to the number on the die used to place it. Each tent is scored at the end of the round in which it was placed. But there's a twist. At the end of the game players are awarded bonuses for having the most tents on a particular row. The lower scoring the tents during the game the bigger the bonus they are worth at the end of the game. This means that it's not always best to place high scoring tents during the game and also adds that tactical element to the game.
Players can also earn points by keeping stones they've mined. The transparent ones are called gems and can be sold for money during the game. Kept until the end, these gems are worth a point each - sometimes enough to swing the result of a game. However, holding onto gems can be risky. If a player should draw a Mine Collapse card then all these saved gems go back into the bag!
Finally, there are the little money boxes. Wonderfully designed, they are actually very important to the game. Players donate money to the Queen by putting money into these boxes during their turns. This money doesn't come back out during the game. Instead, once all the points are tallied all of the players reveal how much money they have donated. The player who donated the least is out of the game, even if they have the most points! You've got to keep the Queen sweet! In the two player version four dice are rolled and anyone who donated less than that is out thus making it possible for both players to lose!
Although a simple game it can get the synapses firing. Do I take the higher dice to dig for some gems or shall I grab the lower one to place a low scoring tent and get a big bonus at the end? Hmm... There are, of course, some pros and cons. A good point is that both the deck of cards and the stones bag have 'reset mechanics'. If you draw a white stone then all of the stones sold or put aside so far are returned to the bag (players' saved gems are only returned when the mine collapses). If a Mine Collapse card is drawn then it and all the discarded cards so far are shuffled back into the deck to create a new draw pile.
Also good is that Livingstone is a lovely quick game to play with very little setup so there isn't the feeling that you've got to dedicate your entire evening to it (unlike Agricola, which is a great game but demans time).
Down sides include the money. Although referred to as pounds in the rules I can't help but keep calling it gold because the one pound coins are gold coloured. I've been roleplaying for far too long, obviously, but I can't help but say that I'm taking 3 gold when I mean 3 pounds! Also the cards are sometimes a little confusing. There is no writing on the cards. Instead each card has a symbolic illustration of what it does and there are small reference cards printed in each of the languages. This obviously should be a good thing but even after a few games it still takes some doing to remember which card does what. Also adding to the confusion is the fact that some cards require an action to play and some don't.
All in all, though, Livingstone is a lovely little game. Simple rules, beautiful artwork and great props combine to make a game that is great fun to play. The tactile quality of mining for gems and donating to the Queen mean that this will probably be a good game to introduce non-Eurogamers to the wonderful world of Eurogames!
Source: www.boardgamegeek.com
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