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Mandala
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Description
Mandala is a two-player game were you’re trying to score more than your opponent by collecting valuable cards.
Over the course of the game, players play their coloured cards into the two mandalas. Building the central shared mountains and laying cards into their own fields.
To begin, each player receives a hand of six cards. Each player receives two random cards face down in their cup, then two random cards are dealt face up into the central mountain strip of each mandala.
Each turn, the player may play either a single card into one of mountains, or one or more matching cards into one of your fields. All cards played into a mandala must follow the "Rule of Colour". Once your opponent has played red cards into their field, then you can't play red cards in your field, and neither you nor your opponent can play red cards into the central mountain. If you played a card into a mountain, draw three new cards from the deck at the end of your turn; if you played cards into one of your fields, do not draw new cards.
Once a mandala has been destroyed and all the colours in the mountain claimed, cards played in the fields are discarded, two new cards are dealt face up into the mountain, and the game continues.
The end of the game is triggered either when the deck is exhausted or when one player adds a sixth colour to their river. Both players then tally the value of all the cards in their cup, based on the position of the colours in their river, and whoever has the higher score wins!
Contents:
• 1 linen playmat
• 108 mandala cards (18 in each of 6 colours)
• 2 reference cards
Player Count: 2
Time: 20 Minutes
Age: 10+
Two player games are ten a penny these days. Until recently I didn’t get much chance to play the ones I had let alone any new contenders. But Covid 19 has changed all our habits so when I noticed the highly regarded yet overlooked Mandala back in stock I took the plunge. Mandala is a very abstract game, there is some chat about fields and mountains but you forget all that quite quickly. If you are looking for theme then this won’t be one for you… unless you like table cloths…
Woven Tapestries of Colour
The first thing that hits you upon opening the box is a rather overpowering smell. It emanates from the player board which looks a bit like a tea towel, and if you end up hating the game would function as one rather well. Annoyingly I keep forgetting to air it out, but that’s ok, because that smell is the biggest, perhaps only, real misstep Mandala makes.
Once you have finished multiple smell tests to confirm that it is indeed the cloth, you will find a massive pile of square cards. These are spilt into six colours and there are two unnecessary player aid cards included too (a second misstep!). And that’s it for components. The cloth is separated by a mountain track that runs through the middle and on each side a two fields, a river and a cup. The cup is a single square on your right hand corner that you will place cards face down in to score at the end of the game. Next to this is the river, a series of 6 squares number 1-6. You will fill this up with coloured cards and the number below dictates how many points each card of that colour in your cup scores.
The rest of the cloth is given over to two ‘mandalas’. These are represented by half the mountain and one field on each side. One field is yours, the other your opponents. On a turn you will either play to one of your fields, one of the mountains or discard one colour from your hand and pick up the same amount of cards.
The Rule of Colour
There are some placement rules to take into account though. Firstly if a colour is already present in a mandala you can only add to it, if legal. This means that if your opponent has played a red card to their field you can no longer play red on that mandala. If you play or add a card to the mountain it can only be one card but you get to draw back up to three cards. There is a strict hand limit of 8, so once you have 8 in hand you don’t draw any more.
You can play multiple cards of the same colour to one of your fields, but you don’t get to draw any cards. When all six colours are present on a mandala then it will score. The person who played the most cards to their field will get to choose one set of same coloured cards from the mountain. If this colour isn’t already present in their river they place one of the cards face up in the leftmost space and any further of the same colour face down in their cup. The players switch turns choosing from the remaining colours on the mountain.
Cards in your field are purely for control of the mountain. If a mandala scores and you have no cards in your field then you still get a choice but only to discard that colour from the mountain. If fields contain the same amount of cards then the player who last played a card goes second. The game ends on the mandala scoring after the deck runs out or a player has filled their river.
Mandala Trance
This trickery is what really makes the game shine. You will often want to hoard cards in your hand to make a bold statement in one of the fields, yet all it takes is one card of that colour played by the other player to ruin those plans. Biding your time and playing the right cards is hugely important. If a colour is only worth one point per card to you then its a good colour to use in the fields, but this is open knowledge. A wily player will load up mountains with cards that are low value for you but high value for them, causing all sorts of dilemmas.
Tactically the game feels different play to play because the value of each colour is assigned during the game, and can be different for both players. For example in one game I rushed ahead to fill my river but not my cup. In response my opponent merely left me the last colour I needed for the river and ended the game. My cocky grin didn’t last the long when my measly pile of cards amounted to much less than his!
Mandala Magic
Mandala has grabbed me with its immediate gameplay and variety. In fact it’s easier to play than it is too explain! I didn’t expect a game like this to have so much variance in gameplay, but the subtle changes to scoring and colour value added to the mind games that transpire makes this one of the best two player games I’ve played. It is a game I can play with my mum and my friends, and one that they have a chance of winning too.
It’s a game you grasp straight away but then discover more and more as you chip away at the mountain. Like a multi layered film the more time you spend with it the more you see, and because Mandala only takes 20 minutes to play you will more often than not play at least two games in a row. Highly recommended for abstract and two player game fans, but also for anyone who often finds themselves playing at two players.
Mandala is a 2 player only game and it has to be one of the prettiest games available. The playmat included is so pretty that it also includes washing instructions in case you get it dirty. But you don’t want to just stand there all day admiring the game, you want to actually play it. So how do you? Read on to find out.
Set Up
Take that oh so pretty playmat and lay it on the table in between the players. After you finish admiring it, shuffle the sand cards and place them in a face down stack next to the mat. In the mountain regions (central section of the 2 mandalas) place 2 sand cards face up. Each player is given an overview card and 6 cards in their hand. 2 further cards are drawn and placed in each players cup face down (you may take a peek at your own cards in your hand and cup).
You are now ready to play Mandala.
Let’s play
This is one of those games with very little rules but lots of strategy. On your turn you can do only 1 of the following 3 actions.
- Build Mountain. You play 1 new card from your hand into a mountain and then draw up to 3 cards. Finally check to see if the mandala is finished.
- Grow field. Play as many cards as you like from your hand (all the same colour) to one of your fields (area below the mountains). You do not draw more cards. Check to see if the mandala is finished.
- Discard. Place as many cards of one colour from your hand into the discard pile (next to draw pile) then draw as many cards from the draw pile.
Play continues like this between the players taking 1 action at a time each.
Colour Rules
One very important rule to consider when taking the first two actions is the rule of Colour. Each of the 6 sand colours can only be in exactly one of the 3 areas of the mandala (the mountain, your field and your opponent’s field). This basically means that if your opponent has a red sand in their field you cannot play a red sand into that mountain or your field. However you may be able to play it to the other mandala. Keep in mind you may play it to an area you have access to. So if red sand is in the mountain or your field you may add it to the same one (just not a new area).
Hand Limits
When drawing new cards you must never go over your hand limit of 8 cards. Also you may never end your turn with no cards in your hand. If you were completing the action ‘grow fields’ and you had 4 yellow cards in your hand you would not be allowed to place all 4 cards in the field.
Completing A Mandala
A mandala is completed as soon as all 6 colours are present in any of its 3 areas (mountain, your field, opponents field). When a mandala is completed you destroy it by dividing the cards in the mountain. The player who played the most cards in the fields gets to choose a colour present in the mountain and takes all of the cards of that colour. Then players alternate taking colours from the mountain. If both players have the same number of cards in their fields the player who did not complete the mandala picks first.
As you take the cards from the mountain you must place them in your river and cup. If the colour you have taken is not present in the river place it in the first free space from left to right then place the remainder of that colours cards in the cup. If the colour is already present in the river place all of the cards in your cup.
In the rare case that a player did not have any cards in their field when the mandala was completed they still take cards from the mountain but place them straight in the discard pile without adding them to their river or cup.
Once all of the cards have been claimed from the mountain discard any cards in the fields to the discard pile. Unless the game end has now been triggered place 2 cards from the draw deck in the mountain to start a new mandala.
Game End Trigger
The game ends when either the draw pile is empty or a player places their sixth card in their river. If the draw deck is the reason for the end of the game being triggered you shuffle the discard pile to make a new draw pile and continue playing until the next time a mandala is completed. Otherwise if the game end trigger is a player placing their sixth river card, the game will end once all the cards in the completed mandala are taken from the mountain.
Final Scoring
Scoring is completed by using the cards in your river and multiplying them by the cards in your cup. Each position in your river is worth a different amount of victory points from 1 point for the first position to 6 points for the sixth position. Take your cards from your cup and place them below the matching position (same colours) in the river. Multiple the number of cards in your cup by the position it is in the river for all of your river cards and add all of your scores to get a total. The player with the highest score wins. Note that some river cards may not score you any points if you do not have the same colour represented in your cup. In the event of a tie the player who has the fewest cards in their cup wins.
Conclusion
I hope this has helped you to learn the rules and how Mandala plays. Obviously I would always recommend people use the official rule book to learn the rules in depth but this blog should give you a really good flavour of how the game flows.
I really enjoy the game and if you want to find me on twitter to discuss how brilliant Mandala is please do @boardgamehappy.
Zatu Score
You might like
- Deep gameplay that keeps on getting better
- Simple to explain and play
- No formula to win
- Looks pretty on the table
Might not like
- The use of mountain, fields and river can be confusing in an abstract game
- Smelly cloth!