About Us | Terms & Conditions | FAQs | Log in

Call us now on +44 (0) 20 8346 2327

Items: -

HOME

NEW RELEASES 29 MAY

NEW RELEASES - Archives

PREORDERS

SUGGESTED GAMES

ROLEPLAYING GAMES

BOARD GAMES & CARD GAMES

COLLECTABLE & LIVING CARD GAMES

OTHER COLLECTABLE GAMES

HISTORICAL WAR GAMES

MINIATURES WARGAMES & RULES

MINIATURES, PAINTS ETC

MAGAZINES/COMICS/GRAPHIC NOVELS

ACCESSORIES

EVENTS (In-Store & Conventions)

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

CONNECT WITH US

WE'RE WITH BITS & MORTAR

SHOP WITH CONFIDENCE

Main Catalogue | BOARD GAMES & CARD GAMES | Rio Grande Games | Fiji

Fiji

Price: £18.99

This item usually ships in 2 to 3 days.

Card Game, 2-5 Players, Ages 10+ by Rio Grande Games The south sea, AD 1777! Three years after James Cook visited, the islands are embroiled in a contest for possession of legendary shrunken heads. The players’ only desire is to acquire these \'head attractions\' for shipment to museums in Europe. ++++++++++++ Counter review ++++++++++++ 2-5 players, 30 minutes designed by Friedemann Friese reviewed by Ben Baldanza Each year at Essen Friedemann Friese exemplifies the energy of the event by seemingly being in every hall simultaneously. More importantly, of course, is that he usually is pushing his newest creation and when anyone with the mind that produced Fresh Fish or Funkenschlag says ``look at this\'\', one best obey. This year his output was smaller in size and less grandiose in design, yet the box is green and the name starts with an F so it\'s not as though Friedemann has changed religion or anything like that. Add to this that the goal is to win the most shrunken heads, and visions of the cannibalistic Fresh Flesh come back quickly. Fiji is an over-the-top auction game in the way that Pizzaro & Co is. The game plays through four rounds, each with three sets of blind bidding, and based on varying criteria players are trying to sell off and collect different combinations of gems. Each round begins by seeding players with a fixed set of green, red, yellow, and blue gems, and holdings are kept behind individual screens. There is one extra set of gems and these are placed in the center of the table for the initial auction distribution. These four gem colors are represented on four goal cards, each of which can be oriented to determine if you are trying to collect the most or least of that color. The four goal cards are shuffled both normally and by orientation (it\'s best to mix them up on a flat table) and placed next to an Idol card; the card closest to the Idol is the primary goal in determining the allocation of the shrunken heads, with the others in order creating the tie-breaking conditions. Two other sets of cards create the auction basis. A set of four demand cards are placed in a column below the goal cards, and next to each a payout card is placed. These pairs define the rewards available in exchange for gems. The auction begins with each player blindly bidding from one to four gems and then all are revealed. Starting with the first of the four demand/payout card pairs, players determine who meets the condition. Conditions include things like ``player with the fewest blue\'\' or ``player with the most red and yellow\'\'. The winner of the demand card wins the payout card, but if several players win they cancel each other out and the payout card could be claimed by another or not claimed at all. This ``best untied position\'\' has been used in other games including the clever Blazing Camels game created by Omni Gaming a few years back. The reward cards are used to claim gems from the center or to generally create some havoc. The main payout cards simply allow the taking of a fixed number of specific gems. Others let you take half of those available in the center pool, some give one gem to every other player except you, one allows you not to pay your bid into the center at the end of the auction, and two let you fiddle with the goal cards by swapping their position or changing their orientation. The demand and payout cards stay the same through three rounds, but a new one-to-four-gem bid is made from the gems still available plus any won in the previous payouts. After three rounds, the shrunken heads are awarded in a scoring round. Players now reveal all of their gems and compare them to the first card in the goal row. They will either have wanted to collect the most or fewest of that gem color, and if players tie on the first condition they compare their positions on the second goal card, and so on. The winner of the round gets heads equal to one less than the number of players, and each other player in order gets one less except that the last place player gets none. The player who collects the most shrunken heads after four rounds is the winner. Because of this, not only the winner but all relative positions must be determined in the scoring. This is all fun but exceedingly random, and this is the issue with Fiji - it is impossible to plan a truly effective strategy to get the heads and the result is too chaotic. It is a game that one would more expect from Bruno Faidutti than Friedemann Friese, in that it works well and is enjoyable but it is a game that is meant to be played for fun rather than be thought about much. Of course everyone knows the major goal is to have lots of these and only a few of those, and this helps determine what to bid (you get rid of those usually) but more important are the individual demand cards and what their payouts will be. Based on the goals, you will be trying to win some payouts and not others, but the ``winners cancel\'\' rule creates the ``6 Nimmt\'\' emotion of ``I didn\'t expect that!\'\' as you take the exact payout you were trying to avoid. Fiji is fun to play as a closer or with non-gamers, but it is not a deep game and one can only hope that this is how Friese spends his time while coming up with his really good ideas.

More ...

Main Catalogue | BOARD GAMES & CARD GAMES | Rio Grande Games | Fiji

**sRecentPrefix**

<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**

**sRecentImageItem**

**sRecentImageRowSuffix**

</tr>

**sRecentDescRowPrefix**

<tr>

**sRecentDescItem**

**sRecentDescRowSuffix**

**sRecentPriceRowPrefix**

**sRecentPriceItem**

**sRecentPriceRowSuffix**

**sRecentDeleteRowPrefix**

<tr>

**sRecentDeleteItem**

**sRecentDeleteRowSuffix**

</tr>

**sRecentSuffix**

</table>

**sRecentEmptyList**

Events Calendar, both
In-store & Conventions

About Us
Site Map

Terms & Conditions
FAQs

New Releases
Notice Board

Leisure Games, 100 Ballards Lane, Finchley, London, N3 2DN
Site maintained by ITQ Solutions Ltd.