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Main Catalogue |  BOARD GAMES & CARD GAMES |  Out of the Box |  10 Days in USA 10 Days in USA Price: £19.99 You have 10 Days in the USA™ - Travel the country by jet, car, and on foot. Plan your trip from start to finish using destination and transportation tiles. With a little luck and clever planning, you just might outwit your fellow travellers. The first traveller to make connections for their 10-day journey wins the game. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ REVIEW BY COUNTER MAGAZINE: 2-4 players, 20-30 minutes designed by Alan Moon and Aaron Weissblum reviewed by Greg Schloesser In early 2003, Schmidt Spiele released Europa Tour, a game designed byAlan Moon and Aaron Weissblum. In my review, I described it as ``Rack-Owith a geography lesson\'\'.Although the game was short on strategy - as is Rack-O - I still foundit to be quite enjoyable, particularly in a family setting or as a lightfiller between meatier games. Shortly after the game\'s release, Out of the Box announced that it wouldbe releasing two new versions of the game, both set in different geographicallocations: Africa and the United States. Since I am a born-and-raisedU.S. citizen, I am familiar with the layout of the 50 states, so I figuredthe U.S.A. version would be easier to play. Like most Americans, my knowledgeof the myriad of strangely-named countries in Africa was woefully inadequate,and the thought of being able to actually identify their location on amap was even more daunting. Still, I figured the Africa version wouldserve as a much-needed geography lesson. Since both games utilize essentially identical mechanics, I thought itwould be wise to discuss both in the same review. I\'ll mention the differencesbetween the two versions where appropriate. You may also notice that muchof the description of the game\'s mechanics is similar to that used in myreview of Europa Tour. No sense re-inventing the wheel! Well, unlessyou own Goodyear. The comparisons to Rack-O are inescapable. However, instead of attemptingto get numbers in the correct sequence, players must plan a cohesive andlogical vacation through the countries of Africa / U.S.A. This vacationwill be planned by each player on their private rack, into which they willplace the country and transportation cards in attempts to form a logicalpath for their whirlwind tour of either Africa or the U.S.A. The racks in the Out of the Box versions are constructed of sturdy wood.This gives the game quite a bit of weight. They are linear as opposedto the curved plastic racks in Europa Tour, so take up a bit more tablespace. Still, the feel of those hefty racks is quite nice! The tiles, too, are very thick and nicely illustrated. Each tile containsa snippet of information about the country or state, including its capital,population and geographical size. Unlike the board in Europa tour, which was so small that it made it difficultto distinguish the various countries, the maps in Africa and U.S.A. arelarge and colorful. The various countries are easily distinguishable,with the colors used being bright and very distinct. Not all of the countries in Africa are depicted on the map, with several of the geographicallysmaller nations being deliberately omitted in order to better facilitategame play. None of the 50 states in the U.S.A. game were omitted, althoughfuture expansions may delete California and Louisiana, as they are bothlikely to slide into the sea sometime in the near future! On both maps, the countries and states are divided into various groupsby easy to distinguish colors. Missing is the delightful cartoon artworkthat was endemic to each of the countries in the Europa Tour version. Granted, that likely would have cluttered the boards a bit, but it wasamusing trying to figure out the meaning of each of those drawings. Countries (or states) can be connected in one of three ways: Land: If countries/states are geographically adjacent and share a commonland border, then they are considered adjacent. Air: If two countries/states have the same color, then they can be connectedby an air route provided a player places an airplane card of the same colorbetween the two countries on their rack. Car: Any two countries/states can be connected by car, provided thereis one intervening country or state that shares a common border with bothof those countries or states. For instance, a player can travel from Texasto Kansas by car, since Oklahoma shares a border with both of those states.Of course, a player must place a car tile in their rack between the Texasand Kansas tiles. The game begins with each player randomly drawing tiles one-at-a-time fromthe face down stacks until their racks are filled to their ten tile capacity.As in Rack-O, a player may not move tiles around within his rack. Oncethey are placed, they will remain in that position unless discarded ona future turn. The challenge, then - and the frustration - is to getthem into the proper sequence. From the remaining tiles, three are revealed and form the `draw\' pile.On a turn, a player may take one of the three face-up tiles, or take thetop card from the draw pile. He must then discard a tile from his rackand replace it with the newly drawn tile. Or, if he so chooses, he maysimply discard the tile he just drew. The idea is to form a connected network of countries/states. Countries (orstates) that share a land boundary need no intervening form of transportationbetween them. However, if a player wishes to travel by air between twocountries, these countries must be of the same color and a player mustplay a plane card of the same color in his rack between those two tiles.There are only two planes of each color in the mix, so this can be tricky.If a player wishes to travel by car between two countries or states, theplayer must place a car tile between those two countries or states. Remember,there must be an intervening country or state between these two which sharesa common border. Car tiles are not color-sensitive. Since many countriesand states share common borders, it is possible to reach numerous othercountries or states via the use of an automobile. Thus, these tiles arevery valuable and should be scooped at every opportunity. They won\'t goto waste. The first player to complete his vacation by logically connecting all tentiles on his rack is victorious and enjoys the fruits of a well-plannedvacation. My summary of these two games is the same as that of Europa Tour. Thesetwo new versions are certainly not rocket-science. There are no deep levelsof strategy or numerous tactics to be employed. That doesn\'t mean, however,that they are completely bereft of strategy. One should place tiles soas to keep as many options available as possible. For instance, in theAfrica game, Chad or the Democratic Republic of Congo near the center ofyour rack is usually a wise move since these are connected by land to numerousother countries. Madagascar, on the other hand, is much more restrictive,with only two land connections. So, spot the countries that give you themost options and try to utilize these in your rack. Further, when discarding a tile from your rack, you are usually free todiscard it atop any of the three revealed stacks of tiles. Try to covertiles that you don\'t wish to use but which may be beneficial to your opponents. This will thwart their plans and often force them to completely rearrangetheir itinerary. As in Europa Tour, there is certainly a degree of frustration involved.It can be quite maddening to never have the tile or tiles you need surface,or to have them scooped by an opponent before you have the opportunityto grab them. Often, you find yourself being forced to re-plan your itinerary,which is time consuming and fraught with its own perils. And, there isalways this nagging feeling that your opponents are one step ahead of youin the rush to complete their vacation plans. These elements are what makethe game ``click\'\', however, and help make the game enjoyable and moderatelytense. The game can be played with 2-4 players and is enjoyable with any number.With two players, however, it is a bit more strategic, as you can planyour discards and control your tile choices with a bit more certainty.Maneuvers can be made wherein you discard a tile, only to pick it up onyour next turn in order to position it in your rack more advantageously.With 4 players, this tactic is much more difficult as the likelihood thatthe discarded tile will be taken or covered by an opponent before yournext turn arrives is far greater. However, there is no escaping the fact that, like Europa Tour, these twonew versions are primarily light, family games. Don\'t enter it expectingit to rise to the same level as meatier games such as Age of Steam or PuertoRico. Rather, these games are much more appropriate in family gaming situationsor as light fillers. Further, there\'s a healthy dose of luck involved,so some folks might find this aspect not to their tastes. I\'ve alwaysenjoyed Rack-O, however, so I can enjoy 10 Days in Africa and 10 Days inthe U.S.A. for what they are: Rack-O with a geography lesson. More ...     WE ALSO RECOMMEND...   TransAmerica £23.99 Ticket to Ride The Card Game £14.99 Backpacker £9.99 Mapominoes: Asia & Australasia £9.99 10 Days in Africa £19.99 10 Days in Asia £19.99 10 Days in Europe £19.99 10 Days in the Americas £19.99 Main Catalogue |  BOARD GAMES & CARD GAMES |  Out of the Box |  10 Days in USA **sRecentPrefix** <!-- Prefix to Horizontal recent item list HTML --> <br/><br/> <div class="recenththeader"> <input class="recenthtbuttonright" id="scrollbackrecent" type="button" value=" Next >>" onclick="ScrollBackRecent();"> <input class="recenthtbuttonleft" id="scrollforwardrecent" type="button" value="<< Previous" onclick="ScrollForwardRecent();"> <div style="text-align:center">Recently Viewed</div> </div> <br clear="all"/> <table id="recenthtitem"> **sRecentImageRowPrefix** <!-- Prefix to image row --> <tr><td class="recenthtitemspacer" rowspan=4> </td> **sRecentImageItem** <!-- Image item --> <td class="recenthtitemimage"> <a rel="nofollow" _HREF_="_SSURL_?PRODREF=_PID_&NOLOGIN=1" > <img border="0" width="75" src="_THUMB_" alt="_NAME_" title="_NAME_"  /> </a> </td> <td class="recenthtitemspacer" rowspan=4> </td> **sRecentImageRowSuffix** <!-- Suffix to image row --> </tr> **sRecentDescRowPrefix** <!-- Prefix to Description row --> <tr> **sRecentDescItem** <!-- Description item --> <td class="recenthtitemdesc"><a rel="nofollow" _HREF_="_SSURL_?PRODREF=_PID_&NOLOGIN=1" >_NAME_</a></td> **sRecentDescRowSuffix** <!-- Suffix to Description row --> **sRecentPriceRowPrefix** <!-- Prefix to Price row --> **sRecentPriceItem** <!-- Price item --> **sRecentPriceRowSuffix** <!-- Suffix to Price row --> **sRecentDeleteRowPrefix** <!-- Prefix to Delete row --> <tr> **sRecentDeleteItem** <!-- Delete button --> <td class="recenthtitemdelete"> <a href="javascript:DeleteRecent('_PID_', true);"> <img src="xit.jpg" border="0" /> </a> </td> **sRecentDeleteRowSuffix** <!-- Suffix to Delete row --> </tr> **sRecentSuffix** <!-- Suffix to Horizontal recent item list HTML --> </table> **sRecentEmptyList** <!-- Code for empty list -->

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