Move assassins, elders & builders through Naqala to claim oases & control djinns.
There is usually a story behind the games I play or purchase, but I don’t honestly remember this one. Maybe after we played Ticket to Ride too many times, we wanted to see other games made by that publisher. I'm writing this on Black Friday; maybe it was a Black Friday purchase. I know we have several of those.
Despite not recalling the reason for purchasing this game, our family has been really pleased with Five Tribes. Even though the setup takes a while, every game we have played is entertaining, and we never know who will win with so many strategies possible.
In Five Tribes, the sultan has passed, and your caravan has made its way to Naqala, striving to take control. Oracles foretold of strangers who would maneuver the five tribes to gain influence over the state. Will you fulfill the prophecy?
Mechanics & Categories: Movement, Bidding, Set Collection, Modular Board
TALES OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
Have you ever read any of the 1001 Tales of the Arabian Nights? Five Tribes brings to life some of these characters through exciting gameplay. Invoke the powers of the djinns of Naqala to try and claim the Sultanate! Wander through villages, oases, markets, and sacred places, displacing the five tribes to gain influence and victory. Live the tales by encountering assassins, viziers, elders, builders, and merchants along the way.
CHESS-LIKE STRATEGY
Five Tribes is deceptively challenging. A lot of Days of Wonder games have quite simple rules for playing the game, and this game is no different. That being said, players must plan ahead and envision their opponents' moves. With bidding involved, knowing when and how much to pay can lead you to victory. Any misstep can be devastating.
Players take turns moving meeples around the board in different locations. If a single meeple is ever left on a desert tile, there is an opportunity to claim that tile’s points. If that tile also happens to have a special action that places a palace on it, even more points will be scored. Every move you make must be calculated so you aren’t leaving your opponents opportunities to succeed. You also may want to set yourself up for a future turn.
My last play-through was only with two players, and it felt like a chess match. Seeing several turns ahead and bidding correctly was crucial. Since each player gets two turns, you have chances to set up your next turn with a higher scoring opportunity. I played this with four players long ago, but planning is much more challenging with more players.
VIBRANT, UNIQUE COMPONENTS
Not only are there five different colors of regular meeples, but the player pieces, palaces, and palm trees are unique compared to other games. All of them are made out of wood. The player colors are black, orange, teal, and pink. Orange, teal, and pink are not commonly used but add a nice vibrance to the game. With all the elegant clothing worn by sultans and djinns, choosing these bright colors fits the Arabian theme.
The tribe meeples are your standard shapes and colors: yellow, white, blue, red, and green. They also come in a cloth drawstring bag for randomizing. But the rest of the meeples are interesting shapes. Each player has a palace tower turn-order piece and several camel-shaped pieces. As for action meeples, there are golden palaces and natural wooden palm trees shaped like a palm. All of these pieces are large and feel good to hold, making seeing the board state very clear.
The rest of the components are standard: djinn cards are large squares, the board tiles are also heavy cardboard punch-outs but also quite significant to improve readability, and the coins are just cardboard punch-outs. If they made metal coins, that would do wonders for this game! Overall, this game wasn’t shy about pulling out the stops for quality components.
UNLIKE ANYTHING ELSE
I'm sure most of us have played Mancala at some point in our youth. It was a more accessible game that many classrooms had to teach simple counting. Five Tribes adds so much strategy by using the Mancala mechanic for every action. You pick up all the meeples on one square and move them by dropping them off one at a time. At the end, you pick up all the meeples of the same color and perform their action.
I couldn’t think of a single game that played like this, so I had to do some research. A basic concept turned into something with many layers of planning. Setting up the game takes quite some time, but that is the only downside. Some players seeing that might feel overwhelmed, but when it comes down to it, you are just playing Mancala, where each stone has a different ability. It's worth adding to your collection if you are a unique mechanic collector like me.
Final Comments
Five Tribes is undoubtedly unlike any game you have probably played. Regardless of your interest in the Arabian Nights, you will truly have an experience unlike any other game you have played. This is my biggest reason to own this game. I find the setup very tedious, and if it weren’t for that, I would play this more.
The deep strategy involved in playing well is fun to experience. With so many actions, exploring which methods work for you and which don’t can be interesting. No, there aren’t any exhilarating moments that you might find in other games. Every move is calculated. There is also some “take that” to this game as well. If you enjoy a thinky game and continuously improving with each play, then Five Tribes might be something you want to check out!
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Publisher: Days of Wonder
Game(s) Pictured: Five Tribes
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