#camel up

Monolyth is a simple 2-4 player game where we each use 3D pieces to build our Monolyth, a big ol cube. Take pieces from the board, prediction values, complete layers, and try to assemble the main structure first.

What’s had me charmed about Monolyth is its simplicity in game design that forces risk and choices. Your base for the monolyth has colored sides matching the colors of the pieces. You want these colors on these borders, as when you take prediction tiles (the 9 on the lower right) you want to accurately meet or exceed that number. But making a row of 4 squares across that border takes one square away from either side.

At the same time as you manage colors you’re building in the shape of the randomly chosen structure card. Being first nets more points. Same for layers. Being first nets more points.

Its more a race to do things first. A planning and efficiency race. The structure card is what keeps the game fresh, all in all brilliantly designed little game of little plastic pieces. Monolyth does a lot with a little and I like it a good deal.

Evolution is a game designed by scientists and a magic the gathering player. In it players play adaptations to their species to better get food (victory points). Meanwhile carnivorous species seek to overcome these adaptations with adaptations of their own.

This is such a tightly designed game, I absolutely loved it. It has the dynamic feel of a game of edh where players win and lose at different spots as they make their animals. There’s mechanical politics like how carnivores need to be larger than the species they hunt BUT the body size of the species dictates how much meat is gathered. So my tank of an herbivore was an early game powerhouse that became an endgame buffet.

Evolution has the most interesting card play I’ve seen in a long while with mechanics that back it up with something more substantial. Its relatively simple once you get ahold of the rules and its very effective, this was an excellent find.

Camel Up is an extremely silly camel racing game where you could score +10 points or -2 points and that all depends on if the last place camel decides to move or not.

In Camel Up players bet on legs of a camel race and the overall winner loser. The trick is the earlier you lock in your bets the more points you get. What really makes Camel Up pop is its rules system. The game is chaotic but there’s a logic you can plan around. Camels can’t move on their own twice in the same leg, only 5/6 dice get rolled, and most importantly camels stack and can carry each other across the track.