Intuitive placement game with an innovative working mechanism

So, I looked up habs. Also in South America put farmers their fields mostly rectangular to. Depending on the geographical features can elongate or rather shapeless variants emerge once. But what is almost guaranteed never to see cocoa plantations are in the form of a cocoa bean. Well, almost never. Because in Cacao (Phil Walker Harding / Abacusspiele) we are even dealing with dozens of more unusual shapes. And who here often is reading now knows: If the reviewer sneers about such trifles, he probably has not found much else to complain about.

In Cacao We set classic from Jungle tiles on which fields, markets and all sorts of other useful locations are displayed. By means of our workers, we use this to make the most money at the end. Only that our workers quite unclassically also appear here in the form of platelets.

A whole stack of workers
At the beginning of the jungle presents quite unspectacular, but are a mere 2 tablets made. On one of them a plantation can be seen, which offers us a cocoa bean. The other plate is a market where we can sell off those very profitably. To come but to enjoy such a chip, we need to send our workers. This also stand us in the form of a plate stack available, 3 of which we have always on hand. You can see it 4 workers that are active at the edges. An equally dividing is well represented, such as grouping of 3 colleagues on one side.

Who is the train, simply placed one of his workers platelets with at least one side of a jungle platelets and triggers its effect as often as workers can be seen on the corresponding interface. Arises when you create an empty field at the least 2 worker tiles adjacent, growing on top of the jungle. One of the open jungle tile is placed and all neighboring workers are active. The result over time is a checkerboard pattern of alternating workers and jungle tiles.

What the jungle has so
Away from plantations and Mark fields varying quality provides the jungle and some more surprises. So mines offer immediate victory points, sunstones offer at game end the possibility to build over their own workers platelets and thus to use the effect of platelets jungle again. In contrast, Temple VPs are heaps around unused, the one who receives, who has more workers in the immediate vicinity.

Should not be concealed beyond the waterholes. As everyone knows, the supply of their own fields with water is an essential part of agriculture. So here, too, where it is presented in the form of a water carrier on the own tableau. This starts on a field that brings 10 minus points when the game ends. By means of water holes placed workers However, this can be increased to up to 16 plus points. Who wants after laying the last plate to have a chance of winning, so it should ignore the cool water under any circumstances.

Conclusion
Although the basic rules of Cacao simple and getting started is very simple, the game feels but over long distances unspent and offers quite a few tactical options. As a laid tile never heard me alone, must always be weighed up between the own benefit and that of the other players. Dear himself retract some points or put the players a bad plate to its 3 workers? Or kindly send him 4 beans, where is only room for 1 in the camp? For such a simple game Cacao provides a surprisingly high degree of interaction.

Significant differences in feel are evident, though, depending on the number of players. While a game Cacao runs in fully occupied very quickly and without major delays, but the effect increases with each player starting. So it's in the game for four with some bad luck quite possible that a player of none or only one of the always scarce water slide zoom comes. Without there to be fetched points a game but victory is much more difficult. Accordingly, players may well also once be no fault with no real chance to win.

Is it possible with this quite noticeable luck factor but deal, Cacao has actually entertaining gameplay and an entirely new approach to the placement of workers.