Details: Written by: Brian Moats; Category: Board Game Reviews; Published: 22 November 2020

Review Copy Provided

Ah, beautiful waterfalls, amazing wildlife, and a sunset to die for...Sounds like a great vacation spot, right?

Amazing Jungle Run Cover

Amazing Jungle Run (2020)
Designer(s)	Keith Smith	Artist(s)	John Childress	Publisher	Buddy Pal Games
	1-4		12+		25-35m

WRONG! You are dropped off in the jungle to fend for yourself. Maybe you should have asked more questions about the great price you were getting on this jungle vacation package or maybe you accidently signed up for some sort of survival television show. Either way, you are here now and must find a way to survive until they pick you up.

Box and Components

The game comes in a nice box (6 1/4 in x 9 in x 2 in) that separates the two different sized cards and has space for the optional playmat; there would certainly be enough space if they decided to add additional cards as an expansion or promos. The box divider is pretty good, but it can be a little loose at times since it is folded cardboard that is folded together. However, I have often commented that cards games with multiple decks should have some sort of divider, and this one works perfectly for what I have often wanted.

The game is primarily a card/dice game so the components are straightforward. The game includes:

A 14 page rulebook (16 if you count front and back page).
1 Double-sided Player Reference Card.
40 Jungle Cards; the Jungle Cards are larger (2 7/8 in x 4 1/8 in) than standard cards. The back of these cards are a mix of green and browns with illustrations of jungle vegetation.
21 Peril Cards; the cards are smaller (2 1/4 in x 3 1/4 in) than standard cards by about 1/4 in in both dimensions. The back of these cards are red/orange with illustrations of jungle threats.
36 Resource Cards; the cards are smaller (2 1/4 in x 3 1/4 in) than standard cards by about 1/4 in in both dimensions. The back of these cards are green with illustrations of jungle animals.
3 Dice; the dice have pairs of black circles, green diamonds, and yellow triangles on them.

I really like the illustrations on the cards, rules, and the box art; everything ties together very well with the jungle theme. The actual wildlife artwork is very clean and looks amazing to be honest. I like that they went with a more realistic looking art approach.

The cards themselves are on a linen finish and feel great. I initial thought this game would be a nice budget card game, but as soon as I saw the cards, I realized the production value is much higher than I initial thought for a game in its price range. I am very pleased they didn't go with the thin budget cardstock; these cards will hold up pretty well. The only complaint is regarding their size selections; I am not sure if it will be possible to find suitable card sleeves if you sleeve your cards.

The dice are perfectly fine; their symbols are painted on the dice. They are perfectly suitable for this game.

Optional Playmat

Buddy Pal Games provided us the optional playmat (10 in x 16 in) to review as well; I am very happy with it. It looks and feels great; you can certainly play this game without it as the playmat simply provides a layout for you to place your cards onto. However, it is a nice playmat and fits into one of the pockets of the box nicely. The only thing I would have liked was stitched edges to prevent it from peeling, but I completely understand that may have made the playmat more expensive than the game itself so I really can't complain about that.

Mechanics

Setup

Setup is very easy in this game:

Shuffle the Peril deck and Resource decks placing them in the center of the table.
Find and remove the Shaman and the four 2 point fruits cards from the Jungle deck.
Shuffle the remaining Jungle cards.
- In a 2 player game, split this deck into 16 cards and 11 cards.
- In a 3-4 player game, split this deck into 20 cards and 15 cards.
Shuffle the five cards (Shaman and 2 point fruits) with the small Jungle Deck.
Now to create the four Jungle Decks ensuring the high point cards are in the lower half of the decks.
1. In a 2 player game, deal out four stacks of four cards from the "Shaman deck" and then four cards from the other Jungle deck on top of those. There should now be four stacks of eight cards.
2. In a 3-4 player game, deal out four stacks of five cards from the "Shaman deck" and then five cards from the other Jungle deck on top of those. There should now be four stacks of ten cards.
Flip over the top cards on the four Jungle Card decks.
Place the 3 dice nearby.

You are ready to play the Amazing Jungle Run.

Player Turns

There are 3 phases in a players turn:

Action Phase
Manipulation and collecting phase
Defense Phase

Action Phase

Players will have 2 actions to spend to use on 3 potential actions, which may be repeated.

1 Action - Draw a Resource Card.
1 Action - Look at the bottom card on one Jungle Deck.
2 Actions - Draw a Peril Card.

Manipulation and Collecting Phase

Players will be able to take, or attempt to take, cards from the top of the Jungle Decks. Select one of these options:

Take all of the shown common Jungle Cards of a matching type (Tiger, Hippo, or Toucan).
Attempt to take one Jungle Card that has symbols shown on the lower section of the card. the player will point to the card they are attempting and roll the 3 dice up to two times locking any dice they want from the first roll. If successful, take that single card; if unsuccessful, the card remains on the deck.

Optionally, player may have Resource or Peril Cards that may help during this phase. This includes cards that will allow them to do both of the above actions, take cards from the top of the decks and place them on the bottom, and so on.

Additionally, some cards will have symbols in the upper right. When taking a cards with a Red or Green card in the corner, you will draw a card from the Resource or Peril deck matching that color. If there is an arrow, you will take the card directly below this card in the same deck as well.

At the end of this phase, flip over and reveal all cards on the Jungle Decks that may be face down.

Defense Phase

This phase is entirely optional. The player may play Resource or Peril cards to impact their opponents progress like preventing drawing from a specific Jungle Deck, forcing them to only draw from a specific Jungle Deck, reducing their Actions by one, or something else.

End Game

Once the necessary points are obtained by one of the players, the game immediately ends and that players wins. The necessary points vary based on player count:

2 players - 9 points
3 players - 7 points
4 players - 6 points

In the rare events of a four way tie during 4-player game, the player with the shaman wins.

Solo Mode

There is also a solo mode that you can find the instructions for on their website. It basically has you running a dummy player that follows specific rules. I have not played the game with the solo rules yet, but it doesn't look as if it should be too difficult to use once you play a game or two and understand the dummy's behavior. The goal is otherwise the same; you need to get 9 points before your opponent to win.

Final Thoughts

Once you get through a single game and understand the Resource and Peril cards, the game is very straightforward. When I first saw the manual was 14 pages, I thought "How" since I was under the impression the game was pretty simple, but once I started going through it, the manual provides a few example player turns and a good description for each of the cards actions.

I wish the game would have came with player references for each player. Not that the game is difficult and really needs them, but I have taught plenty of games to people who like having the player reference cards just to have in front of them while learning as a reminded of the little details. Again, not a big issues, but I would prefer games include enough player references for the max player count especially when just on a single card.

Overall, I thought the game was a fun light game. It should be very easy even for some younger players to understand and enjoy. It doesn't take long to setup, and the game is pretty quick not overstaying its welcome. Again, I really enjoy the artwork and overall production of the game. I do wish the cards were a little more of a standard size for sleeves, but beyond some of those little nit picky comments, I am very pleased with this game. I could see it being a game I take to game events for older children to young adults to enjoy. This is definitely a game I can recommend checking out.