Africa may be a little light on it’s own. So all of Africa + the Arab speaking world (up to the Turkish border and over through Iraq). And the + is to throw in Israel and Iran due to proximity and shared history.
What’s in your collection (obvs)
What game makes the best use of the geographic or cultural subject matter?
Any game that you feel disservices or exploits the theme?
Any game htat taught you, or motivated you to learn more, about the region?
What’s your favorite component from any of these games (pictures always appreciated)
What’s is the most ripe, but untapped, theme in these regions that someone should use?
Vaalbara could be loosely lumped in as based in an unspecificied cradle of civilization, which I think all agree would have been in one of these locales.
Hands in the Sea is half Carthage half Italy.
(I’m deliberately not counting war games or games with map expansions (e.g. Memoir, Concordia, TTR) where there is African content)
Any game that you feel disservices or exploits the theme?
The obvious answer is anything with colonialism on it. I’m totally fine playing a game about colonialism and we are the baddies - e.g. Archipelago, JoCo2. But I think it’s bad when they don’t interact with the subject and simply uses it as wallpaper. Why they went for that in Mombasa is just weird. I still play Mombasa but the retheme is a step to the right direction
What’s is the most ripe, but untapped, theme in these regions that someone should use?
I would like more ancient sub-Saharan theme games like say Sankore (never played though)
I really like how Tigris and Euphrates have these Mesopotamian city-states clashing with one another with this tile-laying system. Very original.
A lot of games go back to “ancient” history and then you get all the Egypt and Babylon references.
There is almost nothing modern or even semi-recent in my collection. Maybe Anansi, maybe Ark Nova.
I need to think more about the other questions. My half-baked answer is that except for some few games from ancient history both regions are very untapped as a whole. Not even a lot of nature games …
Yeah, this. When I was in Zambia, I remember just stopping for a moment and looking at nothing more than the square meter I was standing on. Bugs on the ground, plants, things in the air. There was SO MUCH LIFE. And then of course the Antelope and Zebra I was trying to approach by pretending to be an herbivore.
It sounds mundane to write and I can’t do it better. No way to express it than to just stand there for a moment.
(for reference, California is actually pretty empty and Virginia has a lot of stuff but it’s 99% ants and mosquitoes all the way down.)
Targi. I really like this game. And I think it does it respectfully (although I know so little about this society that I could be wrong) - it certainly tries to at least. Good game either way.
Shem & Sam’s South Tigris trilogy. I really like these games too (with the proviso that I haven’t played them much yet, and only solo.
Thebes! Part of our archaeology games shelf (which might only include this and - well, Archaeology).
Ticket to Ride: Africa
Concordia maps, obvs
I’m going to put Alhambra in here too, on historical grounds.
And rhinos live in Africa, so Rhino Hero as well.
Even with the questionable final two, that’s more than I was expecting!
I love Ark Nova, so when a friend bought Kavango I had to try it, and I love it. The game is named after a conservation area bordering several African nations, and it’s both a good game design while also being educational - you have to consider what base foods (grasses, trees, insects and fish) are required to feed the animals the next level up the food chain, and which of those will allow you to get the pretty, high-scoring creatures that people want to see in a reserve.
We used to have the Targi expansion, but (as so often with expansions) found the game became a bit fiddlier for no real benefit, and moved it on.
The base game is an absolute keeper though. Perfect amount of complexity for us, superb design, just the right length, it’s great.
What game makes the best use of the geographic or cultural subject matter?
Tales of the Arabian Nights.
What’s your favorite component from any of these games
Maybe the little wheel device in Thebes, which lets you know the appalling amount of time you’re going to have to spend sifting through sand in order to give yourself a half-decent chance of finding something valuable.
I love the pop-up board in Camel Up 2nd Ed, too – that’s an instant crowd-pleaser!
