The Lost Expedition: A Game of Survival in the Amazon

I love that this is a solo game. My 6 and 4 year old love to help me. It’s really hard to win and there is alot going on and a lot of stratagy in such a simple game. If you need a game to play by yourself this is THE GAME TO PLAY! it can also be played as 2 player, I’ve only done that a couole of times. My boys love the graphics on the cards. They have a snake and a jungle cat that can give you meat or injure you. They have natives that can be bad, good or indifferent depending on how you play the game. Each game is never the same so you’ve never get bored of it. I have one kid in carge of injuring the people, eating or gaining food and the bullets. The other is in charge of pulling the cards and we decide together how we want to play the cards. We all enjoy it.

I have a pocket sized collection of games, and love Curious Expedition. This is my traditional way of playing it so to speak. It makes me very happy. I wish sometimes there were either more interaction or less punishing mechanics. You can add that with the expansion but I don't think it'll fit in the box right. Likewise, the tokens just go in a baggie bc otherwise they fly everywhere. The box is beau-ti-ful and opens like a fancy box of chocolates or something. It's a good game, but I would look up play-throughs and see if you'd actually like to play it.

I've only made one attempt to reach the lost city of Z. It didn't end well. The art in this game is fantastic. The theme is cool. You play as a group of 3 explorers trying to trek through a perilous jungle and reach Z. But the jungle is harsh. There are many dangers in your path. The trick is in selecting the right cards to play, and in an order that you can survive. I've only played solo mode, but there is also a cooperative mode, and a competitive mode. The cards are huge (80x120mm), which is nice, but means that some people will find it difficult to shuffle. It also takes more table space. But the art is top notch Rin Tin Tin style, so big is nice.... But maybe they should release a pocket version? I can't really comment on the balance after only a single play. Can you usually win with skill? I don't know. Maybe luck plays a large role? I will return to the review if I ever find out. So far, it's fun. It is also really easy to scale. If you find it too difficult, there are several ways to make it easier, from making the path shorter to giving yourself more food, ammo, health, and/or explorers. So I'm saying that it doesn't have to be hard if you don't mind cheating a little.

I loved the animated Tintin series and when I saw this I loved the art immediately! I was reserved though when thinking about the theme and colonialism - However there is a little blurb addressing the issue and there is age, race, and gender (?) diversity in the explorers. This means that the game designer made conscious choices to address certain issues and for me that is important because it shows me, the consumer, that they are aware and are doing something about it at least in their game design and artwork. So I finally got the game, because I wanted something quick I could play solo during study breaks. Overall, I don't think it's my favorite game. I'm more drawn to the theme of being in the jungle and the ligne claire artwork. The gameplay however becomes very mechanical and when I play it's more about the symbols and less about thinking about the story. It's also kind of stressful, because resources are limited and what happens are unavoidable that sometimes maybe you were doomed to die alone in the Amazon. I think what would help is if you take the game in stride (and not try to play quickly like me) and take the time to develop a story. If I narrate out loud what is going on, it sort of helps. It also takes up more space than I would like (which isn't very much) so for my purposes it doesn't really work. That said, I was undecided whether I should buy the expansion pack, because I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep the game. So like when you get married to fix the problems already in your relationship, I bought the expansion. Stay tuned for next time...when adventuring conquers all...or does it. I'm giving this game 4/5 stars, because I was hoping for more theme to come through the mechanics and because I personally just like or enjoy the game, I don't LOVE it. For quick solo games, I personally like Sprawlopolis or Tussie Mussie. For longer solo games, I still prefer Wingspan or Empires of the North.

The Tintin-inspired art and lettering font used in the box image of this game are what drew me to this game initially, and curiosity took over from there. Indeed, the art on the inside of the box (on all the game materials) is just as spectacular. This is the game that takes place after English explorer Percy Fawcett (recall last year's movie "Lost City of Z") vanishes in the Brazilian jungle at the turn of the century. It is a collaborative game, in which players interactively "control" (to the extent possible) three explorers who are making their way through the jungle to the Lost City of Z, aka El Dorado. Explorers face interesting challenges and must balance food supplies, ammunition, and health. Occasionally an explorer succumbs and dies along the way. If at least one explorer survives all the way to El Dorado, then all the players win. If all the explorers die before reaching El Dorado, then all the players lose. The game mechanics are ingenious, combining random elements with a good amount of player agency, so that players really do feel that they are active contributors to the outcome, not just ruled by chance. There are strategies in this game that become apparent only after a few plays, so the game promises to become even more engaging over time. I have a 9-year-old daughter and from the product description thought this game might be too complicated, but after watching a "watch it played" video on YouTube decided to go with it. The same video was very helpful in explaining the rules to my daughter, and now she's a pro!

Es muy entretenido para jugarlo en solitario. El juego viene en inglés pero es facil de entender las instrucciones, si se tiene dificultad ver los tutoriales en español que hay en Youtube. Aunque la dependencia del idioma al jugarlo es casi ninguna. Llegó muy bien empaquetado y en perfectas condiciones, sin retraso ninguno.

Muy clever. Jirnbilsyrado. Y con un destacable modo de un jugador. Es una gran experiencia para jugadores nuevos y experimentados.

The product, packaging and the concept of the game is great

Very easy to learn, hard to master game in which you lead your team through the jungle to find the lost city of el dorado. Basically you've got a some food, some bullets, a bunch of hp and other survival skills, and you deal from the deck of card 6 encounters in the morning, and 6 in the evening. These are things you'd encounter in the jungle. For example, if you encounter a snake, you could lose a bullet but gain food. Or if you had no bullet....you'd lose an HP. The whole game is oriented around you managing your resources so that you can deal with these encounters, while hoping to get the encounter card that allows you to move forward in your travel. Survive long enough to find 8 of these, and you will find El dorado. Simple, right? Its very addictive. You try your best to save your resources or your teammate so that you can live to see the next morning. Best yet, takes 1 minute to setup, and 1 minute to take down. Great game. The cards and components are top quality, and I love the art style - as someone else said, Tintin art style. Now can we get a mini version of this game so i can pocket it on the go?

Un jeux amusant solitaire, a' plusieurs joueurs, coopératif ou compétitif. Il y a beaucoup de façons de jouer a' The lost expedition. Les règles ne sont pas compliquées, mais il est difficile de vaincre: on doit survivre aux beaucoup de dangers . Les images sont typiques des bandes dessinées. La mécanique est très sympathique. Pour moi il est un bon achat.