Pyramid Review – Lost Cities

Originally Published in Pyramid Magazine – March 2nd, 2001 As far as I can tell, Reiner Knizia doesn’t know how to design a bad game – and Lost Cities is no exception to his exemplary track record. Although connected to the reputed theme of the game (adventurers traveling to lost cities around the globe) in only the loosest of possible fashions, the mechanics here prove to be simple, but not simplistic: To borrow the cliché, Lost Cities is easy to learn – difficult to master. Despite the fact that it comes with a board, Lost Cities is essentially a card game: You have five different color suits (each belonging to a different environment in which a lost city is located), with each suit containing three “investment” cards and ten cards numbered from 1 to 10. Each player receives a hand of eight cards, and play proceeds in turns – with each player either playing or discarding a card, and then drawing another card in order to replace it. Cards are played off of the board (which has five…