How would you rule the city of Naqala?

Five tribes was the first modern board game I ever bought. You win by having the most points at the end of the game, and you get points for doing just about anything – a “point salad” game!

The game board is a 5x4 grid of tiles representing the city of Naqala, and each tile starts out with 3 meeples. These meeples come in 5 colours – the five tribes that inhabit the city. On your turn, you pick up all the meeples from one of these tiles and “walk” them, placing 1 meeple on a tile adjacent to the tile you started at. Then, you go to another adjacent tile and place another meeple, and repeat until you run out. There are a few rules you need to follow:

    • you must move orthogonally (not diagonally)
    • you cannot double back on yourself
    • you must end by putting a meeple on a tile where there is already another meeple of that colour (for example, ending by putting a yellow meeple on a tile with 2 other yellow meeples already there). 
    • If you empty a tile entirely by doing this, you gain control of the tile – scoring you points at the end of the game.

Then, you pick up all of those meeples, and do something based on the colour of the meeples. These vary from giving you points, getting you goods from the market, or even assassinating another meeple! Finally, you do another action based on the tile you landed on. These can be things like buying goods from the market, recruiting powerful Djinns, and building cities or growing trees that increase the value of the tiles they are on.

Unlike most games, players do not go around the table taking turns. In Five Tribes, players bid for turn order: they can choose to pay more to go earlier, or save money to go later. Going later means that other players may do the thing you planned on doing, or simply get in your way. However, going early may end up costing you a lot of money – and money is worth points! Getting the balance right is delicate, and a fun little puzzle in and of itself.

So each turn goes like this: you bid for turn order, then take your turns in that order. Finally, you refresh the board and get ready for the next turn. 

This was a quick description of how the game works. It does sound complicated, and I will admit that it does take a while for the game to click.

However, once it starts to make sense, there is a wonderful game here. I love how the board changes every time you play it, making each play fresh and exciting. There is plenty of room to make awesome moves and combos, but it will take a while before you start seeing the potential for them. There is also a brilliant two-player variant that lets you take two turns per round, and I have to say that this makes the game really come alive.

However, I will admit that the game does give you a lot of rules up front. The board is very busy at the start, meaning it can be difficult to find a move you like. It’s definitely a step above so-called “gateway” games, and that can take a while to get used to. That being said, if you are looking for a new game to try that goes beyond beginner-friendly games, Five Tribes is an excellent medium level game to try out!