by hectorir

Birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and almost any other “special occasions” often result in a gift of some kind of board game in my home. I recently had a birthday, and my spouse spoiled me with two board games and two card games, all of which are incredibly enjoyable to play. On the evening of my birthday, we broke out the Lost Cities Board Game, which was a welcome addition to our collection as we already own and enjoy the Lost Cities Card Game. My spouse and I have had this on our list of top board games for families for quite some time, so I was really excited to receive it and wanted to play it the first night.

Lost Cities Board Game: Game Play

Gameplay in the board game version of Lost Cities feels more interactive. You get to move your little explorers along paths to earn points. You can choose different paths to try to gain various benefits before your opponents can. Playing this with two players might not be as fun as with three or four since basically whatever you don’t get, your opponent WILL get. However, they do mitigate that by removing some of the cards available in the two-player version. This is a nice quick game as long as you don’t think TOO much on your turn. There is also a “short version,” which is a great option for a late-night game.

Lost Cities Board Game: Fun Factor

At first glance, this game seems like a fun, light, enjoyable game to play with your partner. There are some interesting strategic moves you can make, but a lot of the game is dictated by the luck of the cards you draw. For some people, this can make it a lot of fun since you don’t have to stress about losing due to getting a bad hand.

But personally, I dislike games where I lose and have little to no control over the fact that I am getting beaten.

Lost Cities Board Game: Contention Factor

So far, I’ve played this game twice, once with a three-player group and once with just my spouse. In the three-player version, my spouse started out dominating the board but got brutalized in the last two rounds and ended up losing. She got frustrated because she was complaining about bad cards, and the two other players gave her grief about it since she was winning by a LOT in another part of the game. So when she ended up completely losing, it just irked her that everyone had ganged up on her and been a bit rude in the first round. The time I played with JUST my spouse, I was the one annoyed the entire game. I just couldn’t get any cards I needed and was ticked off the whole game, even to the point that I didn’t want to finish a round. I really hate the “luck” aspect of the game. So while it doesn’t seem like a very confrontational, aggressive game, bad feelings do tend to get stirred up. It seems like it’s mostly because we are all very strategy-oriented in our play, so the frustration comes in with the bad luck elements.

While I wouldn’t consider Lost Cities one of the best board games for families, it’s certainly an enjoyable one to pull out every now and then.

Manuel Marino

Manuel Marino is a seasoned Senior Producer, Music Composer, and Artist with over a decade of experience. He specializes in branded entertainment across various mediums, including video games, films, and advertising campaigns. With 20+ years as a game music composer, Manuel has worked on numerous platforms, creating diverse orchestral soundtracks. HIRE ME