Game: Expedition

Thread: Queen versus Ravensburger Editions????

rsolow — 2008-07-22T15:55:24+00:00

Can any detail the differences for us? Specifically interested in language dependence issues, but would be glad to know of any other differences.

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WatchmanX2000 — 2007-12-31T16:55:04+00:00

Played at CABS during regular meeting

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saminurmela — 2007-12-02T11:23:02+00:00

Three player game completed

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gmcnish — 2007-06-14T03:46:28+00:00

Board (national geographic edition)

Thread: Re: Expedition - Ending the game

rri1 — 2007-02-02T13:56:19+00:00

Neil Thomson wrote:
Okay the rules state that the game ends immediately if the last arrow is played. It also states that if a player plays their last card (reaches their last destination) the game will end at the end of the round.

My question is 'what happens if a player has a free move or ticket up their sleeve after they claim their last destination? Can they use that free turn or ticket before they end their turn as this may secure them another destination (if they had to go through their destination to reach it)?

Since there are arrows available and the game rules state "if a player plays their last card (reaches their last destination) the game will end at the end of the round", I see no reason why a player, after completing his last route, can't use up their tickets to gain a public destination.

Thread: Re: Expedition - Ending the game

Neil Thomson — 2007-02-02T09:04:02+00:00

Yep I'm happy with that cheers.

Thread: Re: Expedition - Ending the game

Eddy Bee — 2007-02-02T08:58:13+00:00

Oops sorry - my bad for not reading your post more carefully

If a player reaches his last destination, the game continues to the end of the round, meaning players who haven't acted yet for this round still get their turn. So I don't see any reason why the player would not get to use any free tickets he's holding, since he can do so at any time during his turn, and his turn has not officially ended.

I hope that helps.

Thread: Re: Expedition - Ending the game

Neil Thomson — 2007-02-02T08:49:34+00:00

Sorry Eddy Bee but I may not have been clear.

The game ends immeditaly only when the last arrow is placed.

It does not end immediatly if a player reaches their last destination. Hence my question.

Thread: Re: Expedition - Ending the game

Eddy Bee — 2007-02-02T08:41:00+00:00

Whenever I see the word "immediately" in a rule book, I always interpret that to mean exactly what it says: immediately. Meaning, the instant a condition is met that causes something to occur immediately, it happens. In this case, the end of the game occurs - immediately.

Therefore, if a player reaches his final destination, satisfying the conditions for the game to end immediately, it ends immediately and he cannot use any remaining free tickets.

Just my 2 cents...

Thread: Expedition - Ending the game

Neil Thomson — 2007-02-02T08:23:53+00:00

Okay the rules state that the game ends immediately if the last arrow is played. It also states that if a player plays their last card (reaches their last destination) the game will end at the end of the round.

My question is 'what happens if a player has a free move or ticket up their sleeve after they claim their last destination? Can they use that free turn or ticket before they end their turn as this may secure them another destination (if they had to go through their destination to reach it)?

Thoughts?

Thread: Expedition - A Light Review

Neil Thomson — 2007-01-15T08:44:03+00:00

All of my reviews aim to offer a brief overview that allows people to get a good feel for what the game may offer them. I feel that other reviews can be sought if detailed game mechanics is what you are after.

Expedition is a light game with a similar goal to the Ticket to Ride Series, reach as many of your destinations as possible. But the means for doing so are quite different alloowing Expedition to offer a unique experience.

The board displays a map of the world featuring 80 destinations. Each destination has its name clearly printed and a box featuring a colour photo image. Each destination has a matching card in the deck that also features the image from the board to help locate it. To further help players find the locations, each continent is colour coded and the cards feature a background colour to match based on the continent they are located in.

The game begins with each player receiving either 9 locations (4+ players) or 12 locations (2-3 players). The players also get 4 circular tokens of a given colour. Once they have identified where their locations are in the world they will select any 4 and place their 4 tokens on these places. The tokens represent special locations and at the end of the game a point will be lost for every token that a player has not visited. Some players will choose to have their special locations as close as possible. Whilst others will prefer to spread them in the hope that other players will do some of the legwork for them.

On a player’s turn they must select 1 of 3 coloured arrows (red, blue or yellow) and place it on the board. The arrows are always placed along the dotted lines that connect locations to each other. The arrows represent the 3 expeditions that take place during the game and an arrow can only be added to the end of the expedition of its colour. If the colour is being placed for the 1st time, then it must lead off from the start location in Europe. Whenever an arrow points to a location, any player holding that destination should reveal it and add it to their score pile face-up. However if a player forgets to reveal their detinsation they will need to send an expedition back to it at a later point in the game

The game ends when the last arrow is placed or if a player reveals their last location card. Each completed card is worth 1 point and each card left in hand is worth -1, as are any uncollected special tokens. Highest points is the winner.

As well as the location cards in hand, a further 6 table locations are turned face-up from the deck. These can be added to any player’s score pile if they can place an arrow to reach one of these locations. This is a major consideration and requires that players do not leave another player with an easy location on their turn. A new location is drawn from the deck (at the end of the a player's turn) to replace any table locations that are taken.

Each player also receives 3 Ticket Tokens at the start of the game. During the game up to 2 of these can be played per turn and allow a player to add another arrow to an expedition, remove an arrow or replace a location in their hand with a new draw from the deck. Having tickets in hand allows for surprise moves and opens up the options that are available.

The board is littered with blue and red spots (mainly in the ocean areas). If a move ends at a blue dot then a bonus arrow placement is granted (any colour). If a move ends in a red dot then a ticket token is awarded. It can be used immediatly as long as the player has not already used 2 ticket tokens this turn.

Finally if a player can place an arrow(s) onto an expedition in such a way that they form a loop of the same colour, they get a bonus arrow placement (of that colour only). However their bonus arrow can come off any part of that coloured expedition. This is crucially important for reaching those locations that your opponents mercilessly travelled past or for picking up the table locations.

With experience players will learn the importance of completing loops that also end in a blue or red dot to grant 2 bonus placements or a placement and a ticket!

A crucial rule is that a player cannot complete more than 1 loop in each colour per turn. This stops super game breaking moves from being completed.

The Final Word

Expedition offers a light, enjoyable experience that is well presented and plays in just the right amount of time for the complexity on offer. For this reason it is a great way to break up a heavy session or for introducing friends to the world of gaming. For me it makes for a good gateway game. The final scores are generally very close too, which adds to the anxiety and tension as the game draws to a close!

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Dr_A — 2007-01-01T16:18:54+00:00

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Dr_A — 2007-01-01T16:08:39+00:00

Thread: D'OH! I Knew I Should Have Turned Left Back at Albuquerue!

ed95005 — 2006-08-04T13:36:03+00:00

With all the discussion lately regarding friendly local game stores, I'd be remisss not to make a plug for my FLGS, Game Kastle in Santa Clara, California. I know many Geeks have no love for their FLGS, usually due to poor service or poor selection. That's why I'm more and more impressed with Game Kastle, which has a wonderful selection of board games, as well as miniatures and collectible card games.

Perhaps the coolest thing about Game Kastle is the large space next door it has reserved for gaming that is free of charge and even has a refrigerator stocked with soft drinks that sell for only fifty cents. There's a jar on top of the refrigerator where you're on the honor system to pay.

What does this have to do with Expedition? Not much, except Game Kastle is where the San Jose Board Games Club meets on Monday nights and where Meetha, Kirk, and I, after games of Maharaja and San Juan, joined up with Larry and Adam on Monday for a five-player game of Expedition.

The yellow expedition set off for Africa, while the blue expedition headed for the northern rim of the Asian continent, where several of us had laid a chain of important destination tokens. The red expedition didn't come into play until toward the middle of the game, when it crossed the Atlantic into North America.

Larry and I both reached our destinations quickly, far outpacing the rest of the group. It came down to Indonesia/Australia, where both he and I had our final destinations.

I crosssed the yellow expedition from Africa to Australia. There's no convenient way to Indonesia, where my final destination lay, from Africa. In retrospect I should have turned the expedition north when I reached Australia, but I saw that several players -- not including Larry -- had important destination tokens to the south, so I turned south hoping they would use their turns to slingshot me around Australia to Indonesia. But no sooner did I place my arrow than Larry flipped his final card, which had remained secret since he hadn't marked it with a token.

Larry won by a point or two, as I had to subtract a point for not reaching my final destination. I like Expedition. I got it because I'm such a fan of Wolfgang Kramer's other games. Expedition is much lighter than anything else I've played by Kramer, but if you're in the mood for something roughly the weight of Ticket to Ride, Expedition is a great choice.

Next time you're in Silicon Valley, be sure to check out Game Kastle. And buy some games!

Thread: Re: Are all "National Geographic Expedition" in English?

EYE of NiGHT — 2006-07-24T18:09:31+00:00

Ravensburger has a done a german-only edition RA026353 which is only sold through German sellers. They have done an international edition RA026354 which is sold outside Germany. You should not be able to get the international edition from a German seller. No doubt Doug's friends were unfortunate to pick up the box with the wrong item number on it.

Thread: Re: So is everyone in agreement? (regarding loop/bow rules)

4Corners — 2006-06-26T03:10:30+00:00

The official rules (National Geographic version) clearly state, including with illustrated examples, that an arrow can be placed ANYWHERE off the expedition that the loop was formed on, whether this is off the actual loop or off another part of the expedition.

Thread: Machu Pichu or bust

ed95005 — 2006-06-20T16:01:20+00:00

Wolfgang Kramer is my favorite game designer. If you look at my Personal Top Ten, you'll see his name is on half of the games in the list. If Kramer is associated with a game, you can pretty much assume I'm interested. That's why I was so excited to get a copy of Expedition last month.

Even though the latest version was published in 2005, it's a surprisingly hard game to find. Of the major internet retailers, the only places that currently have the game in stock are Boards & Bits and Funagain Games, and neither store offers a discount on the price.

The weight is comparable to that of Ticket to Ride, Blokus, Ingenious, and Bohnanza. If you enjoy light to medium games, you'll feel right at home here.

I've played the game twice now, the first time with four players and the second time last night with five players. I'd say four is better. The best part of the game is when you create long combinations of loops, tickets, and extra arrows to steer an expedition to several of your destinations in one turn. It seemed with five, fewer players had opportunities to do this, and one or two players ran away with the lead.

Last night, my initial hand included six destinations in Asia, one in North America, and two in South America. I got out to an early lead by hitting my six Asian destinations in quick succession and picking up a few "open" destinations in the process.

The North and South American destinations proved to be a bigger problem. Much of the game was spent with the players moving expeditions around Asia and Africa. We didn't break into the Americas until late in the game. The blue expedition ran out of arrows somewhere in the Indian Ocean and was never heard from again. Red ran out of gas in Canada. Yellow, however, had plenty of arrows and charged down the Atlantic corridor into South America, where one player hit his final three destinations, causing the game to end.

I don't remember the exact scores, but one player did a very good job of finding and using those long combinations to his best advantage and ended the game with an indecent lead.

I like this game quite a bit. It's a fairly light offering, but that suits a lot of people in my group just fine.

Thread: Re: So is everyone in agreement? (regarding loop/bow rules)

Great Dane — 2006-06-13T11:56:48+00:00

Maybe National Geographic uses the variant as the official rule because that is the most popular version?

I don't know as I haven't seen the new edition, but we have always* played with the variant where you must continue the expedition from the same loop as that makes the game a little more predictable.

Mik

*) after the initial few plays of the standard version.

Thread: Re: So is everyone in agreement? (regarding loop/bow rules)

facesnorth — 2006-06-13T03:53:53+00:00

That's odd, I could have sworn I read in the official rules (N.G. Expedition) that an arrow must be placed somewhere off the loop immediately after closing.

Ryan

edit: spelling errors

Thread: So is everyone in agreement? (regarding loop/bow rules)

Donkey Thong — 2006-06-13T02:29:29+00:00

It seems that most every person that enjoys this game seems to favor the variant stating that once a player forms a loop, he has to play the next arrow out of some point in that loop (as opposed to the default rule of anywhere on the expedition). I recently played my first Expedition game with the variant rule by mistake (must have missed it in the rules) and thought it led to some nifty plays. Should I even bother with the official rule?

Thread: Re: Removing an arrow

Favre4MVP — 2006-05-22T15:39:57+00:00

ed95005 wrote:
jdarnold wrote:
That can never happen, because if you remove an arrow that recreates a loop, the next thing you must do is to place another arrow off of that loop.
The rules for the National Geographic version say the arrow isn't required to be placed off the loop. It can be placed off any arrow tip on the expedition, even those not contained in the loop.

This is the basic version in the Queen version too. The "only off the loop" is a variant in the Queen version. I haven't played it where you can play off of anywhere in the Expedition...it seems too powerful of a move. I just got the game this week though, so I've only played twice. I'll give the basic version a try sometime.

Thread: Re: Removing an arrow

ed95005 — 2006-05-22T15:32:38+00:00

jdarnold wrote:
That can never happen, because if you remove an arrow that recreates a loop, the next thing you must do is to place another arrow off of that loop.
The rules for the National Geographic version say the arrow isn't required to be placed off the loop. It can be placed off any arrow tip on the expedition, even those not contained in the loop.

Thread: Re: Are all "National Geographic Expedition" in English?

dougadamsau — 2006-03-27T00:03:41+00:00

junesen wrote:
If I buy the National Geographic Expedition from a German retailer if the cards would be in English. Or are there multiple language versions of the National Geographic Expedition? (I'm not really concerned about the language of the rules, just the descriptive text on the cards.

Ooh, be careful here. I picked up a copy from a store in Australia that was completely in English. Friends picked up copies from the same store that contained German language cards.

Thread: Re: Are all "National Geographic Expedition" in English?

cscottk — 2006-03-26T17:55:46+00:00

This may not help, but I got my copy from Boards and Bits (the only retailer that I could find carrying it), and the game is completely in English.

Thread: Are all "National Geographic Expedition" in English?

junesen — 2006-03-26T16:59:28+00:00

If I buy the National Geographic Expedition from a German retailer would the cards be in English? Or are there multiple language versions of the National Geographic Expedition? (I'm not really concerned about the language of the rules, just the descriptive text on the cards.

[Edit: grammatical errors]

Thread: Re: How many loops?

keel — 2006-01-30T08:09:15+00:00

OK, we tried the game again allowing one loop per expedition per player per turn and it worked marvelously. Thanks for all your input even tho I still lost.
Dave

Thread: Re: How many loops?

caesarbgg — 2006-01-23T13:28:08+00:00

Each player con form one "bow" (or loop) per expedition in each of his turns. That means there can potentially be an infinite number of loops being formed.

e.g.
Player x's turn:
1. Play red arrow -> loop -> play another red arrow branching off of red expedition
2. Play "travel voucher"
3. Play blue arrow -> loop -> play another blue arrow branching off of blue expedition reaching a green dot
4. Play yellow arrow -> loop -> play another yellow arrow branching off of yellow expedition reaching a green dot

Thread: Re: How many loops?

keel — 2006-01-23T01:42:49+00:00

There were three playing this game and we all thought that only three bows was wrong but we all read the rules over and over and couldn't see any other rule to contradict how we read it. You start a route and somehow cause a bow. You get to play a branch line off it. This is the 2nd branch/new route as in the rule 'Only in this event is a second branch allowed.' That second rule that states 'A player may form in his move, per expedition, only one bow' can be read several ways in our opinions. First, as I stated in my first post, only three bows can form in the entire game (one per color), regardless of number of players. OR that EACH player can create three bows per game (one per color) for a total of nine bows if three people play. If this latter method is the case, how the heck would you keep track of who created what color bow and how many you've created? I don't see a way around the three bow concept we have used.

Thread: Re: How many loops?

wkusau — 2006-01-22T21:20:57+00:00

I think you are playing wrong.
I don't read German so I looked at a translation by Bob Scherer-Hoock. Two lines are important, I think. "Only in this event is a second branch allowed" and a few sentences later, "A player may form in his move, per expedition, only one loop." The first line is true no matter how many loops you use because the new arrow is a 2nd branch but in reality becomes the 1 new path. The second line in the rules appears to mean that each player has this option every turn. One other point, in the variant "a" rules there are several loops used to explain the variant. The placement of the additional arrows are the variant not the fact that there are multiple loops.
That is the way I was taught and everyone I know allows multiple loops. Do you buy the logic?

Thread: How many loops?

keel — 2006-01-22T20:26:26+00:00

In the basic game of my rules, it says you can only form one bow per expedition. So, to me, that means you can form ONLY three bows for the entire game, one bow for each color? Some of the comments I've read sound as if you guys are forming lots of bows. Playing as I have been, after all three bows had formed, I always have lines just dead-ending because they can't move anymore because I am not allowed to cross a similar colored line (which would form a fourth bow). Am I doing this wrong? I really need an answer on this. Dave

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GeoMan — 2006-01-13T21:03:32+00:00

Thread: Re: Loops/Bows

David Vander Ark — 2005-12-28T15:32:52+00:00

Hi Vickie,
Do you mean that you leave one side of the board on the north spot, re-enter that side of the board in the middle of the board, then bend the expedition northward to complete the loop up near the northern spot? That would mean you have part of your loop on each side of the board, correct?

Your loop has half of itself on the East side of the board, and the other half on the West side of the board. If you are playing with the rule where you can build from anywhere on a loop you create, then you may build from anywhere on the loop, on either side of the board. (I just re-read the online rules, including Variant A, and am confident that this is the correct way to interpret your question, if I am understanding the way your board was set up).

I'm pretty sure this is what Jon was saying as well. Pay special attention to his comment about moving inside the loop, that adds a neat layer of complexity to seeing the paths you can potentially create.

Dave

Thread: Re: Loops/Bows

EYE of NiGHT — 2005-12-28T13:49:02+00:00

The board is considered wrap-around, so I don't see that it matters if the loop crosses the join. A loop is a loop is a loop. In fact, we play it so that if an expedition girdles the earth and meets itself, that counts as a loop.

What matters with loops is that you follow the arrows on the shortest possible path. You must be able to trace a route in one direction only to establish that a loop exists. It is easy to forget this and ignore a single arrow pointing the wrong way. And where a loop has been added to or divided, you must take the shorter path to determine your loop.

Remember too that you can break into a loop as well as out of. That is, your free move from the loop can be to go inside the loop, not necessarily away from the loop.

Expedition is a superb game, and being able to make and remake the paths is a key point. Master this, and you have a good chance of winning. It's certainly wise to hang on to your trip coupons as long as possible.

Thread: Loops/Bows

BGGmom — 2005-12-28T07:19:59+00:00

Is a loop/bow formed when it wraps around from edge to edge of the board?

In other words, half of the loop/bow is on one side of the board and the other half is on the other side (the expedition has entered and exited at the correct points, of course). We are playing using Variant A.

Thread: Re: Where to buy?

facesnorth — 2005-11-14T05:34:24+00:00

www.boardsandbits.com has it for about $45. That's full retail which is higher than it was going for when it was readily available, but it's the only store I've seen that sells it now. I just bought it and after 2 plays I'm happy I did.

Ryan

Thread: Re: Two and Three "spaces" away from the start?

facesnorth — 2005-11-14T05:19:09+00:00

The English National Geographic Expedition rules call them "arrow lengths" not "spaces." This should clarify it for you.

And even if you can receive either on your first turn, you have to use red tickets, which are valuable, especially to use 2 on your first turn can hurt you later.

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LA_Ken — 2005-11-13T20:19:13+00:00

Thread: Where to buy?

bkornele — 2005-11-13T15:25:28+00:00

Does anyone know where to get a copy of the English version online? If so please provide a link?

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Haffner — 2005-10-16T15:13:56+00:00

box cover

Thread: Re: National Geographic Expedition?

shininiu — 2005-10-08T01:47:58+00:00

Yes, there indeed exists "National Geographic Expedition." And it's in English. I have a copy on my bookshelf. You might want to ask some online retailers to get a copy for you.

Thread: Re: National Geographic Expedition?

tool — 2005-10-07T22:02:01+00:00

I haven't seen it in person myself, but there are online stores that will sell you a copy (German ones, to be sure).

Thread: National Geographic Expedition?

theaney — 2005-10-07T20:21:04+00:00

So, is there any truth to the rumor that National Geographic Expedition actually, physically exists? Yes, I see two pictures here, and "National Geographic Expedition" appears in the BGG DB, but I can't find any mention of it anywhere on the planet. Was this already published so long ago that it is out of print, or has it not yet been published?

Thread: Two and Three "spaces" away from the start?

stray_flux — 2005-10-07T18:54:31+00:00

I have the German version of Expedition.

When you deal out the first six public destinations my rules translation says they must be 3 'spaces' from the start. Does that mean three links between the destination and the start OR 3 stations (4 links) between the start and the destination?

Same question for the personal declared destinations 2 'spaces' from the start.

My guess is that the intention of the rule is to make so that you can't reach the public destinations on the first turn with your regular arrow plus two travel voucher arrow placements but I don't know. The personal destinations are worth so much more and they're reachable on turn one with either version of the rules. (And I'm not even going to mention the green dot near the start!?)

I had this question before the game but figured how many of the 'exactly 3 links away' destinations would come up. We had two!?

Thread: Re: Differences with Wildlife Adventure

BilboAtBagEnd — 2005-08-29T15:04:29+00:00

This session report by Jeff Wu should help:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geekforum.php3?action=viewthrea...

Thread: Differences with Wildlife Adventure

galfridus — 2005-07-18T16:12:04+00:00

I own (and enjoy) Wildlife Adventure. What differences are there in this game; should I get it?

Thread: Re: Removing an arrow

jdarnold — 2005-07-07T11:02:46+00:00

What happens when you remove an arrow using a trip coupon, and the last thing that happened to that expedition before that was a loop/bow was formed? Do you get to place a free arrow on that expedition?

Yes. The trick is that, when you remove an arrow, you now pretend you placed the arrow that points to where the removed arrow started from. And because you can only remove the last arrow in an expedition, and only one arrow per color can point to a particular dot, you know exactly which arrow you "placed". So you get everything based upon that, including color of dot, completing a loop and reaching a destination.

What if you're playing the "branch only off that loop" variant? Do you have to remember what the last loop formed was?

No, because again, it is as if you played the arrow that points to the dot where the tail of the arrow you removed was, not necessarily the previous arrow that was played in that expedition.

What if the loop was formed pointing at a green or red dot? Do you get an extra play/trip coupon? (meaning you'll have to remember what dot the loop was formed at)

There is no remembering. It's just the arrow that points to the dot where the arrow you removed started from.

Are you just not allowed to remove an arrow if it leaves an expedition with no head?

That can never happen, because if you remove an arrow that recreates a loop, the next thing you must do is to place another arrow off of that loop.

Thread: Removing an arrow

stannius — 2005-07-06T18:34:16+00:00

What happens when you remove an arrow using a trip coupon, and the last thing that happened to that expedition before that was a loop/bow was formed? Do you get to place a free arrow on that expedition?

What if you're playing the "branch only off that loop" variant? Do you have to remember what the last loop formed was?

What if the loop was formed pointing at a green or red dot? Do you get an extra play/trip coupon? (meaning you'll have to remember what dot the loop was formed at)

Are you just not allowed to remove an arrow if it leaves an expedition with no head?

Steve

Thread: 6 player game, Comparison to Wildlife adventure

junesen — 2005-06-17T03:46:20+00:00

This is an excerpt from the cooperative Session Report Geeklist: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listi...
Ratings are in parenthesis

Expedition
13 MikeS (8)
7 Joseph (8)
7 Anna
7 Randy (8)
6 JeffW (8)
0 ChrisE (8)

JeffW I own Wildlife Adventure, which supposed to be the "same" game. However, after one playing of Expedition, I realized that I enjoy Expedition much more.

The big rule change in Expedition is the creation of loops. In Expedition, if you create a loop, you can place another arrow (in the game we played, we can place it from somewhere from the loop, but apparently this is an advanced rule). With the loop rule, the game becomes much more tactical, and you can pull off amazing chains in a turn. This is what makes the game more interesting and satisfying--pulling off one of these manuevers.

The game is more streamlined. Gone are the obstacles and the special cards from Wildlife adventure. The obstacles always seemed kind of lame and the special cards were nice but not that big part of the game. The other addition of the public chips also makes the game more interesting tactically.

Overall, I think the rule changes improve Wildlife Adventure dramatically. I tend to think of Wildlife Adventure as a game mainly for kids. With the rule changes, it is still a light game, but I would bring it out more often with more serious players.

This makes me want to implement the rules for Expedition using Wildlife Adventure. I'm not sure it will be successful because Kramer claimed that he went through 14 iterations on the design of the Expedition board.

Alan I glanced at the board differences between these two games a while back and thought they were the same. I ended up trading my copy of Expedition away when I picked up a copy of Wildlife Adventure cheap. I figured they were basically the same game and that if you just used the rules from Expedition you would end up with essentially the same game. Now that I look at the boards more closely I notice that they are similar but not the same. Most of the dots are in the same place but the connections aren't always the same. I never really thought about how that could affect the game but it seems it could to a great extent. Thanks for the heads up on this. I doubt I ever would have noticed.

Thread: Expedition report

dougadamsau — 2005-05-27T02:05:32+00:00

Players: Fraser, Shawn, Frank, Doug

Played the Queen edition. A new game to everyone except Doug. The mechanics are easily explained and quickly grasped. Fraser has several strong early turns, picking up both the public destinations and a couple of "important" destinations. Fraser was doing so well, he left a single red arrow expedition hanging one short of another of his important expeditions for several turns, before it was whipped away by a ticket and redirected. The new players quickly spotted the potential moves that can be set up through combinations of tickets, loops, and red/green spaces, and some great moves were performed. Doug ended the game with everyone down to one or two cards remaining. Doug and Fraser tied for the win with 17 points each.

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dougadamsau — 2005-05-25T12:28:56+00:00

National Geographic edition - game board

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dougadamsau — 2005-05-25T12:28:55+00:00

National Geographic edition - closeup of some cards

Thread: Re:Another Loop Question

GeoMan — 2005-03-06T12:18:45+00:00

Henry Rhombus (#24995),

In that case you can't extent that expedition (same as if you run out of arrows of that color).

Thread: Re:Good with 2 players?

Nick Danger — 2005-01-10T22:10:02+00:00

This game is one of my favorite two player games. I think it's best with two, actually. I also like it with 3 or 4, but it works great head to head.

Thread: Good with 2 players?

cull — 2005-01-09T10:11:15+00:00

How does this play with just 2 players?

And, what's the optimal number of players?

Thanks

Thread: Re:Another Loop Question

keel — 2004-07-11T05:02:31+00:00

Henry Rhombus (#24995), my understanding of the rules would suggest that you restart in Stockholm.

Thread: Re:Another Loop Question

shilinski — 2004-01-06T21:27:07+00:00

Henry Rhombus (#24995),

Since the rules demand that you MUST place an arrow off the loop, it seems to me that you are not allowed to create a loop if you cannot fulfill that requirement. At least, that's the way we play it.

Thread: Another Loop Question

Henry Rhombus — 2004-01-05T07:28:50+00:00

I play Expedition with a combination of Variant A and the original rules: Players place four chips and can place an arrow off only those locations that form the loop.

In a recent game, we encountered a sitution where an expedition might intercept itself with no open lines leading off the loop. (There were a number of loops already in the area.) Where does one then place the arrow that the loop requires? Does the player place it at any point on the expedition as in the main rules, or does the expedition restart in Stockholm?

Thread: Session Report

batman — 2003-12-12T02:46:47+00:00

First I joined a game of Expedition. We played with five players which, like most games, makes the game more tactical than strategic. This game can handle it well though and I have no problem playing it with as many as six. George started out strong in the game by placing all of his chips in Asia and then keeping the blue expedition in the continent. It didn't hurt that most of us had points to pick up there as well. We sort of helped him out. George managed to pick up all of his chips first, well before most of us had even gotten two chips. It was looking like an early slaughter.

The red expedition wandered west through northern Asia and briefly into North America. The yellow expedition first went west into North America, then southwest into Oceania and then finally into South America where it eventually petered out in the middle of the Atlantic. The blue expedition did finally manage to migrate south, exploring Africa, skirting along Antarctica and then finishing in southeast Asia. We were playing by a different rules interpretation than I have in my game and we were confused by what was going on in the game. The rules we were using said that only one color could be place along any one black line. This effectively stymied the red line and we were left with most of the red arrows unplayed. We only later discovered the translation error. As it was it seemed like a good time for the game to end so we tallied our scores. Almost all of us we able to claim our four chips. I was fortunate to only have two cards in my hand at the end and earned twelve points. George had visited as many places as I had but more of those were the common cards and he ended with four cards in his hand. It turned out that my 12 points were enough to win the game. Everyone had at least nine.

Thread: Re:General Comment

Jonathan Degann — 2003-09-25T18:31:31+00:00

There are no loops in Wildlife Adventure.

Thread: Re:User Review

shadowkeeper — 2003-09-17T13:34:12+00:00

When you're a game reviewer (like me) and you're lazy (like me), you often describe a game by simply comparing it to others. "It's like Acquire with squirrels" or "It's like a cross between Diplomacy and Loopin' Louie". But occationally you come across a game that is so unlike anything else out there and you have no choice but to buckle down and actually describe the thing. Such a game is "Expedition".

Actually, there is one comparison I can draw: "Expedition" is a lot like "Wildlife Adventure" -- possibly because they are the exact same game. (Well, pretty much.) Each has a game board that shows a map of the world, with key locations scattered across the continents. These locations are connected by a web of travel lines which form a matrix across the globe. The location for Greenland is labelled "Start".

Each of the 79 locations has a corresponding card in the deck. These cards are shuffled and the players all receive a handful of them, indicating the Personal Missions they will be striving to complete. They also start with three Travel Vouchers. In addition to the cards and the vouchers, the game also comes complete with scores of tiny plastic arrows, not unlike the plastic spears you sometimes see skewering fruit slices in fancy drinks. On a turn, a player takes one of these arrows and places it on the board. The arrows, which are red, blue or yellow, are put on one of the travel lines to indicate the progress of an Expeditions: to show that the blue Expedition has traveled from Greenland to Ural, for example. An arrow can be placed at the end of any of the three Expeditions -- the Expeditions are not owned by any one player. As the game progresses, the trail of arrows will march across the board marking the progress of the expditions as they hop from exotic locale to exotic locale. At a glance you can see where each of the Expeditions currently resides, and have some indication as to where they might go next.

When any of the three Expeditions arrives in a location, a player that holds the corresponding card plays it and leaves it face up in front of him for the remainder of the game. There are also some Public Missions: six cards are placed face-up along side the board before the game begins. When a player moves an Expedition into a Public Mission site, he takes the card and adds it to his collection of completed cards. A new Public Mission is then drawn from the deck.

The game continues until one player has completed all of his Personal Missions. At that time, players receive one point for each Mission, both Personal and Public, that they completed over the course of the game. Before the game starts the players use counters to indicate the locations of some of their Personal Missions, and the completion of these marked missions are worth a bonus point a piece.

Over the course of the game players will be trying to direct the Expeditions towards their own Missions (or to Public Missions they can claim) and away from those of their opponents. Most Personal Missions are secret, but the ones marked by counters are tougher to acheive as your opponents will cheerfully steer the Expeditions away from them. And you can make some educated guesses as to what secret Private Missions a player holds. If player A is doing everything in his power to send the Yellow Expedition to Africa, you can be relatively confident that, if you suddenly redirect the Yellow Expedition towards South America, Player A will Not Be Happy.

Some of the locations on the board are not archeological sites, but are simply marked by green or red dots. Whenever you direct an Expedition to a Green dot, you may immediately place another arrow on the board. Whenever you direct an Expedition to a red spot, you receive a travel voucher. You may also spend up to two of these travel vouchers per turn. A travel voucher may be used to place another arrow on the board (just as if you had reached a green spot), to remove an arrow from the board (perhaps to "back up' an Expedition and send it off in another direction), or to discard one of your Personal Mission cards and draw a new one.

One of the more interesting aspects of the game occurs when a player places an arrow in such a way as to form a loop; in other words, when an Expedition circles back and revisits a location that it has previously traveled through. When this happens, the player who formed the loop must immediately place another arrow, showing the Expedition travelling outward from any of the sites in the loop. (This is tough to describe, but imagine, if you will, that the Red Expedition travels from Ohio, to Utah, to Pueblo Bonito, and then to Cahokia. If the Expedition now travels from Cahokia to Ohio it will have formed a loop, and the player who formed it must now place another arrow leaving Ohio, Utah, Pueblo Bonito or Cahokia -- his choice.) By forming a loop, a player can cause an Expeiditon to leap a huge distance in a single turn, perhaps reaching a far off mission that would have been otherwise unobtainable.

Expedition is a very unusual game, one requiring strategic thinking like no other. And it is widely considered to be one of the "classics" of the modern German Game movement. This alone would put it in the "must own" category, along with, say, Tikal and Hare and Tortoise. But unlike some of the other games in this category (such as, say, Tikal and Hare and Tortoise) Expedition has the added advantage of being exceptionally fun to play. Expeditions zig and zag across the continents as players each attempt to harness them for thier own objectives. While much of the game can feel chaotic (especially with five our six players, where the state of the Expeditions will change greatly between your turns), the game still allows skillful players to pull off some amazing feats on their turn, creating loops to take an Expedition to an entirely unexpected location or hitting a string of Red and Green dots to turn a single move into an impressive trek across a continent or ocean.

Expedition also has a characteristic that many of my favorite games possess: the growth of the playing field as the game progresses. Like watching roads and settlements spring up across the island of Catan or observing the sprawl and collapse of kingdoms in Tigris and Euphrates, players can see as the Expeditions begin in Greenland and then careen across the globe. Expedition has the added feature of built-in history: not only can you see, at a glance, where the Expeditions currently reside. but you can see where they all have been: which of your sites they narrowly missed, or where you pulled off that ingenius move in Southern Africa. The play of the game doesn't just progress, it builds and evolves.

I enjoy Expedition best with three or four: enough players to keep things interesting but not so many that the Expeditions will run away between your turns. Rumor has it that it even plays well with two, although I have never tried. And the rules are simple enough for just about any age group or class of game players. Truely a great game. Expedition is one of the cornerstones of my collection, and one I am happy to play on just about any occation.