The origin of this game dates back to 2004, when an almost newcomer Frederic Moyersoen created Saboteur, a card game based on the mechanics of hidden identities, reused in various subsequent games.
This year the United States Games proposes this re-implementation, by the same author: Saboteur: The Lost Mines, which allows us, this time sitting around a board, to try again the mechanics of Saboteur. It's a game of exploration for two teams, with hidden identities, based on rotters that you try to make to the opponents, once you understand how the teams are put (but the bluff is always around the corner).
This version introduces new identities that make the game even more sparkling.
Dedicated to the general public and with the ability to sit at the table from 3 to 9 players, it will entertain us for about three quarters of an hour.
MATERIALS
In the box we find a sufficiently large scoreboard, formed by a grid of 7×11 rectangular boxes, suitable to occupy the cards covered.
Two starting boxes and the 4 boxes where the mine cards will be placed are pre-printed.
Treasure cards will be placed on one of the edges.
Then we have the 10 dwarf cards, divided into two teams: the yellow and the blue. Be careful, however, because for each team there is a traitor (ie a card of a team that will play secretly with opponents) and a card of the selfish dwarf, who will play only for himself.
Each dwarf will have his representation on the board thanks to a card with plastic board and the corresponding image, which everyone will choose at the beginning of the game.
The engine of the game is represented by the cards, which are divided into path cards and action cards.
The course cards contain narrow streets in the woods and some of them have special drawings and graphic symbols: we have the cards with obstacles (the lake, the trunk and the hole), the cards rocky passage and the cards with fire.
The action cards include remedies for obstacles (boat, axe and rope respectively), but we also have troll cards, trap cards, storm cards and information cards.
In addition to the starting cards of the two teams we have the 4 mine cards, which hide gold, silver, precious stones or a beautiful dragon!
The treasure cards are also divided on the one hand according to the type of treasure (gold, silver or stones) and on the other hand report the value, in points, of the treasure found.
The equipment ends with some heels, which will be placed on the paths, to identify the obstacles overcome, trolls and traps.
Victory points are represented by hexagonal heels.
The materials are of good quality: the drawings of the dwarves that make up the teams are very nice; the graphic symbols used are very clear and easy to understand.
THE RULES
Once the starting cards and mine cards have been placed, as many treasure cards as there are players are placed.
The dwarf cards are then dealt randomly: if you play less than 6 you eliminate one loyal dwarf each, while in less than 4 you eliminate 2: the goal is to ensure that no teams come out without gnomes deceivers.
Everyone then chooses the figure of dwarf of his color as he pleases and are dealt 5 cards each (4 if you play more than 6 players).
The idea of the game is extremely simple.
The objective for loyal dwarves is to acquire (for themselves and their team) the greatest number of treasures; the objective of the traitor dwarf is to favor the opposing team, while the selfish will have to try to grab the treasures for himself, but without being discovered too much.
The game is developed in two heats and is divided into turns: each turn each must either play a card or discard up to two.
Playing a card means lengthening one of the paths already started, so that the roads coincide (at Carcassonne, for instance) or can play an action card: objects allow you to cancel any obstacles already on the map, the storm allows you to remove a card from the map (free).
The troll card allows you to place a troll on a road blocking the passage to anyone until it is again the turn of the player, the trap allows you to place precisely a trap, so anyone who passes over it will lose a card, while the information card allows you to peek under a mine card or under a treasure card or verify the identity of an opponent.
Played (or exchanged) the card, you can move your dwarf on the map up to three steps (unless you started from a fire card, in which case 5 steps), considering that the obstacles not yet canceled are impassable and anyway both on obstacles and rocks you can place only one dwarf and you can not overtake (while on normal roads yes).
The turn ends when you restore your hand.
When you get to a mine, you reveal it: if there is a dragon, the one who unveiled the mine takes the dragon heel, which will make him lose two points at the end of the heat; in all other cases you draw a treasure card corresponding to the type of mine unveiled.
Even subsequent players, who pass through a mine already unveiled, can take, if there are still, treasure cards of that type.
The heat ends when all the treasure cards have been assigned or when the mines have become unreachable.
The next step is to count the points.
At the end of the heat the identities are revealed: the selfish dwarves keep the accumulated treasures, but will not participate in the treasure of the team, while the loyal dwarves, along with the traitor infiltrated the other team, divide the booty equally, favoring, in case of rest, who has procured more.
A second round is then repeated, starting again and redistributing again the identities of the players.
At the end of the second heat, the points obtained are compared and with the same number of points the victory is shared.
ENTREPRENEURSHIPS
I've played the original version of Saboteur several times, a caciarone game where bluffing and teasing are the order of the day, and I have to say that even this version is not bad at all.
First of all, having it equipped with the scoreboard and the explicit movement of the dwarves makes it a little more modern, but above all has changed the dynamics of the team.
In the first version there were only the good dwarves and saboteurs, while having established the two teams (already present in Saboteur 2, in fact) and having created the selfish and the traitor make the game more interesting.
You run all together towards the mines and you fight explicitly, although, especially for traitors, it becomes essential not to reveal your intentions.
The salt of the game is therefore, more than in the bluff, in the dynamics of suspicion, so it is not said that the partner you are helping will take you to win, as well as the opponent you are hindering could be the traitor who will bring you points.
We are talking about a game where the random factor is very important: having cards with good routes and some tool that takes us out of trouble is a good way to get to the mines, but in the end, because of the dynamics of secret identities, it may be that the winner is the one who has not even collected a treasure, because maybe his trusted partner (or the traitor of the other team) before arriving at the mine met the dragon ...
When you have in your hand many action cards and a few cards run, although it is fun to try to hinder the opponents, sometimes it is frustrating not to be able to continue in the path: that is why a good choice is not to divide by team in the paths, but it is better to mix, so as to have more alternative ways.
That is, don't think that the combinations of roads are so many that you can definitely reach all the mines, especially if some player was particularly sneaky to use the paths to create dead ends.
If I have to find a fault, since the game has been completely revised, they could probably have made square cards, so as to provide as many combinations as possible to the paths.
It still remains a very pleasant game: if you are looking for control this game is not for you, but if you want a simple game, jaunty, caciarone, then you should try it.
Especially if you have the opportunity to sit at the table up to 9 players!