Kariba

Kariba is another great addition to the Helvetiq range, as a couple we love the Helvetiq pocket games, these simple, easy and good-looking games are a perfect addition to any gamers shelf.

Alongside Kariba we own Forest, Bandido, Bandida, Misty & Tucano. They all make handy little travel games for the family, taking up no more room than a normal pack of playing cards.

In Kariba you collect the animals of the savanna, each animal relates to a number, the more points you collect the better your chances of winning. But let’s be honest you’ll just want to collect your favourite animal! Alistair kept stealing the Cheetahs, whereas Charlotte wants to win and takes the elephants, not only the biggest animal on the Savanna but the highest points too!

Our Initial Thoughts

Kariba comes in a nice colourful box that grabs your attention straight away, while the box is not as high quality as many others this is a cheap and affordable game that you should have no qualms throwing in a bag to take anywhere. While the box may not be the best the cards and watering hole pieces are high quality and will last many play throughs.

The art-work on Kariba is pleasant and simple with bright colourful cards to keep all of the family engaged. The rules are simple and well described in the rule book, allowing new players to join and try Kariba without lengthy explanations.

Overall we were taken by this game from the moment we opened it.

Game Set Up

Kariba is an incredibly easy game to set up. First create the watering hole, connecting the jigsaw pieces together placing it in the middle of the table. Shuffle the cards and deal five to each player. Simple as that. It will take no more than a few minutes, if you don’t get distracted counting the spots on a cheetah or stripes on a Zebra. Oh and let’s not forget the age old argument, are they black with white stripes or white with black stripes? 😉

Game Play

Gameplay starts with the player to the left of the dealer taking a turn. Select cards of the same animal from your hand and place them on the table Infront of the watering hole spaces showing the same number. You can place as many cards of the same animal down during your turn as you wish, you may choose to save a card back and use it later to get more points or place them all down knowing you’ll get immediate points. There is some tactical element to Kariba but by no means is it difficult.

To win you must gain as many points as possible, each animal represents a number from 1 to 8. The mouse being the smallest animal is a 1 and the elephant being the largest animal is an 8.

To gain points you must place animals at the watering hole, when a stack has 3 or more animals at the watering hole space, any player who places an additional card can claim points.

To claim points, you must locate the next stack of animals of a lower value. For example, you place a giraffe (4), this is the 3rd card in the stack, allowing you to claim the next lowest stack, you first look for a Zebra (3), if there are Zebras present you would take all cards at the spot. If there are no Zebra’s you can claim the next lowest animal which is the Meerkat (2). The only change to this rule is when the 3rd mouse is played this allows the player to claim the elephants in play. This is the only time a higher value card can be claimed.

After placing cards draw the same number of cards played to replenish your hand. The game continues like this until the draw pile is empty and all players have used all their cards.

To find the winner each player counts their cards, adding all of the values together. The player with the highest total wins.

Final Thoughts

Kariba is a fun, simple and entertaining game. We have enjoyed playing this game many times and don’t plan on that changing. The size of the box means it travels with us, along with the other Helvetiq games pretty much anywhere we travel.

We found that this game is better with at least 3 players, 4 is ideal. When there are only two players, while still enjoyable, the stacks of cards tend to build up meaning one person can get a large stack of a high value animal which has a major impact on the game. With more players the cards are constantly moving around and changing making it a flowing game and the winner is rarely known till the final count.

Overall this is an enjoyable game that has earned its place on our gaming shelf.