Game: Jambo

Thread: My kingdom for a fur!

tired — 2008-08-18T21:28:12+00:00

Jambo is the greeting provided by Swahili traders before the colonial powers came to Africa, and in this game, players take on the role of traders in the marketplace trying to accumulate gold. A fun, fast moving card game that is easy to learn but very in-depth. One of the best 2 player business card games around.

Appearance: Jambo comes in a rectangular card board box about an inch in height and 6 inches wide and long. Cardboard pieces are provided for the goods that you will trade and the card stock that make up all the other items in the game are of high quality. Artwork is pleasing to the eye, with cartoonish but appropriate images that are quite well done.

Rules / Ease of Learning: Jambo excels in its easy-to-learn rules. Players each receive a hand of 5 cards to begin and 10 gold with 1 large merchant table. Each turn, a player has 5 actions that can be used to draw, look and replace or take a card; to play a card or to activate a played card. As the end goal of the game is to reach 60 gold, players must strive to buy and sell their goods as depicted on the cards effectively. Of note in the draw phase is that players may only ever take 1 card in a turn, thus limiting the number of actions he can take.

Cards in the game consist of Good cards, People, Utilities and Animals. Good cards can be used to either buy the goods depicted or sell them. Perhaps most importantly, players must buy or sell all the goods on the card. Inability to buy or sell any of the goods makes the card unplayable.

People cards are often one-off ‘event’ cards that can alter the game, while Animals are similar in action though often more ‘offensive’ than People cards. Utility cards are item cards that may be played (3 maximum at a time) and then activated throughout the game for a single action.

An additional card is the ‘small traders table’ that can be paid for to add more spaces to place goods. As you only get 6 spaces to place goods on the main table, you will need the additional table.

Lastly, a special note that any actions that a player has left are discarded at the end of the turn. If a player has more than 2 actions left, he receives 1 gold.

Actual Gameplay: Each turn in Jambo plays fast (2 – 3 minutes per turn maximum) as the number of actions are limited and players have a limited set of choices (draw a card, discard that card to draw another or play the cards in hand or on the table). Card combinations are definitely a necessity to win this game, while the explanations on the cards are easy to understand.

Jambo has a good mix of both ‘defensive’ cards as well as offensive cards that can change your opponents plans, either by removing their utilities or goods in most cases. A few cards also allow you to exchange cards with your opponent, creating a good balance to the interaction between players.

Conclusion: Jambo has definitely shown why it's won the many awards it has in my book. It's a good 2 player, economic game that is easily portable and fun to play with involved strategies and tactics but easy to learn rules. A definite 2 player card game must have.

Tao
http://www.starlitcitadel.com

Thread: Re: Play 2 same ware cards in one round

ektorakos — 2008-08-01T12:27:46+00:00

Hey guys,
I know the rule. I played the game correctly. (Well at least regarding this rule )

I got your point that the problem is speed.

I never said that I would draw and keep all cards.
I said I would not buy wares if I cannot sell them immediately!

Of course if I draw a nice card from which I can benefit, I will keep it and play it

Thread: Re: Play 2 same ware cards in one round

mihair — 2008-08-01T09:34:54+00:00

> You should just wait until you have all the cards needed to buy and sell simultaneously.

It looks like you made the same mistake as we did in the beginning. If you were playing with the correct rules (you may only keep one card per turn in the draw phase), then you would not draw that many cards and so you would have seen that waiting for the right cards is not a good strategy.

In Jambo you need to make the most of what cards you get, not wait for the "right" ones.

Play with the correct rule, it makes the game so much better.

Thread: Re: Play 2 same ware cards in one round

ektorakos — 2008-08-01T06:46:22+00:00

Thank you all.
I received good replies.

What is next? Take Jambo with me on my vecation to play it with my girlfriend. We will play it at least 20 times. I will come back to the thread to give my final opinion.

However I will grab my Ceasar & Cleopatra + Hera & Zeus
( Amazing games both of them + fit into the bag )

Thread: Re: Play 2 same ware cards in one round

andylatto — 2008-07-31T23:56:59+00:00

You only get 5 actions per turn. Sometimes it's worth only doing 3 actions and getting an extra gold, but if you don't do at least 3 actions you are wasting time, and you want to get to 60 gold as fast as possible.

Sure, if you have a more useful action to take instead of buying wares that you can't yet sell, you should do that instead. Figuring out what the most useful 3 or 5 actions are each turn is what the game is about.

To put it another way, the reason to buy the wares this turn instead of next turn is so that you can reach 60 gold 9 turns from now, rather than 8 turns from now.

Do you have the rule right about drawing cards? If you could just spend actions to draw cards, it would be better to draw a bunch of cards first, and only buy and sell wares later. But you can only gain one card per turn from the "draw cards" action, so you have to do something useful with your other actions.

But yes, I don't buy wares just to buy wares, since they can clog up your market when your later draws make you wish you had room for different wares. But as long as I have some plan for selling some of the wares and generating some income, I will put the plan into action, rather than waiting and hoping to get an even more profitable plan.

Thread: Re: Play 2 same ware cards in one round

ektorakos — 2008-07-31T13:52:00+00:00

Ok thanks for the answer in my second question.

However I still have doubts over my Strategy query.

Maybe my example was too extreme (waiting for 2 same ware cards)

Lets say you have the following 2 ware cards in your hand ( I will use colors instead of the things shown because I dont remember many of them at the moment )

Card A : red,white,white
Card B : blue,white,red

Ok. I cannot buy and sell at the moment but where is the difference of buying the wares from just keeping them on your hand????

I.E
In my next turn I draw cards and I find:

Card C : red,blue,white

Now Ican buy and sell!!!

Buy card A stuff
Buy card B stuff
Sell card C stuff

If I had already bought the card A, and B stuff I would be forced to wait until I find a ware card containing the things I have in my market. Ie I cannot manoeuvre.

Thread: Re: Play 2 same ware cards in one round

Stargaze — 2008-07-30T09:15:03+00:00

Can you play two same ware cards in your round?
for example you lose one action you play one ware card, you spend one more action to sell the goods and get the money.

Yes, you can do that IF you have the necessary free space on your stand (and remember to pay for the sixth space if you need it).

Strategy question
If the above is right then why put wares on your market? You should just wait until you have all the cards needed to buy and sell simultaneously.
Like that, nobody can steal or mess up with your wares.

In theory yes, but you will very likely have lost until then. If I remember correctly there's two cards of each combination in the deck, so good luck getting enough of them together in pairs.

You always pay the cost of buying the wares correct? The 2 gold for the sixth space of the big market is additional cost right?

Sure. You pay the lower number on the wares card when you buy and you get the higher when you sell. In addition, each time you place a ware on the last free place of the big market stand you pay an additional 2 gold.

Thread: Re: Play 2 same ware cards in one round

vili — 2008-07-30T09:12:55+00:00

No such thing as a stupid question.

Yes, you can buy with card X and then sell with another identical card X immediately after.

I don't think that it is a particularly good tactic to wait to get identical ware cards before doing anything, however. For one, there is at the end of the day quite little ware stealing going on in the game (or maybe it's just the way we play it?). Secondly, you make more money buying with the cheap ware cards and selling with the expensive ones (you just need to sort it out a little to make it work). Thirdly, there are other sources for wares (for example many utility cards), so it is often quite easy to get the wares that you need.

And yes, you always pay, the two extra gold apply when you need to use the sixth space.

Thread: Play 2 same ware cards in one round

ektorakos — 2008-07-30T08:41:21+00:00

Hi guys,

Sorry about this potentially stupid one but I would like to know...

Can you play two same ware cards in your round?
for example you lose one action you play one ware card, you spend one more action to sell the goods and get the money.

Strategy question
If the above is right then why put wares on your market? You should just wait until you have all the cards needed to buy and sell simultaneously.
Like that, nobody can steal or mess up with your wares.

And another one (which is more stupid)!

You always pay the cost of buying the wares correct? The 2 gold for the sixth space of the big market is additional cost right?

Thread: Re: Variations on Jambo

theashers — 2008-07-11T17:18:28+00:00

kusinohki wrote:
The possibility for each player to have a custom deck instead of sharing a common deck.

That's something i've been considering...and taking the "3 player rules" posted in the variants forum, you could adapt for X # of players...just make sure everyone brings the same number of goods.
Obviously a deck size limit, and maybe some rules about no more than 1 of certain cards in your deck (have to ponder the highly valuable cards).

Thread: Re: Very quick (25 minutes) blow-out win

mihair — 2008-07-03T05:45:23+00:00

I have the expansion and you can't see that the card backs are of a different colors in normal light (unless you look very carefully). I suggest to get the expansion because it makes the game better.

> many of the cards just don't come up.

> So it's really one about maximizing the use of the cards you end up with, finding clever combinations and playing for the moment, with little strategic thinking several turns ahead.

Exactly!

That's one of the things I like about Jambo, you draw a card and your whole strategy changes. It keeps you at the edge of your seat.

Thread: Very quick (25 minutes) blow-out win

cannoneer — 2008-07-02T22:14:37+00:00

Joanna and I played Jambo last night for the first time in a while. This game ended up very quick; no more than 25 minutes start-to-finish. I don't recall ever having a game end that quickly, but I was up to the mid-50's in gold almost before I realized it.

Play this time centered around the Mask of Transformation for me, which is the sole Utility card I drew in the opening draw and the only one I had in play for probably 6 or 7 turns initially. I used it to good effect all game - Joanna didn't pay close enough attention to her discards and gave me some really good cards to swipe with the Mask.

My first two sales of goods were accomplished using People cards (the dancer for one, and another one I forget). Suddenly I realized I was up to around 40 gold. This game saw few animals played, and a relative dearth of ware cards, so we both spend significant portions of our time mining the deck to find good cards. This made it even more unexpected for me to get so much gold so fast. Neither of us ever had more than 4 wares in our market stand the entire game, and most of the game was spent with no wares. In fact, I discarded two Parrots because Joanna never kept any wares on her stand to steal. I was able to buy & sell in the same turn several times and didn't leave any wares out there exposed.

I finally "went out" with 64 gold on a play using yet another Dancer (that Joanna had discarded and I'd picked up with the Mask). She ended up in the mid-40's, so it was a pretty significant blow-out win for me.

I almost got to thinking I'd forgotten to PAY for some of my goods, I earned so much money so fast. But I'm pretty good at remembering stuff like that, and I couldn't think back to a point where I might've inadvertantly cheated. I think the cards just really aligned themselves for me very well, and Joanna didn't play defensively enough to counter my Mask.

My single complaint with Jambo is that, in a typical game, we usually only make it through 1/2 to 2/3 of the deck, and many of the cards just don't come up. You can't really "play for" a card like you can in San Juan - the deck is too large to count on seeing any one card in a given game. So it's really one about maximizing the use of the cards you end up with, finding clever combinations and playing for the moment, with little strategic thinking several turns ahead. That's OK as far as it goes, but I find myself wishing for the ability to employ a little more long-term strategy. Perhaps if we played more frequently we'd see more of that.

It's for that reason I've not picked up the expansion (well, that and the fact that the card backs are of different colors, which really bothers me). We don't play the game enough to be thoroughly familiar with the cards in the base set, so adding more cards just really isn't a compelling idea for me.

I still like Jambo, and we'll probably play it from time to time, but it's a distant fourth behind Lost Cities, Medici/Strozzi, and Carcassonne - the Castle in our two-player library.

Thread: Re: Foiled by the Hyena

jearles — 2008-06-25T12:08:11+00:00

Playing of the utility card is one action. Using the utility is another action. Yes, you can do these on the same turn, but when you first place the card you do not get a free usage.

--

In the rules, under Utility Cards:

Important: each use of a utility card costs the player one action marker!

Thread: Re: Can we get rid of the "Pay 2 gold for 6th space" rule?

TermiGator — 2008-06-25T11:49:56+00:00

Christophe Francois wrote:
Can we get rid of that rule? Would it create an imbalance in the game?

I don't think this would create an imbalance. But I think it would make the small markets even more uninteresting than now.
In the games I play small markets are usually played very few. If you now didn't even have to pay for the 6th field you could actually just remove them.

Thread: Re: Foiled by the Hyena

Hatchling — 2008-06-25T11:05:26+00:00

Kiboko Hippo wrote:
I drew a card, drew another and got the Kettle, played it on move 3, used it on move 4 ...

Hmmm.. I thought that when you first play a utility card (put it face up in your play area) you can use its function at that time in the same action. The closest rule says:

"When a player has a utility card in his play area, he may use the function of the card anytime during his turn, even on the turn when he plays the card."

While this sentence distinguishes the acts of "using the function of the card" and "playing the card", the action cost issue is unclear. How do others read this?

Nice session report, BTW!

Thread: Foiled by the Hyena

Kiboko Hippo — 2008-06-25T04:43:23+00:00

I got off to a daring start by purchasing a small market in my very first turn, in the hope of doing a series of quick purchases and sales. This was immediately followed by bargain buys using with the help of the Wise Man from Afar. I had also started off early with the Throne but never used it. This was because my wife was very careful to buy and sell off her wares within her turn. (By the third turn she had also gotten a small market.)

Then I got Supplies and was able to use it effectively for two turns before my wife used the Crocodile to stop my juggernaut approach. She was using her Boat but apparently not getting good cards. At this point, my game stalled and my wife slowly built a lead of approximately 5-10 gold for most of the game. I got the Drums which helped a bit, and eliminated her Boat with a Crocodile. Then she got Weapons and began simply acquiring three gold every turn (two from Weapons and one from ending her turn early) while I floundered not being able to find the right cards. Finally I got a Crocodile to eliminate Weapons and started to inch closer.

Now I had picked up Portuguese midway through the game. Normally I have not much use for it, although I did have a roller-coaster of a game at the end using it in a game last October posted in a previous session report. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/228228 My strategy this time was to hold on to it until the end of the game and sell off the wares I had been accumulating but unable to sell. I had just acquired the Mask of Transformation towards the end and pulled ahead, 57 to 52, when my wife played the Hyena. I had a Crocodile and she spent some time musing if she could put it to good use. It so happened that she had just bought a bunch of wares and had five of them in her market stands when the thought dawned on her to make use of Portuguese instead. Knowing that I had no ware cards, she took the risk and sold her wares bringing her score up to 62. (I had three wares on my marketplace.)

She had one move left and was about to end because she couldn't think of anything else to do (she had a ware card with three different goods and the Wise Man from Afar). At this point I decided to be gracious and say that she might want to "use her last move". She puzzled over it for a bit and then realized that I would use the Mask of Transformation to take Portuguese and sell of my three wares bringing me to 63. She couldn't play the ware card because she would be forced to buy goods bringing her back down to 57 so she had to play the Wise Man (which did nothing). I had one last turn. I drew a card, drew another and got the Kettle, played it on move 3, used it on move 4 hoping to draw something matching but failed. It was all over. The Hyena and Portuguese conspired in a nail-biting end game.

Thread: Re: One of these games is not like the other

mihair — 2008-06-24T06:11:50+00:00

Jambo is a phenomenal game. Every time it is different and fun. It just has the perfect mix of solving your own puzzle and watching what the other person does.

I strongly suggest that you get the expansion. Not for the other modes of play (huts), but for the new utilities, animals and people cards, which enable a lot more combinations in the game.

Thread: Re: One of these games is not like the other

BoardGameJunkies — 2008-06-24T01:01:00+00:00

It gets better each play. My boyfriend and I have easily played it 3 dozen times since we picked it up a few weeks ago... never boring, always new strategies to try!

Thread: Re: One of these games is not like the other

photocurio — 2008-06-23T21:08:53+00:00

Agreed. This game is very fun, and it supports all sorts of interesting and creative interplay of cards. Endings are often suspenseful, like yours was. Jambo is my girlfriend's and my current favorite cafe game. And the expansion is on order!

Thread: One of these games is not like the other

GamingWench — 2008-06-23T19:42:34+00:00

We played our 2nd game of Jambo last night and I think we'd both learned a couple things. For example, I learned not to play a leopard statue until I was able to guard it. Last game I didn't get a single guard and this time I picked up around 5. I got off to a quick start, using my leopard statue and well to keep a steady supply of cards coming in and going out.

I also played an animal card that forces all players to put their cards in the middle of the table and lets each player choose until all are gone. This way I got rid of some useless rainmakers and picked up a basketmaker, which gives you 2 goods of one type. Unfortunately Chris forgot this and used a utility that lets you pick up 2 cards and give one to the other player. He gave me a 3 cloth order card so on the next turn I was able to use my basketmaker and leopard statue to fill that. Chris was getting off to a slow start, having his leopard statue eaten by my crocodiles. I was hanging around 49 gold and he was at 31 for quite a while. Unfortunately, I depleted my gold somewhat by being the first to buy a small market and paying gold to get cards using my well. Meanwhile Chris was beginning to make some very successful trades.

I ended the game with 65 gold and Chris was at 56. I knew it would be tough for him to beat me, but he pulled it off with a neat combination of ware cards that let him sell, buy, and sell again to get 68 gold and win the game!

The second time it was definitely easier to figure out which cards were better than others and when to take actions or gold. It's a neat game because like most card games it changes every time you play.

Thread: Re: Playing on plane to Korea . . .

armadaman — 2008-06-20T23:26:46+00:00

We just played our first game of Jambo, looks like a winner. I also am on the lookout for 'plane games'; A small cribbage board would keep track of both players gold, and in a manner that clearly shows who's ahead (and is mostly 'turbulent proof'). I bought several very small cribbage boards at the $1. section of Target, they even came with 2 mini cards decks!

Thread: Re: Can we get rid of the "Pay 2 gold for 6th space" rule?

riks — 2008-06-20T13:06:45+00:00

Christophe Francois wrote:
Can we get rid of that rule?Of course! You purchased the game. If you want to make a house rule there is nothing to stop you!

Perhaps you should try it both ways. Play a few games without the rule, then play a few more with it. See what difference it makes. Does it change the play? Does it feel better for you? Justifying it in terms of 16th century business practices doesn't come into it. The game is not a faithful simulation. It's a game. It's now your game. Play with it how you will.

And don't forget, as it is a game, enjoy!

Image

Surya — 2008-06-20T12:07:17+00:00

HQ box front, no publisher tags

Thread: Re: Can we get rid of the "Pay 2 gold for 6th space" rule?

Rastak — 2008-06-20T11:14:39+00:00

I see no reason at all to get rid of the rule. It is a very real consideration as you try and expand. Like someone else says, you can't just buy a 6 ware purchase without considering the added cost. I don't have any problem with the rule as written.

Thread: Re: Can we get rid of the "Pay 2 gold for 6th space" rule?

mihair — 2008-06-20T11:05:53+00:00

Getting rid of that rule would remove a bit of the tension.

Thread: Re: Can we get rid of the "Pay 2 gold for 6th space" rule?

vili — 2008-06-20T09:18:39+00:00

I personally think that the "pay 2 gold for the 6th space" rule flows naturally from the game mechanics. It makes it much less tempting to buy with two three-item ware cards until you have acquired extra space, or use a single six-item ware card.

I have never played without the rule, and although I might try it now, I must say that my guess is that dropping it would make it too easy to shuffle goods.

When we play, we usually aim to have two goods in our market stands as early as possible, so that instead of alternating with 3 and 6 goods in our stand, we will be playing with 2 and 5. That is, if you don't manage to get extra stands at the beginning.

Theme-wise, I don't know what the justification is, but it hasn't really bothered me, either.

Thread: Can we get rid of the "Pay 2 gold for 6th space" rule?

Christophe Francois — 2008-06-20T05:51:58+00:00

Bought Jambo last week after reading many good reviews. Played it yesterday with my 10-year old daughter. Instant hit. We love the theme, the gameplay, the artwork, just about everything. One thing bothers me though: having to pay 2 gold when filling up the last space on the big stand. It bothers me for a few reasons: 1) It does not feel natural, it doesn't blend with the theme, the atmosphere. Someone in a previous post said that we should look at it as if it was a tax imposed on having too many goods on the shelves. Somehow I cannot relate to the idea of taxes on market goods in 16th century Africa. 2) It creates a lot of misinterpretations of the rules (you just have to go through the postings on this game to understand what I mean. 3) I don't see what it adds to the game. This brings me to the question in my title. Can we get rid of that rule? Would it create an imbalance in the game? Is there anyone who has played the game without it and if yes, what do they think? Waiting for your answers. Thanks.

Thread: Re: Playing on plane to Korea . . .

Robbage — 2008-06-18T17:09:58+00:00

Thanks on the thoughtful follow up Marcin. I actually took your advice and picked up a hand full of the Dark Platypus counters the other day, realizing that they will have ancillary use with other games I play.

So both my wife and I will have a counter and we can handle the gold accounting issue.

Again, thanks for the help on this.

Rob

Thread: Re: Playing on plane to Korea . . .

MsbS — 2008-06-18T10:57:50+00:00

Rob,

I just noticed your response/question, I hope you've not flown yet

Anyway - in Jambo you have to keep track of every player's gold. You start with 20gp (gold pieces), and whoever gets to 60 first wins. The movement of gold pieces to and from the bank is a bit messy - it would be good to get rid of it on board. So I thought - would a life counter help?

The platypus counters look awesome - but they are a bit on the pricey side, I suppose (for 12 bucks each you could buy a new card game instead). Another thing is that they only have numbers up to 30.

I just did some quick googling, and it looks like most counters have dials scaled up to 30, whereas you'd need 60. However, most of them actually have TWO dials - so you could keep track of one player's gold on one counter. Say that you have 25 gold - you set one dial to 25, and the other one to 0. When you have 45 gold - you set one dial to 30, and another one to 15.

I also just found a budget alternative to the pewter counters: check this out.

And these even seem to go up to 40 or 50 per dial!

Apparently there are some options you might consider.

Have fun playing Jambo! I have it on my shelf, but I've not managed to convince my wife to try it yet.

Thread: Re: Playing on plane to Korea . . .

Robbage — 2008-06-15T20:13:55+00:00

Marcin . . . I checked out those Platypus Counters and they look awesome. Not being familiar with Jambo, would they solve the chit problem for the most part?

robbage

Thread: Re: Three-player Jambo

gejaycock — 2008-06-14T11:52:48+00:00

Thanks for the comments, which were an inspiration. I played 3-player Jambo last night, with a homemade third market stall card, and a victory target of 50 points. Seemed to work absolutely fine, no shortages, no problems.

Thread: Re: Playing on plane to Korea . . .

MsbS — 2008-06-13T07:44:29+00:00

Maybe you could get something like CCG life counters to keep track of your/wife's gold? I'm sure many game/hobby stores sell stuff like this, and getting two (one for each player) should remove a lot of the chit movement.

Thread: Re: Playing on plane to Korea . . .

Case — 2008-06-13T05:20:25+00:00

Robbage wrote:
What's the footprint for this game? Think it'll fit on the tray between wife and self on the plane?

Thanks,
robbage

I think that you could each use you own tray for cards (side by side) and take along some dixie cup like things to store all the chits when they are not in play

Thread: Re: Playing on plane to Korea . . .

quartex — 2008-06-12T19:30:43+00:00

With some work it should. You have a deck and a discard pile, and each person has up to 3 utility cards in front of them, and usually 2-3 shop cards. The game uses a lot of little chits for the goods, so my main worry is the chits sliding off the table.

Thread: Playing on plane to Korea . . .

Robbage — 2008-06-12T18:54:54+00:00

What's the footprint for this game? Think it'll fit on the tray between wife and self on the plane?

Thanks,
robbage

Thread: Re: Losing my Jambo virginity

Daddys_Home — 2008-06-12T03:22:05+00:00

This is my favorite of my 2 player games. I would recommend picking up the expansion as well.

Thread: Re: Losing my Jambo virginity

caltexn — 2008-06-12T01:13:58+00:00

Can A wench really lose her virginity?

Tom, I was really confused, and was wondering about you, until I just now happened to glance at Jarrah's user name.

Thread: Re: Losing my Jambo virginity

caltexn — 2008-06-12T01:09:58+00:00

Your review was just the right length and was engaging. I have played it with my eleven year old daughter about 8 or 9 times and we both enjoy it. I have won every game, but we have had a couple of close ones. She plays well, but I think the key is definitely knowing how to take advantage of the utility and people cards. Played at the wrong time, they can advantage your opponent too much. I think you will continue to enjoy this "sleeper" two player game. I give it a solid 8.

Thread: Re: Losing my Jambo virginity

Hendal — 2008-06-11T21:23:06+00:00

a 2 person game is always needed in my collection, thanks for sharing I will check this one out.

Can A wench really lose her virginity?

Thread: Losing my Jambo virginity

GamingWench — 2008-06-11T19:57:22+00:00

Always looking for a solid 2-player game for my collection, I recently picked up Jambo at the Compleat Strategist on my trip to New York. My friend Chris had played once at our local games shop and really liked it, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Chris and I sat down for a game a couple days ago and it went really well. Jambo has very nice components and decent theme, which are two aspects I'm always particularly concerned about. As in any card-based game, there was a relatively high luck-factor, but I would anticipating this mattering less with time. Neither of us really knew the cards in the deck so it felt to me a little opaque. But by the end I could start to see how playing a few more times would make it very competitive.

Early in the game Chris drew and played the "boat" utility, which allows you to draw a ware of your choice. And though I drew three crocodiles and played them all at various times to take that away, Chris drew three guards and played them all in response to my crocodiles. I got a small market first, which I wasn't sure was a great idea, but I don't think it made a lot of difference. Each of us only played one small market card. Chris used the well and boat throughout much of the game and switched around some other utilities. I used a well, scales, the leopard statue near the end.

It was a very close game. I drew the leopard statue utility, which would have won me the game had not Chris used a crocodile against it in the 3rd to last turn. I didn't get a guard the whole game, so couldn't protect against his animals. Chris ended the game by earning 60 gold, but on my turn having lost the leopard statue, I was one ware away from filling another order and I couldn't earn the 9 gold needed to win. So I think I ended up with around 57 gold to Chris's 60.

I'm definitely looking forward to playing again and understanding the values of the cards more. In the future I might decide to redraw rather than playing a utility like the drums, which I didn't find particularly helpful.

Image

siuchak — 2008-06-11T17:35:53+00:00

just fit

Thread: Re: Moving Wares from Small Stand to Large Stand

longagoigo — 2008-05-28T08:59:17+00:00

Perhaps the rules have been made clearer since the previous comments,
but my rulebook, says that 'the 6th space on the large market stand' gets taxed and it is 'advantageous to build a small market stand..to avoid the cost of using the 6th space on your large market stand'. I don't see where there is any confusion with the intent, what is meant, or what is said.

Thread: First Time Session

DancingMoogle — 2008-05-18T06:47:23+00:00

I like to leave a light report of my initial reactions to games, so here is my latest entry, Jambo.

I was finally able to pick up this game after many recommendations, and I was excited to get it to the table. More often than not, I only have one opponent available (as opposed to many) so I'm always hoping for a solid 2P addition to my collection.

I found a second player in my mother this evening; thank goodness for her willingness to be a guinea pig in first games.

Jambo's instruction manual is easy to follow, and I was able to impart what I had learned from reading it without too much trouble to my mom. She's the type that listens, but saves her questions until they actually come up in the game, so explaining went by quickly.

The pieces are attractive, although the one gold pieces are kind of small and tricky to pick up during the excitement of a good trade - plus my mom said the gold looked more like popcorn in general. I suggested we could call it popcorn, but she said that would be silly.

Anyway, we started the game, and there were actually few questions, and I only referred to the instructions one time, and I consider that very good.

What stood out to me quickly was the overwhelming advantage dear old mum was gaining by drawing all the small market stalls before I did. Although I was probably using my limited space more efficiently (I didn't get my own small market stall until 3/4 of the way through the game), I ended up with a lot of wasted actions, compared to her freedom to splurge all over with so much room for wares.

For some reason, we didn't use a lot of Animal cards, but this may have been shyness due to the unknowns of playing a game for the first time. I also think that it was because one of my Parrots was quickly batted away by my mom's Guard, leading both of us to leer across the table with paranoia for the rest of the game.

The bulk of the game followed a similar pattern: I utilized my limited space by making single trades and turning them around quickly while Mom amassed wares and sold them at her leisure. As such, my pile of gold grew consistantly while hers dwindled and then soared like a tide.

Mom was the one to score 60 points first, calling "game end," and it looked like her victory until I squeezed out all my last resorts, beating her 72 to 64. Yes... I know this is actually a considerable difference, so chalk it up to inexperience that we didn't realize that I was actually ahead.

Ultimately, I found this initial run to be very pleasant. I particularly liked the theme. We played over a cup of tea, and the wheeling and dealing of the attractive wares felt delectable somehow. I enjoyed how the game forced us to confront each other without leaving players feeling bullied by the mechanics.

Some closing thoughts,
Difficulty to learn: One play will suffice to understand the mechanics.

Inherent strategy: I definately see the strategy that will grow with more plays. From what I can tell, we merely scratched the surface of a game that would be different every time.

Value as a 2-player: Very nice. There's enough interaction to keep things moving, and enough quiet contemplation to keep a player's interest. It took us about five minutes to go over the rules, and forty minutes to play this first game, so I assume that with more experience the game would play in about half an hour, which I think is a very reasonable time for a 2P duel.

What there isn't: There's actually no popcorn.

Fun-factor: Again, I would mention the theme. Buy low, sell high elements are attractive when you get to say, "I sell my trinket, fruit, and silk for twelve gold." It just feels good. There's also a lot of cards being looked through and discarded, which helps to make it feel like you're not just "stuck" with boring stuff you can't use.

Especially recommended if: You have a small window for a short game with an opponent, and you're both open to a strategic experience.

Thread: Re: Hot Mom Crushes GotW

DancingMoogle — 2008-05-18T05:23:38+00:00

I love that your session was just as much about your lovely wife's personality as the game itself. You sound very lucky!

Image

Firepigeon — 2008-05-15T22:27:52+00:00

Back of player market cards

Image

Firepigeon — 2008-05-15T22:27:23+00:00

Back of play cards

Thread: Re: Before You Buy...

caltexn — 2008-05-06T03:28:00+00:00

This says everything that I would want to say in a review of Jambo. Now I don't have to write one. This is why I give it an 8 in my ratings.

Thread: Re: Shaman

jearles — 2008-04-20T19:49:20+00:00

The Shaman is:

Trade all wares of one kind from your market stands with the same number of wares of a different kind from the supply.

--

1) Can the Shaman be used to trade a single ware for a different one? Or does one have to have a minimum of 2 of the same kind of ware to be able to use the Shaman?

You have to trade all, so as long as you only have one of that type of ware you can do this.

2) Can the following be done by using the Shaman?

have 3 teas on market stand
play Shaman
trade 3 teas for 1 fruits, 1 salt and 1 tea

No. You are trading all of one type of good for the same number of another type.

Thread: Shaman

offwater — 2008-04-20T19:30:52+00:00

Got 2 Q's:

1) Can the Shaman be used to trade a single ware for a different one? Or does one have to have a minimum of 2 of the same kind of ware to be able to use the Shaman?

2) Can the following be done by using the Shaman?

have 3 teas on market stand
play Shaman
trade 3 teas for 1 fruits, 1 salt and 1 tea

Cheers!

Thread: Re: rainman card

UnknownParkerBrother — 2008-04-19T23:02:51+00:00

Yeah. I would love to see a definitive author's opinion on this. I see lots of discussion on this, with lots of folks being told they are playing it wrong and changing they way they play it, but nothing official. Quite likely the folks now saying "You get the card after they get the wares" are just repeating what others have told them.

I certainly think the card works better to negate the ware card, as there are already other cards that let you get cards from the discard pile.

Thread: Re: So, which is it... Is the small market stand good, bad or neither?

klz_fc — 2008-04-12T13:38:28+00:00

I agree with Dan, for the most part. It depends on what you have available to you, but at the same time, unless you are drawing huge numbers of ware cards that require 5 or 6 different types of wares, the small market doesn't really seem to pay off for the first player.

If you can draw a lot of ware cards and manipulate them heavily to work with the cards you have, you may never even need the small market, and in fact may never use that 6th space more than once or twice a game (which is still 2 less than the small market would cost).

Thread: Re: So, which is it... Is the small market stand good, bad or neither?

Shaddy — 2008-04-12T13:34:35+00:00

After 20+ plays with my wife, I need to say that small market sees less and less play. It's all about the right combinations of cards and for me usually the small market seems to work less efficiently than other combinations that allow me to cycle between money, cards and wares.

If I have nothing else to play and my opponent already has it it's an OK investment till roughly mid of the game.

I must say that within my first 5 or so games I was always hoping to draw it very early and thought it's very crucial to get it. I don't think so anymore, most of the time it gets discarded for some other effect.

Thread: Re: So, which is it... Is the small market stand good, bad or neither?

dcorban — 2008-04-12T12:57:42+00:00

If I have a way of getting a total of five wares, then I don't care about the small market. This allows me to buy and sell without fear of the two gold penalty but still gives me two extra wares to work with.

Also, if my opponent has already played a small market, I am much more inclined to do so. I am almost never the first person to play one, unless it is in the first couple of turns. The cost is too steep considering how fast the end game can happen to play it much later.

Thread: Re: Of Feasts and Famines

Hatchling — 2008-04-11T22:44:02+00:00

Thanks for the kind feedback on the session report, Wade.

Image

the_spy — 2008-02-27T15:47:58+00:00

Image

adamdynris — 2008-01-20T14:03:39+00:00

Enough gold to win

Image

Toynan — 2007-12-26T03:40:36+00:00

During the game

Image

Toynan — 2007-12-26T03:39:56+00:00

My side

Image

Aglar — 2007-11-03T15:36:53+00:00

Possible replacement for gold chits

Image

Plush — 2007-11-03T12:35:57+00:00