Discoveries: The Journals of Lewis & Clark

Played our copy

Having played it's older brother, Lewis & Clark, I think there are two things in particular that I really like about this. First, the interaction is increased, and more direct (you can recall dice at the expense of your turn), so the resource management of your turns has another layer added where as piggybacking on cards others played in L&C was sort of a weak interaction to me. You still have the decision tree style planning that was exhibited in L&C (which was fundamentally a deep game vs a wide game), but it's different in that it's less of a "what resources am I not going to use" and instead "what order do I need to use them if there is one?" Second, it plays much faster. In a 2p game, we can rip through turns with no down time, but it drags at 4p, especially if you have someone who has AP as (just like in L&C) the biggest decision requires you to pre-plan a handful of turns in advance all at once so you keep encountering this bottleneck. Last, it appears as though the helpers (in this game represented by tribal negotiations) play a much more forward role in terms of engine construction for movement/effects, especially in terms of potentially shortening the game. My initial ding is related to the rulebook; I find some small things in terms of the process that one goes through when doing actions to be sort of obtuse. Possibly the heaviest dice game I've played fwiw and a possible 6, but not quite...

edit: yeah, I think there are other dice games I'd prefer.

I like the art very much but the gameplay feels very poor. ..

Unique dice mechanic, love the artworks... fast, fun.. but dont be so hasty, enjoy the theme so well, so the game will gonna be shine...

2 plays / 4 players

LIKE: Dice rolling and dice stealing is fun. I liked the exploration combo mechanisms and multiple paths to victory. DISLIKE: A little fiddly on how combos can be done. Some of the iconography for dice placement are confusing at first. Deep thought can slow down turns as there isn't much player interaction. Poor dice rolls can make the game drag since turns are stretched out.

OVERALL: An enjoyable game that plays faster after everyone is familiar. Does it replace the bigger game, Lewis & Clark? Mechanically, no, but for theme, it does.