“Rapa Nui” is our Game of The Month

There are probably more games about Easter Island than people living there, but it seems that this isolated little island is an endless resource for ideas for game authors. With Rapa Nui we have a very welcome addition to the genre “Easter Island Game”, because the mechanics and the theme go well hand in hand here in this little empire building/action maximizing game. Especially the “sacrifice” mechanic is worth a second look: on one hand I want to keep the most valuable resource cards in my hand for points, but I have to sacrifice the same cards as well to actually make them valuable. Out of this dichotomy the game draws a lot of flair. It is also a very fast game, and is fun in repeated play (especially with 3-players – ideal and less random than the 4-player version).