Outback: Review

Outback: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Dice Rolling, Pattern Building, Set Collection

Player Age: 8+

Player Count: 2-4 Players 

Time to Play: 30 - 45 Minutes 
Designers: Michael Kiesling
Artists: Marten Hoffmann, Claus Stephan

Publisher: R&R Games, Huch!
Year Published: 2018

BGG Complexity: 1.57/5

Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

Objective:

You have been invited to Australia's infamous crimson-coloured Outback to build a friendly animal reserve. Throughout the game, you will be drafting iconic Aussie animals and placing them next to each other in your preserve. For this explanation we will be discussing the advanced version of the rules, however, there is an easier version of the rules for a more family friendly game.

Game Anatomy:

Jeep:

This is from where players will draft the animal tiles. The cardboard jeep will need to be constructed before the game begins. If there are five of the same animals on the jeep the active player can discard these tiles and refresh the jeep.

Outback Preserve:

The outback preserve (the grid on the board) has rows ranging from two to seven spaces. This is the amount of the same animal that has to be rolled to place that animal tile on the preserve in that row. For example, if you wanted to place a Kangaroo on the fifth row you would need to roll five kangaroos. This roll can be aided by wild symbols.

Scoring Markers:

Each player will have a scoring marker for each animal. At the end of the game, each animal score marker past the edge of the preserve will score the corresponding points (the top scoring track). Besides any of the animals on that scoring track, the last three animals of each player will score for where they are and this can be negative points.

Animal Tiles:

There are five animal tiles: kangaroo, platypus, koala, emu and lizard. There are eighteen tiles for each animal. If a player fails to place an animal after three rolls of the dice, a random tile is taken from the bag and flipped over to be placed on the reserve. This creates a blocked space that is worth -2 points at the end of the game.

Animal Dice:

There are seven dice that will be used, each dice has one of the five animals and a wild symbol that can be used as any animal.

Scoring Tiles:

There are fourteen scoring tiles that can be gained at the end of a players turn once meeting a goal. Each scoring tile can only be gained by the first player to achieve that goal. Some of these tiles include having five of one type of animal on the preserve, completing a row, and filling the preserve.

Set up:

- Give each player an outback preserve board and scoring markers for each animal.
- Place the scoring markers at the bottom of the outback preserve.

- Place the jeep in the middle of all players and draw five random animal tiles from the tile bag to be placed on the jeep.
- Place the seven dice and fourteen scoring tiles in the middle of the play area.
- Determine the first player by everyone rolling the seven dice, whoever has the most of one animal will go first.

How to Play:

Each player has their turn one at a time, with the direction of play moving clockwise. At the start of your turn if there are any empty spots on the jeep the active player will refresh those spots by pulling animal tiles out of the bag and placing them on an empty spot on the jeep.  The active player will then roll the seven dice, aiming to get matching animals. After each roll the active player can keep one or more dice and then re-roll any of the others. There is a total of three rolls available each turn.

Once finished rolling, the active player matches their dice with the animals on the jeep. This is done by matching the amount of dice with an empty spot available on the animal preserve (if that animal is available on the jeep). For example, if you want a kangaroo to be placed on the two row of the animal preserve you will need two dice of the kangaroo no more no less. When placing animals multiple animals can be placed on the same turn, for example, a kangaroo on the fourth row and a platypus on the third row. If there are no matches available based on the dice and animals available on the jeep, the active player will pull a tile from the bag and place it on their animal preserve at any open spot face down. This space is now blocked for the whole game and will be worth negative two points at the end of the game.

When placing an animal tile the player will score one point for that animal on the scoring track surrounding the preserve. If this animal is connected to another animal tile of the same type the player will score one point on the scoring track for every animal in that chain. For example, if you place an kangaroo connected to two other kangaroos, the kangaroo tracker will move three spaces on the scoring track.

'Outback' ends when one player fills their animal preserve. From this player, the round will continue so every player has had equal turns. Each player will score points for four things:
- Any scoring tile they completed during the game.
- Every scoring tile the scoring track on the top row of the preserve will score.
- The last three scoring markers will score (even if they are worth negative points).
- Negative points for every face-down tile in their animal preserve.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- Has an advanced and beginner game mode.
- Challenging choices based on what animals are available and what areas are available in the outback preserve.
- Interesting scoring that means you can't focus on one animal.

Cons:
- Can be tricky to explain the game when first playing.

'Outback' is a great tile placement game with elements of drafting, set collection and exciting Yahtzee gameplay. It is interesting because as the game continues, you slowly lock yourself into getting certain dice rolls and certain animals, this happens as players are trying to create connections of the same animals which becomes harder to achieve as the game continues due to the space in the preserve. This is the kind of game that misleads players by appearing as a straightforward game but it has hidden strategy and depth in deciding the right moves, therefore it is my current favourite game based on Australia and earned a Go-To Golden Seal.

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R&R Games
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Outback on BGG
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