| International
Christian School
Board Game Club
Tom Vasel
October 2004
USA
I first heard about 10 Days in Africa and 10 Days
in the USA (Out of the Box Publishing, 2003 - Alan
Moon and Aaron Weissblum) when looking through one
of the company's catalogs. When I read how educational
the game was, I immediately had negative thoughts;
as educational often equals boring when it comes to
board games. Still, the duo of Moon and Weissblum have
produced some wonderful games, and Out of the Box had
a good reputation, so I was interested in trying them
out. If the "educational" part of the game
was true, I'd have even more fodder for my "games
are educational" campaign I wage at my school.
My initial play was a two-player USA game with my
wife. As soon as the game ended, we immediately played
another, then switched to the Africa version. The next
day, I played the game in a multiplayer situation -
several times. Again, a few days later, my wife eagerly
requested the game one more time. Not since Lost Cities
has a game so intrigued my wife and the others I introduced
it to. I have to admit, the educational value is certainly
there (especially in the Africa version), and the game
is excellent. I prefer the two-player version, but
even with four, downtime is fairly low, decisions are
gut-wrenching, but the game is fun, leaving one with
a "just one more time!" feeling.
The game board is placed in the middle of the table,
depicting the USA with its fifty states or the continent
of Africa with forty of its countries. Each player
takes two sets of racks - each numbered from one to
ten, with slots to place ten tiles. A stack of tiles
is shuffled and placed near the board. Starting with
one player, players draw one tile, placing it in any
open slot in their racks. This continues in a clockwise
method, until all players have filled their racks.
The rest of the tiles form a draw pile, with the top
three being turned over face up next to the stacks,
forming three discard piles. One player is chosen to
go first, with play going clockwise.
On a player's turn, they may draw either one of the
face-up tiles of the top card from the draw pile. They
then can either place the tile they took in the rack,
replacing the tile there (which then goes to one of
the discard piles), or discard the tile they drew.
Players are attempting to complete a 10-day journey,
connecting all their tiles together. Tiles are either
a country (or state), an automobile, or an airplane.
There are several rules concerning the tile's order.
- The first and last tile must be a country (state)
tile. - Country (state) tiles may be connected to each
other if they are adjacent on the map. - An automobile
may act as a "wild" tile, substituting for
another state (country) as long as the country it represents
is adjacent to the countries in both adjacent tiles.
- Two automobiles cannot be adjacent. - An airplane
tile is one of five colors (red, yellow, orange, green,
or blue) matching the country tiles, which are one
of the five colors. An airplane tile can connect to
country tiles, as long as both countries are the same
color as the airplane tile. - On the USA map, Alaska
and Hawaii may be connected by any color airplane,
but that's the only way to get to them. If the draw
pile runs out, the discards are shuffled to make a
new deck, with three more cards being laid face up.
At the end of a player's turn, if they can show that
all of their ten tiles are connected in the proper
order, following the above rules, then they win the
game!
Some comments on the game...
-
Components: Both games look fantastic with clear,
easy to read maps. The colors mesh well, and the
borders are drawn well. The names of the countries
and states are clearly marked, with arrows drawn
to help easily identify the small countries and
states. The tiles are thick, glossy tiles - a little
bit less than half the size of a cassette tape.
They shuffle fairly well, and look clean and neat
against the backdrop of the racks. The racks are
excellent, although I liked the wood burned effect
of the Africa racks better. In fact, I enjoyed
all the components of the Africa map better - OOTB
obviously polished up a little after the USA game,
the one published first. Nicest of all are four
boxes on the African board, showing certain key
rules of the game. All of the components fit in
or around a small plastic insert in the small,
flat sturdy box. The graphic design of both games
includes the work of John Kovalic (who is tremendously
talented) and they both look extremely sharp. These
are games that one can be proud of when they hit
the table.
-
Rules: The rules are simple, explained on four
pages of full-color laminated pages. The Africa
map rules are slightly simpler, since you don't
have to deal with Alaska or Hawaii, but both games
are very easy to teach and learn. The game can
be taught in less than a minute or so (don't I
always say that about Out of the Box games?) and
it doesn't take too long to get the strategies
down.
-
Strategy: There really isn't a lot of strategy
in the game, per say - more like tactics. You deal
with the cards you initially draw, and try to plan
around them. Trying to get countries or states
in your rack that have a lot of bordering countries
and states is helpful, and some folk (including
me) ditch Maine the minute they get it, since it
only connects to one other state. The cars and
airplanes sound like they are tremendously powerful
cards, but with their restrictions they are useful
but not game breaking. I've seen several games
where the winner used only country/state cards,
but I've seen others with four airplanes, connecting
countries all over.
-
Tension: One thing I really enjoy about the game
is the tension involved. It reminds me of two other
games, Transamerica and Rack-O. Now, I dislike
both of those games, but the concepts work better
here. It seems that just before I pull that last
tile to connect all my tiles, winning me the game
- someone else does - just like in Transamerica.
Unlike Transamerica, when I win this game, I feel
that it's because of something I did. The game
also reminds me slightly of Rack-O, as players
shuffle their tiles, trying to get them in the
proper order. However, the choices of tiles to
draw (the face-up card mechanic is one of my favorite,
a Moon classic) put the choice in my hands. Re-arranging
tiles is possible, by discarding a tile, and hoping
it's still there when your turn arrives again.
I've tried this in several games, but often the
tile is taken by someone else or covered by another
tile. This is annoying, but it's a risk player's
should realize they are taking. I've just gotten
to the point where I never bank on getting one
of my tiles back.
-
Fun Factor: The game is a lot of fun but is a
silent affair, usually - except the cries of anguish
when another player has announced their victory.
Players are usually staring hard at the board,
puzzling how to best get their tiles in the order
they want. This is a quiet sort of fun and may
not appeal to everyone, but the game is so absorbing
that everyone I've played with doesn't mind.
-
Africa or USA?: If you can only get one of the
two games, I would recommend Africa. The rules
are easier, the components are better, and the
countries are less known, making it more interesting.
The USA version, however, is more difficult. There
are multiple cards for some of the African countries,
but only one of each US state. Still, both games
are excellent; and if one is enjoyable, I would
recommend picking up both, as they can be a nice
change of pace. I'm hoping that other maps are
released - possibly with small variants.
Whenever I type a review, I lay all the components
of a game out in front of me to better reference the
game. When my wife passed by, she stated that just
seeing the game out made her want to play it again.
That, my friends, is a rare occurrence, and is solidifying
my opinion that this is one of
the best two-player games on the market right now.
It runs in a short amount of time and is simple yet
engrossing. It really does help one learn geography
in both continents and looks really good when set up
on the table. If there is a game that will help us
introduce this great hobby into schools, then these
two are that game. If you get a chance, pick this one
up. It's not a rip-roaring party game, but a quiet,
quick one full of fun.
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Days in the USA Reviews page |
