Lost Cities

Today's game review is of the 1999 release, Lost Cities.  For 2 players, it plays in 30 minutes.

Overview

The theme of Lost Cities is exploration, symbolized by strategically placing cards.  There are five suits of cards, each of different color (green, blue, white, red, yellow).  Each suit has:
- 9 cards numbered 2-10
- 3 'handshake' cards (no numerical value)

Your goal is to 'complete expeditions.' You do this by forming (up to) five columns of cards in front of you (you can play one card per turn, as described in the proceeding section).  The columns are color-specific, and cards must be placed in increasing numerical order.  So, for example, let's say you have four white cards: 2, 4, 5, 9.  If you want to attempt the white expedition, you'd want to place these cards from least to most valuable (one per turn) in a column below the white destination.  If you want to play handshake cards, you have to play them first in a column (before numbered cards).  These multiply the end score of that column based on the number of handshake cards you have in the column (1 = 2x final score, 2 = 3x, 3 = 4x).  The more numerical cards you have in a column, the better (see scoring in the next paragraph).  See the example game in progress below.

example of a game in play; image from here

At the end of the game, you score as follows:
- add up your numbers in a given column, if you have any cards in it
- subtract 20
- multiply the total as dictated by the handshake cards (if any) in that column

Follow this procedure for each of your five columns, then add the totals.  Your opponent does the same; the highest total score wins!  Note that you can have negative points for a column- so sometimes it's better to not start an expedition in all colors.  If you do start an expedition, you need to total 21 points or more to be in the positive for that column, so plan carefully!  A scoring example is below the picture.

scoring example; image from here

The near player in the pictured example would score as follows:
red: 2x (2+5+7+8+9+10-20) = 42 points
green: (2+3+6+8+10-20) = 9 points
white: 2x (5+6+8+9-20) = 16 points
blue: (6+9+10-20) = 5 points
yellow: 3x (8-20) = -36 points

The near player's total score would be 42+9+16+5-36 = 36 points.


Simplified Gameplay

Shuffle the deck of cards and place it next to the board (this is the draw pile).  Deal each player 8 cards; the oldest then starts the game.  On your turn, you do two things:

1) play a card
---- put one card from your hand into the appropriate column, OR
---- discard one card from your hand by placing it on top of the appropriate discard pile (on top of the destinations on the board)
2) draw a card
---- take one card from the draw pile, OR
---- take the top card from any discard pile on the board

Remember that you can play cards only in increasing order.  So, let's say you play a yellow 2 and yellow 5 on consecutive turns.  Then, you draw a yellow 4.  Oh well- you can't play that card, and you must either discard it on a later turn or keep it in your hand until the end of the game.

As soon as a player draws the last card from the draw pile, the game ends, and each column is scored.  The highest total score wins!

Review

This is a nice game.  The artwork is great and it can be learned quickly.  It's probably best not to start all 5 expeditions . . . I learned that the hard way, as in my first game I scored -83 points.  I ended up doing 3-4 expeditions per game with much better results.  Anyway, it's fun, though there's a lot of pressing your luck and the theme is pasted on (this is really just a set collection style of game- the 'expedition' part is just for flavor).

Rules can be found here.

Rating: A-