Theme: Players play as different scavenger animals competing with each other to collect carcasses on the savanna.
Game Details: Light cards and dice game.
Set-up and general play: The area in front of each player is their "lair." The area in the middle of the table is the "savanna." Throughout the course of the game, Event cards, in addition to causing game effects, reveal carcasses on the savanna. Players playing as different scavenger animals attempt to claim carcasses as their own, sometimes fighting over them with other players, for the right to bring them back to their lairs. Carcasses have varying point values and the player with the most points at the end wins.
In this section, I will break down each aspect of the game by voting with a
, a , a 
, or a .Components - While some work clearly went into the card design, I was overall very disappointed with the components. The cards are some of the flimsiest in any card game I've played, and they are the only game component provided. Furthermore, the game requires dice that are not provided. While we all certainly own dice, I still expect a game to come with all of the required components. While the cards themselves are very amusing and clever, $20 is an absurd price for a flimsy deck of cards.
Presentation - While this is a fairly simple game, the rulebook still deserves credit for being thorough. I don't think that I ever referred back to the rule book after initally learning the rules of the game. The game art is humourous and appealing, though only if you have a somewhat sick sense of humor. The Event cards explain themselves extremely well, resulting in very few rules quibbles.
Mechanics - The mechanics of the game are very fluid, if unpredictable. Your turn always comes quickly, and you must remember to allow other players time to play intervening cards in order for everything to work. If you abhor games where you can occasionally get dumped on through little to no fault of your own, avoid this game! Just from table positioning or bad draws, you can take end up taking a backseat for large portions of the game. Personally, I don't mind being dumped on occasionally, at least in short, light game likes this one, as long as my turn comes again quickly. The different scavenger animals seem reasonably balanced. Unfortunately. the length of a game can vary greatly, depending on the aggressiveness of the players, and some games can last much longer than they should
Theme experience - This game has a humourous, unique theme, that is very well developed in the cards and characters. The scavengers are pretty unique from each other in strategy and ability. The dog-eat-dog mechanics really enhance the theme experience of the game, and the players will truly feel that they are scraping and biting it out against each other.
The Lowdown
This game is a lot of fun with the right crowd. A crowd wanting flawless mechanis and a Euro feel may hate it, as I think my game group did. Your friends may love it, as mine did.
Who to play it with:
A large group of well-humored friends or family
A group of scavenger animals
Who not to play with:
Eurogame adherents
Animal lovers
Just 2 players
Game Weight: 2/5
Rating: 7/10 I love the theme and have fun playing it, but could imagine getting tired of it.
Strength: Theme
Weakness: Components
What to do:
Buy it now!
Buy it cheap!
Try your friend's copy
Avoid it!
Posted Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:44 pm
I agree that it won't appeal to everyone, but I'd rather play this than Munchkin.
