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Lowell Kempf
United States
Chicago
Illinois
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While I did not get to go to a convention this weekend, I did get to play some games. After all, a bunch of us had been ready to go somewhere and play games so we were just as willing to play games since we were stuck at home
Among the games I had a chance to play was Hotel Samoa. I got it a while back from Tanga. In fact, it was one of my last “Oh, it’s a game that I’ve never heard of but it’s a game so I’ll buy it anyway” purchases from Tanga before I decided to start culling my collection and curbing my game buying. As such, it is a game that would not pass my impulse purchase threshold now.
Still, I didn’t want to get rid of it without trying it so it stayed in the pile of “try before tossing”. Honestly, I didn’t have the greatest expectations for it. I figured it would be one of those games that I’d get out on the table and then decide to get rid of.
Instead, what I found was a fun game that I want to play again. Now, I admit that it might not survive extensive play but it was good enough to warrant extensive play.
Hotel Samoa plays three to six players where each player is running their own hotel and trying make more money than any other player. Every turn, there is a simultaneous auction for hotel improvements and tourists. High bids will win improvements but low bids will get tourists in your rooms. Improvements can greatly increase your earning potential but you need to get tourists to get income.
In addition, you have a limited number of bid cards. Fewer than there will be auctions in the game in fact  Every time you take something, you discard that card. While I’m talking about limited resources, you also only have a limited number of rooms in your hotel.
So, the whole game is about doing your damnest to manage your resources. They will be tight enough that you have to do your best to make your investments pay off and to get most out of the tourists you get into your hotel. And, of course, all your careful plans are going to get messed up by the other players
Obviously, I’m leaving a lot out. However, the meat and potatoes of Hotel Samoa is that it is a resource management game driven by simultaneous auctions. Since everyone goes at the same time, the game moves along a good clip and keeps everyone involved.
Most importantly we all had a lot of fun. The mechanics of the game kept it tense and the theme, which was married pretty well to the mechanics, kept us entertained as we couldn’t seem to attract Japanese tourists to our island but we couldn’t keep the Germans away
I haven’t come to a final opinion about Hotel Samoa but the first play impressed me. The game is a lot more fun than I expected, which is always a good thing.
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