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Oasis |
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Availability:
In stock
List
Price:
$34.95
Our Price:
$26.95
You Save:
$8.00 (22%)
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Description:
You are the head of a Mongolian family, intent on becoming the most powerful in the land. Use your resources wisely to take control of fertile steppe lands to raise horses, which will bring prestige and honor. Build ovoos to pour the blessings of luck into your life. Raise camels to build wealth. Control the beautiful oases to improve the quality of life for you and your family. The player with the most points at the end of the game will be anointed the Noble of the Oasis.
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Our Review:
Oasis, a BoardGameRatings.com Recommended Family Game, takes place in the harsh desert of Mongolia. In order to thrive in such difficult conditions, players must claim precious water found in oases, raise large herds of horses, develop camel caravans, and establish sacred sites known as ovoos. On each turn, players offer some of the limited cards in their supply piles to gain the right to choose the best offer on the following turn. The player who can amass the most of each precious resource by game's end is declared the winner.
A fairly light strategy game featuring nice components and straightforward instructions, Oasis appeals to families and casual gamers and plays best with four or five players. Unfortunately, the game is plagued by a high degree of luck during the offer stage, as players do not know what the next card added to the offer will be until they have already decided to add to the offer. Still, there is a good amount of strategy in the way you play the offers and place tiles on the game board. The game is easy to learn and enjoyable to play, and that is precisely why it is one of the better game releases of the year.
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User Reviews:
|  Good for groups made up of different age levels
I played this game with my husband and my sixth-grade nephew. I was doubtful as to whether my nephew would be able to pick up on the game because he doesn't have a lot of experience with board games. However, once we started playing, it was clear that either my nephew was a genius or the game was designed so that anyone can play. He had no trouble playing the game on his own. This game reminds me of games like San Marco, El Grande, and Wildlife, in which areas of the board are scored on the bsis of which player dominates that region of the board. Oasis adds something new to that concept. Whether you "dominate" a region of the board depends on more than just how many of your playing pieces you were able to place in a certain region of the board. It also depends on how many multipliers you were able to collect. Thus, for example, if you have 5 camels in the desert and your opponent has 4 camels in the desert, it would seem that you would dominate the desert and therefore receive the most number of points in the desert. However, that may not be the case. You must look at your multipliers, which are kept secret from your opponents. If you have three multipliers for your camels, then you multiply the nuber of camels you have in the desert (5) by the number of multipliers (3). Thus, the number is 15. However, if your opponent has 10 multipliers, she wins in the desert--she has 4 camels times 10, which equals 40! These multipliers ensure that the game is suspenseful throughout its play. One drawback is that the game could use a little more interaction between the players. There is some interaction as the players bid for cards, but there is no trading or negotiating involved. If you have already tried some of the more prominent games out there (Settlers of Catan, Alhambra, Carcassonne, Puerto Rico, etc.), then you might be interested in trying this one, too. However, it is unlikely that it will rise above those other games. If this would be your introduction to modern board games, I would probably start with one of the other games I mentioned.
Overall this is a good game that I would play again sometime. If you have already played this game and like it, then try Ticket to Ride. It has a similar level of complexity and can involve people of all ages, too. The theme of Ticket to ride is a little easier to relate to than the theme of Oasis. I prefer Ticket to Ride to Oasis.
by Carolina (Nov 20 2004)
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Rate Oasis by Uberplay Entertainment:
All reviews become the sole property of Wasatch Game Company. |
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