UNDEFEATED Magazine
Rob Smolka
March 2004
USA

Okay, so it's not at the stage that Monopoly has reached, but the travel permutations of the classic Racko are starting to pile up. Last year brought Europa Tour, and now Out of the Box brings us 10 Days in Africa, the sister release to its earlier game 10 Days in The USA. (What's next—10 Days in Sheboygan?)

If you're unfamiliar with the game of Racko, a little background is in order. In Racko, players race to take 10 unsequenced cards and arrange them in order from lowest to highest. The cars sit upright in a slotted rack, and on each turn you discard and draw cards, trying to make a consecutive string of increasing numbers. The catch is that you must place your first 10 cards in the rack as they are dealt to you. So, for instance, if your first card is low, you'll probably put it in one of the forward spots, betting that later cards will be numerically higher.

While 10 Days in Africa borrows from this mechanism, it also spices things up by using a board and some additional rules. The board shows countries in Africa, each assigned a particular color. As in Racko, you start with at hand of 10 cards and must assign them as you look at them. Unlike Racko, however, you are trying to string together a trip through consecutive countries, as determined by their position on the board and the colors of the countries. If two countries are adjacent, you can put those cards next to each other and make a link. You can also travel between countries by plane—placing a plane card between two same-colored countries to form a link—or by car, skipping a country but still forming a link.

The wooden racks that hold the small-but-thick cards is a nice touch (though the cards can be hard to shuffle), and the board is easy to read and attractive in a clean, businesslike way.

There's a micron of strategy in 10 Days in Africa, but winning the game is mostly a matter of luck regarding the cars you get at the start and getting the cards you need to complete your tour at opportune times. Still, the luck factor makes 10 Days in Africa a great family game, one that gives junior a good chance to beat dad on any given day. It handles up to four players and works just as well with two.

If you're looking for challenging strategy in your game experience, you should probably pass on this one. But if your taste in games leans to the lighter side of the spectrum, or if you enjoy games you can play with your family, you should like 10 Days in Africa.

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