Game Closet Reviews: Isla Dorada

Two bright and colorful boardgames, each with bidding as its main mechanic were released at nearly the same time this year - Days of Wonder's "Cargo Noir" and Fantasy Flight's "Isla Dorada." Both Days of Wonder and Fantasy Flight are known in the hobby gaming circles for their incredible production quality, and neither game disappointed in that area. 

I've already made my thoughts on "Cargo Noir" known (here's a hint: I wasn't a fan), but I held out hopes for "Isla Dorada" because of its theme and that it had some pretty impressive designers behind it, namely the prolific Bruno Faidutti with assistance from Alan "I Made Ticket to Ride" Moon.  As I read previews of "Isla Dorada" the only way I could wrap my head around the game was to describe it as "Like Ticket to Ride, but with a bidding mechanic, and only one piece on the board that represents all players." 


Huh? Stick with me..



It's the 1930s and you and your fellow players are world-renowned explorers - plundering the deepest and darkest of the unexplored/uncivilized world for fame and fortune.  Your party's zeppelin crash lands on Isla Dorada - an unexplored island of riches and curses.  To split up the party would spell certain death for all of you at the hands of the Bigfoot or Leviathan that roams the island, so you all decide to travel together and explore the island.  Each explorer has certain locations on the island they want to go to in order to reap the riches of those locations, while avoiding other locations that contain curses.  The problem is, some of your party will want to go to those locations you want to avoid... what to do?

The Isla

The game begins with the Explorer Marker being placed at the crash location in the center of the board. Each player is dealt a hand of "Treasure Cards" which provide the name of a location on the map and the number of points the player will receive by moving the token to this location at some point in the game (this is the equivalent of Destination Tickets in "Ticket to Ride."); players also receive a "Destiny Card" that will award them a large bonus of points for a certain outcome at the end of the game - for instance, end the game with all of one type of card, visit specific destinations throughout the game, etc. Additionally, players will receive a "Curse Card" that is the opposite of the "Treasure Card" - traveling to this destination will net you negative points. Finally, players will be dealt and draw from an "Adventure Deck" which has cards used for both travel and other actions. Play lasts for 16 rounds and at the end and the player with the most amount of points wins.

It's all incredibly simple, but perhaps a little visually daunting to a new player as the watch pile upon pile of components be organized on the board for setup.

The components are incredible

But let's talk about the components for a second - STUNNING: the Artwork is bright, cartoonish, and beautiful; the board is vibrant and thematic; and the inclusion of three gigantic, intricately sculpted pieces representing the Explorer Marker, the Bigfoot, and the Leviathan are begging to be painted by someone with more artistic skills than I have. The game is a beautiful work of art - it's just too bad that I'm going to have to spend too much money sleeving all of the cards (the wear-and-tear that they'll take in games, and my anal-retentiveness demand it.)

This Explorer Marker represents all players and the movement of that marker is determined by the highest bidder of "Adventure Cards." At the beginning of a turn, the "Expedition Leader" (aka, the starting player, aka, the one who just won the last bid) announces which destination he wants to move the party and bids any number of Adventure Cards that match the route of travel between two locations (generally, Jungle, Sand, Mountain, or Water). Bidding for alternate paths takes place until all players have passed up their opportunity to bid, at which point the expedition moves to the location of the highest bidder who discards the cards he bid. Those who have "Treasure Cards" or "Curse Cards" that match the destination reveal them, new "Adventure Cards" are drawn and the next round begins.

Example of the Adventure Cards

The Adventure Cards add unexpected turns of events during the game, as well as being used for bidding - stopping bidding, preventing someone from bidding, moving the Bigfoot/Leviathan to block paths, etc. In another nod to "Ticket to Ride," four Adventure cards are laid face-up on the table and can be selected when drawing, or players can draw blindly from the top of the face-down Adventure deck. Additionally, gold coins (to which each player is limited to 10, with no possibility of getting more gold during the game) can be used to purchase additional cards, or are needed when playing some Adventure Cards. Since gold isn't replenished, and is counted toward the total number of points at the end of the game, the resource management makes for some interesting choices - do you burn through your money in the beginning of the game to try to get the advantage, or do you use your money only when absolutely necessary?

Really the biggest hurdle of "Isla Dorada" are the number of Adventure Cards and their various effects on the game (thankfully, cheat sheets are provided) and the very unusual names of all the locations on the map. I don't know how many times I will have to play until I have to stop standing up and to look at the board and read all the locations on the map in order to figure out where to go. Though the unusual destinations are very thematically consistent, it does make it a bit of a challenge to just glance at the board in order to determine where the party is headed. But I would rather have that and be immersed in the theme of the game of an unexplored island, than to have yet another board with a map of the world and readily-identifiable cities. Plus, it makes for some unintended comedy when people are trying to pronounce where they are headed - and "Isla Dorada" is all about the fun and whimsy.

The basic rules, which work well for younger audiences have each player bidding their own amount for their own location; advanced rules allow for the combination of bids between players in order to up the ante. Advanced rules are really how most adults should play the game - that way players end up forming alliances throughout the game in order to achieve their individual goals. In our sessions there was plenty of fun table-talk when bidding started with "I can help you out there" and "I don't know about you, but I'm Northern Exposure kind of guy" being thrown around.

The mechanics of the game are wonderfully simple and the artstyle really solidifies "Isla Dorada" as a great family game. Though there is some strategy to be had in knowing when to bid aggressively and when to let your opponents do the heavy lifting for you, it's never too strategic to be intimidating to new players. The personal downside of this is: though very enjoyable, it probably won't see a lot of regular table time with my gaming group, who's taste runs just a little deeper (not heavy Eurogame deep, but a bit deeper than Family Fare). Still, if we're in the mood for "Survive," "Smallworld," or "Ticket to Ride," "Isla Dorada" will be equally considered.

But for a Family Game Night with young and old players? "Isla Dorada" is a fantastic choice and is a welcome addition to the bookshelf.