Mangrovia

Mangrovia is a light gamer's game/family game with a clever role selection mechanism that allows players to choose two different actions and the turn order they want to play them by placing just one marker!

The Gods must be delighted! From time immemorial, the natives of Mangrovia have managed to reconcile the forces of nature with their customs and traditions.

But even the years of wise chiefs are numbered eventually. Now it's up to YOU to revitalize the ritural sites with new spirit. You erect huts along the divine paths and offer up precious amulets at scared locations. In return, the best player is entitled to seize the honor of becoming the new chief.

From Board Game Geek:
In Mangrovia, a light gamer's game/family game with a Caribbean mangrove setting, and a clever role selection mechanism that allows players to choose two different bonuses/actions as well as the turn order in which they want these actions to be carried out ? all by placing just one marker. Victory is achievable through a number of viable options, which guarantees high re-playability.

Mangrovia is a fight over acquiring the best locations for your huts in the appealing and unspoiled landscape. If you manage to do so, you will become the rightful successor of the old chief and win the game.

You gain Chief points by having the most huts (and the second-most huts) along each of the eight divine paths monitored by the statues of Gods. Additional Chief points are earned by controlling sacred locations, collecting amulets, and building huts at lucrative locations.

Building a hut requires that the space's landscape is active and that you can pay the exact price (without overpaying) for the space. The game feels tight from the very start. Mangrovia gets tighter and tighter towards the end of the game with fewer choices of spaces available; the actions you choose become more and more crucial.

In order to succeed in Mangrovia, you should carefully choose and time the best possible combination of actions, called ritual sites. A boat goes from ritual site to ritual site, first on the west side, then on the east side (in opposite order), triggering each action. If, for instance, you choose a ritual site high up, you will have an early choice of cards, but a late choice of space to build your huts or to collect amulets (and vice versa). A fourth action type is to select active landscapes and become starting player, which makes it possible to control the next round.

The game board is built as a matrix system, with some spaces being part of two divine paths while other spaces belong to just one. The spaces that are part of two divine paths are obviously most tempting, but can you afford to build your huts there?

After all players have performed two actions, the round ends. Mangrovia is usually played over 10-14 rounds and ends when one player builds his last hut.

Note: This is a multi-lingual version which includes rules in English, German, French and Italian. There is no in-game text that requires translation.