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Language is a funny old thing, eh? I’ll tell you what I mean: I’m going to write a bunch of words - approximately 800 of them - in this article, I’ll send it to the Blog Bosses, they’ll published it, and now you’re reading it and with any luck I’ve done a good job of enticing you to check out this new game. There’s a fair bit of information to take in, some discussion about the theme and how it fits with the game, and you’re going to take it all in and decide that Rise of Babel sounds great and could be worth a punt. The power of words. The power of language.
The upshot is that if you don’t read English then I’ve lost you already (here’s me acting like every single person who understands English is pouring over my every word - oh, the folly of a fool!). Perhaps you think I’m a raving lunatic who’s clearly lost his mind and you’re about to wander off and miss out on a cool new product. I might be a lunatic (I think) but does that mean I don’t know what I’m talking about?
Well, those of you who are still here, let’s talk about a new game!
In Rise of Babel, players assume the role of builders, using elephants to transport resources and endeavor to construct the grandest tower known to man. Assemble a deck of cards, upgrade your warehouse to unlock a range of rewards, and tactically position resource tiles on the Tower of Babel. The player with the most influence points at the end of the game wins!
A quick refresher: At one time, according to Genesis, all people used to speak the same language. Their unity of language allowed them to collaborate and to build a grand tower, so tall it would reach into the heavens. Doing so would bring them glory, or so they believed. God realised that communication meant people would be able to do virtually anything, potentially giving them too much power over a world that was meant to be ruled by God. Before the tower was completed, God made everyone speak different languages. No longer able to understand each other, the builders were unable to complete the tower. They spread out across the world, which is how linguistic and cultural diversity began.
Rise of Babel, then, is an abstract representation of the building of the Tower and that desperate race towards ultimate knowledge. One vital aspect of the game is the transportation element, in this case elephants. Players can either choose to upgrade them into larger elephants which can carry more resources, or they can choose to upgrade them to specialise in a type of resource, resulting in earning immediate points when your elephant delivers this resource. If you deliver multiple resources at a time you can guarantee to make a longer chain in a single turn and therefore not be blocked by the time you deliver more of this resource. Alternatively, you can deliver fewer resources, but gain immediate points which results in you placing more confusion tiles therefore blocking other players and scoring points from the confusion as well.
All players will start with the same ten cards, but more can be purchased from the market. You’ll draw a hand of 5 cards on each turn and play them all. You’ll utilise the various top or bottom actions of these cards to power your effort to contribute towards the Tower’s construction. You can use those resources gathered by your elephants to upgrade your warehouse, vital if you want powerful bonuses, then get further resource tiles to the Tower where you will match them to the required shapes to gain influence. The race is on!
Bedouin Games have some form here. They’ve already had a successful Kickstarter campaign – their previous game, The Flood, smashed through its fundraising target to reach a quarter of a million dollars back in 2022, so the company knows how to manage and complete a campaign. Useful to know if you want to feel confident in your pledge.
Also, this is the second of their story-driven games with a Biblical theme, and despite my own lack of religious interest, I still find the theming strong and the game very appealing. It’s a game that will look great on the table and one with plenty of strategic choices to be made, two strong reasons to bring Rise of Babel out of its box again and again.
Here’s the link for their Kickstarter page, so go and take a look, and wrestle with your wallet and your financial conscience: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bedouingames/rise-of-babel
And as always here’s their Instagram profile, give them a follow for more updates: Bédouin Games 🐪🎲🧩 (@bedouingames) • Instagram photos and videos