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Devir have been establishing themselves as one of the hottest publishers in 2023/2024. So it’s probably a good time to bring out a game called Sand. And their recent trend of packing a lot of game into a small box starting with The Red Cathedral and The White Castle, continues with Salton Sea and now Sand.
But whereas pleasing Ivor the Terrible and reaching the loftiest parts of Himeji Palace are punchy, combo-tastic, McEuros (in the BEST possible way), in Salton Sea and Sand, Devir have retuned to a slower paced, more programmable experience. Not only that but Sand forms part of the ongoing Kemushi saga which features other big think games including Bitoku and Bamboo!
Gritty Grubs!
Playing 1-4, age 14 plus, the box states that Sand will take 2 hours. And from our experience, this is not an exaggeration. Our six round, two player games have been at least this and probably half again. So if you like pick up and deliver, then you are in for a jam packed session because Sand is all about collecting stuff and dropping it off. Travel, load, and deliver. That’s the main mechanism in the game. But, as well as upping your earning capacity, the idea is that the resurgence in relocating resources will help towns from the Akaishi Mountains to the Cliffs of Seaclaw, thrive and develop once again.
But what are you picking up? What are you delivering? And what are you earning for your hard labour? Probably the most interesting answer will come from the question “how are you delivering?”. Because you aren’t using boring ships, or predictable trains. No, friends, you are using worms!
Sandy Slithering!
Playing as desert travellers, you are moving from desert town to desert town, picking up resources and dropping them off where they will earn you the most gold. With Rounds divided up into morning, noon, and night, you must allocate dice to trigger actions which get carried out during these specific times. You have your own unique abilities, and once you get into the game, you can move beyond their basic functions to more complicated powers.
Plants, crafts, relics, and Iwakura Rocks travel on the backs of your worms and so they need to grow to match the supply and demand chains building in this game. As such, looking after them and nurturing them like a responsible wormamma should is vital. They each need water, food, and health checks so that means time in the inwormary if they get sick. Okay, so there’s no actual worm clinic, but I couldn’t resist! In reality, tracks on your personal player boards keep a tally of all these things.
There are prescribed routes of course, but you may wish to take a more perilous shortcut to get to places where top dollar is being paid for the wares you have. There are also side missions every round (save the last one) which reward with extra in-game bonuses and gold at end game. Plus there are companions who can be unlocked to give extra assistance during the game by moderating the standard rules. The side actions of singing songs, earning prestige, and praying also have benefits which feed into the main focus of the game, but shuffling those worms about is really what this game is all about.
Final thoughts!
If you like pick up and deliver then Sand could be a game for you. The components are undeniably gorgeous – colourful boards, wooden tokens, and study cards and tiles fill the box to the brim. Devir know how to produce a game that is both stunning to look at and lovely to parse. Admittedly, however,
this isn’t our favourite mechanism. We play mostly at two player and games with pick up and deliver as the main event can find it challenging to maintain the tension and tightness we crave. We also found Sand takes quite a while to get going. Deliveries were quite sparse for a big chunk of our games, although they sped up when we had activated companions and other elements. But I guess worms take time to mature so thematically I suppose the pace is on point! We also struggled a little with the rule book – we felt like we had to do lots of flipping back and forth to understand how to do what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it. Which makes it seem more confusing than it needs to be because pick up and delivery is a simple concept. But again that could just be a sign of our inexperience in these types of game. As another instalment in the Kemushi saga, Sand fits in well. And for those gamers who like to take their time and build up a system that works better the longer it has to mature, then Sand could be a great addition!