Arraial Preview

Arraial is the Portuguese name given to a traditional summer celebration in which people take to the streets to eat, drink and generally have a good time. The old neighbourhoods are decked with balloons, music and dancing.

Arraial is a one to four-player game, designed by Nuno Bizarro Sentieiro and Paulo Soledade, and published by Mebo Games. It is an abstract Tetris style puzzle game that is set during the time of a Portuguese celebration, Arraial.

Arraial - The Game

Players are take control of their own neighbourhood and are trying to create the most popular event by attracting the best visitors to the celebration. Players will grab the best and most beautiful decorations, hire the most inspiring musicians and the serve the best traditional dishes.

All these aspects of the festival are represented by polyomino tiles which are drafted from a rotating octagonal board. The piece is removed from the board and placed on the player's neighbourhood board in the same orientation that it was removed from the octagonal board. There is no flipping or rotating of the polyomino piece when placing it on your board.

Players are also awarded for placing like colours together. When a zone of at least two polyomino tiles is created a same coloured visitor (Meeple) is placed on to the zone. The first player to do this also claims the Visitor Couple Meeple. If another player creates a larger zone the Visitor Couple Meeple moves to the zone of the other player. Each player board also has a "Level Bar" which is moved up when a line is completed.

Play continues this way until there are no cards left to fill the octagonal board. At this point points are awarded for the Visitor Meeples and the Couple Visitor Meeple. The player with the most points wins.

See more of Arraial in Nick Welford's Facebook video!

Coming Soon

There are many polyomino Tetris style games out there. This one has a few additional elements and restrictions that make it stand out. It has a unique theme and is bright and colourful. If you are after this style of puzzle Tetris style game, then check out Arraial - It's available to pre-order right now!