Main Catalogue |  Board Games & Card Games |  Out of the Box |  10 Days in the Americas

10 Days in the Americas Price: £19.99 Boardgame from Out of the Box. Players 2-4, ages 10+ In 10 Days in the Americas, players use destination and transportation tiles to chart a course through North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean - touring by airplane, cruise ship, or on foot. With a little luck and clever planning, you just might outmaneuver your fellow travelers and be the first to make connections for a complete ten day journey! ----------------------------------------------------- COUNTER MAGAZINE REVIEW: ----------------------------------------------------- 2-4 players, 20 minutes designed by Alan Moon and Aaron Weissblum reviewed by Kendall Johns Once upon a time there was a game called ``Rack-O\'\', (I think it may still be available), which had 4 racks, each with ten slots and a pack of cards numbered 1-60, (for 4 players - fewer cards with less). The deck was shuffled and 10 cards were randomly placed in each player\'s rack, the remainder forming a draw pile, by drawing and discarding players have to arrange the cards from lowest to highest. They did not need to be in sequence but bonus points are awarded for runs of 3 or more. A number of versions were produced, then the inventors had the idea of using this mechanism with a geographical theme and produced Europa Tour, which, with a slight modification in game play, begat the ``10 Days\'\' series. Firstly there was ``10 Days in the U.S.A.\'\'; then ``Africa\'\', (my particular favourite); ``Europe\'\'; more recently ``Asia\'\' and now ``The Americas\'\'. Each one contains a board showing a map of the area with the countries in one of 5 colours - (the minimum number required so that on any map no adjacent countries will be in the same colour). [N.B. I am using the term countries but, of course, for the ``U.S.A\'\'. substitute states!] There is a `pack\', (on stiff card as to be almost tiles), with these countries reproduced - usually containing some interesting facts e.g. capital, population and area. Generally there is one card per country although some of the larger countries have two each. There are also cards for two or more modes of transport. Similarly to the original, 10 cards are semi-randomly placed in each players rack, and the object, by drawing and discarding, is to get a connected route across the `10 days\', although wrap-round is not required. Countries which share a common border can be placed next to each other as can those connected, on the map, by ferries. All the versions have aeroplane cards - these are in the same colours as the countries and can be placed between two countries of the same colour to link them. Additionally the version would have one or more of the following: cars allow you to drive across, or skip, a country, e.g. If you have country A next to B which is next to C, then your rack could include either cards A>B>C or A>Car>C. Ships are for a specific sea/ocean can be placed between any two coastal countries/islands on that sea/ocean. ``Asia\'\' introduced trains. Various train lines are marked on the map and a train card can link two countries on the same line. The latest in the series - ``10 Days in the Americas\'\' - has a board showing North, South and Central America, with an enlarged section for the West Indies. It has planes, of course, and ships. The difference here is that whereas in the other games it is forbidden to place transport cards next to each other. (You could not, for example, lay two cars together to get to a further country - e.g. A>Car>Car>D). In this version you can go on a `cruise\' i.e. lay two or more ship cards next to each other provided that the oceans are connected, including through the Panama Canal, to link to a country at each end. While this is an interesting diversion I do not feel that it adds a lot to the genre; in fact with a large number of islands, most of which link to only the ocean and at most one or two other countries; it is probably harder than most of the others in the series. If you like these games then you will certainly want to add this to your collection, but if you\'ve never played one of these before, then this is probably not the best one to start with. There is obviously an educational element although this not very overt. It is a good game to play with families and non-gamers. Our group often returns to this series, including the original Rack-O as useful fillers. I am sure that this version will be well played along with the rest. More ...     WE ALSO RECOMMEND...   Ticket to Ride: The Card Game £14.99 Backpacker £9.99 Mapominoes: Europe £9.99 10 Days in Africa £19.99 10 Days in Asia £19.99 10 Days in USA £19.99

Main Catalogue |  Board Games & Card Games |  Out of the Box |  10 Days in the Americas