I love new things, new experiences and the joy of discovery. With that in mind I think it’s time to grab our gear and hope on a ship to a new island where animals or all different types are said to be present. So let’s dive in and see what kind of exploration we can do together!
Oddland is a new game from Allplay for 1-5 players that plays in approximately 30 mins. It is designed by Dan Schumacher and art from Cam Kendell.
Overview and Gameplay:
In Oddland, you and the other players build a common island by placing terrain cards and then document unique species by placing tokens in optimally scoring locations. Players will place lands, score points and the winner will be the explorer with the most points at the end of the game!
To set up the game, shuffle all the terrain map cards and deal two to each player. Place two map cards face-up next to each other in the center of the table to start the shared map. Shuffle the species cards and lay out the chosen six species cards for players to see throughout the game for scoring. Each participant selects a color and takes the corresponding player aid and set of 7 tokens. The scoring board and marker are set aside for use at the end of the game.
Gameplay proceeds in a series of turns in clockwise order. On a turn a player begins by playing one of the terrain cards from their hand to the map so that at least one edge of the new card touches an existing map card. Cards may cover up to two empty spaces but may not cover any already-placed creature tokens. This allows you to expand the island and explore but possibly also but also possibly hurt other people’s setups.
Following placement of the terrain card, the player must place one of their species tokens on one of the four spaces of the newly placed card. Tokens must be placed into a new area without any other player tokens present. If a token cannot be legally placed, the player must adjust the location of their card placement to create a legal spot. After placing a token, the player draws a new terrain card to return their hand to 2 cards.
As the game continues some areas may start to connect and grow. Some species score based on the size of the territory they occupy or specifics on area terrains changing how and where you may decide to play your own cards.
Gameplay continues until all players have placed all their species tokens. Once all are played, score the tokens according to the scoring rules on the species cards and the player with the highest total score wins!
Impressions:
I enjoyed this game aesthetically, and I think it is a fun entry into the world of tile-laying, meeple-placing game. It has a great box, great components and an easy to learn entry to get it hitting your table quickly with friends and family.
The things I like about it-the game is a shared board so there is a lot of player interaction with how you can increase your scores while at the same time trying to disrupt your opponent’s scores. That interaction can be missing in a lot of games but I’m happy to see it here.
I really like laying cards on cards to build a map but this one felt at times a little too rough on how you could crush an opponent’s points. So for those looking for a friendly game this one might not hit the right spots for you.
I like the art and the creatures and that alone will make it something that stands out for players looking for a good-looking game. I am rarely disappointed in that lane from Allplay and once again they delivered a game that just looks fun on my table.
Overall this is one I would play no question if you got it out at game night and wanted to experience the tile laying, player battles together. So check it out and see what you think at your next game night!
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