Review

(NOTE: I have included excerpts from a review by Helmut Wresnik as published on Mik Svellov's Brett and Board site. Plus, I've added my own comments at the end of Jonathan's review. - - - Greg Schloesser)

Ra is the latest full size game from Reiner Knizia. On reading Helmut Wresnik's description, I had the same reaction as many others did: This sounds like " Medici" meets "It's Mine".

Following is Helmut Wresnik's excellent description of the game:

The map consits of two tracks - a Ra track (10 spaces long) and a Commodity track - 8 spaces long. Lots of square tiles showing symbols like Pharaos, Gods, Gold, the Nile, Monuments etc. are mixed face down and placed next to the board.There are also 16 wooden Suns numbered from 1 to 16. These are distributed to the players except for the one marked '1' which is placed on the board.

A player has three options in his turn:

* You can draw a tile as long the track isn't full. If you draw a Ra tile it is placed on the Ra track and an auction takes place. If it isn't a Ra tile, it is placed on the commodity track.

* You can initiate an auction by shouting "Ra" and taking the Ra-figure.

* If you have a God tile (there are 8 of these), you may take a tile from the Commodity track except another God tile.

Auction: You bid for the tiles on the Commodity track. The player to the left of the holder of the Ra-figure begins by bidding one of his open Suns (see later, why they may be face down). There's one round with the Ra-figure player bidding last. Whoever bids the highest Sun, gets all tiles and places these openly in front of him. Then he returns his Sun open to the board and takes the Sun which is lying there and places it face down. When a player has all his 3 Suns face down, he is out of play for this epoch (there are three epochs).

Tiles of the same type are put together. For every category there are 2 catastrophe tiles. If you get such a tile, you have to discard two good tiles of this category. If it's a Nile catastrophe you must discard Flood tiles first.

An Epoch lasts till the last Ra tile is played or when one player has used all his Suns. The board returns to the default settings and the players scores: 2 points for every God not used; 5 points to the player with most Pharaos; -2 points to the player with the least Pharaohs; Gold is worth 3 points each; a player with at least one Flood tile score 1 point for every Nile and Flood tile. Having no Civilization tiles costs -5 points; 3,4 or 5 different Civilization tiles earns a player 5, 10 or 15 points. After the third and final epoch the players also scores for having Monuments and Suns:1-6, 7 or 8 Monuments earns 1-6, 10 or 15 points, and having 3, 4 or 5 identical Monuments yields a bonus of 5, 10 or 15 points. The player with the most Suns receives 5 points, while the one with the least must deduct 5. Whoever has most points wins.

This melding of two games seemed to promise the worst of each world: the superficial scoring mechanism of It's Mine, in a "serious" slower moving game that begged for more meat. In fact, Ra plays like neither game at all, and is quite original and refreshing.

First, while Helmut Wresnik's description of the scoring captures every detail, it doesn't capture the sense of just how many different ways there are of scoring, and how each one has it's own character. Some of the tiles, such as Civilization, are held only for the current epoch; they score and are then discarded. Others, like monuments, can score big, but are held for the duration of the game, and require deliberate long term collecting in order to maximize their potential. So, you choose a long term strategy and elect to collect monuments - only to learn that if you have no Civilization tiles at the end of an epoch, you lose five points. Nothing can quite go ignored. The players with the fewest Pharaohs each epoch are also penalized. Moreover, some tile types combine long and short term collecting. Nile tiles - 25 of them - are worth one point each, and accumulate for the duration of the game, scoring up to three times each. However, if you've scooped up a bunch of them, and haven't collected at least one Flood tile this epoch, then all of your Niles are worth squat. Playing this game is like working in an office where you have five bosses. The scoring is much richer than in It's Mine.

Similarly, there is a key difference between Ra and Medici. In Medici, you are limited to five commodities per round; in Ra, the sun's the limit. More is almost always better (except when a nasty penalty tile comes out.) Everyone gets to buy three sets of commodities per round - get all you can! So where's the pressure? It's in the dastardly Ra timing mechanism.

Every time a Ra tile is drawn, there is an auction for the entire string of tiles that have been drawn since the last successful auction. Hey - no sweat. It's a once-around auction, and if the goods on display aren't worth one of your three bidding tiles, you can just pass and let more tiles accumulate. The big "but" is that when ten Ra tiles have been drawn, the round ends abruptly. If you haven't made three purchases by then, you've missed out. Many was the time when I was sitting on a juicy high numbered bidding tile, waiting for a big string of tiles to come out, when Ra after Ra tile got pulled, bringing me closer to the premature end of the round. Suddenly, I'm not so picky - but neither is anyone else - and now I'm getting out-bid in auction after auction, as the 10th Ra tile creeps ever closer.

Complicating this further is the fact that the high bidder takes the last bidding tile as part of his booty. That juicy string of eight tiles carries with it the blasted "3" tile which was used for the last payment. If I bite - I'll also be stuck with a pathetic "3" tile to use in next round. Nothing is easy - nor should it be. Part of the game is figuring out how to maximize use of the low tiles. Sometimes, when all the other players have only high bidding tiles showing, you'll call "Ra", initiating an auction voluntarily, when you see a string of tiles that's too wimpy for the other players to blow their load on.

The down side is that, for all its color, this is a game of limited dimension. Add tiles, bid (or don't), collect. The choices are very structured. This is not a game that can be replayed with endless variety. It is, though, a game that is hard to string out.

Turns come around quickly. There isn't too much to ponder. Act, or don't, and let the next player go. The game is supposedto take 45 minutes to an hour, and will be hard to stretch out much longer with all but the most compulsive of players. It clocks in just right.

The artwork is gorgeous - really some of the sharpest and most evocative illustration work that I've seen in any game. There are about 25 unique illustrations on the tiles. Every one of them is attractive and clean looking and contributes to the overall "look" of the game. I much prefer this to Doris Matthaus' frequently muddy style. Moreover the illustrator has managed to create sets of styles that makes the collecting unambiguous. No one has to ask whether this tile is a Nile, a Civilization, or a Monument, and no one has to ask whether this Civilization is the same as that Civilization tile. Kudos to the illustrator and art director!

This is not a killer diller game on par with Tigris and Euphrates - o r Durch die Wuste. It is a solid "perceived value" game that should appeal to fans of games like Modern Art and Medici who want a new twist.

COMMENTS : Like Jonathan , I had the opportunity to play a few games of Ra at the regional Gulf Games get-together here in New Orleans. I, too, was impressed by the artwork and components. However, I found that on repeated playings, the game loses much of its uniqueness and began to feel very mechanical and bland to me. There simply wasn't alot of excitement there. Sadly, I feel that the replay value of Ra will continue to dwindle. I fear this is one Knizia release that, although I'd gladly play, I would likely not request it.