Lost in R’lyeh Disclaimer 1: We bought our first copy (now everyone in our group has bought their own copy!) at San Diego Comic Con. We played it for the first time on the balcony of a condo overlooking SDCC and the harbor...life doesn’t get much better than that! So we might be a tad bit emotionally biased!
Lost in R’lyeh Disclaimer 2: We have NO idea how to pronounce R’lyeh. The number of syllables changes dramatically the later into game night we get! Maybe that has something to do with the sangria.
OK...Lost in R’lyeh is in my top 20 list of games. The artwork, play mechanics, uniqueness and memories are just top notch. It is also the perfect travel game. The stylish metal box protects the cards in my backpack...although TSA always searches it.
The quality of the game’s bits and pieces is awesome. Metal box with raised imprint. Memorable artwork. A poker chip that indicates direction of play. Tarot sized cards. All so nice!
The game play is unique. There are no winners just non-losers and a loser. The loser is the last person left trying to escape.
All players start with a set of escape cards on the table in front of them. You can’t play escape cards until your hand is empty and all the draw stack is gone.
During the first phase players draw cards, pick up discards and play from their hands. During this phase players are trying to position themselves by getting rid of some of their escape cards and also to leave the other players with huge hands of cards. Cards use a mechanic where they can be played as a set...the larger the set the more powerful it is. Each card shows the increasing set power by card count. Fun mechanic that makes picking up the discard pile very tempting.
Once the draw pile is gone and a player's hand is empty they move to the next phase. In this final phase you play escape cards one at a time until they are all gone and you escape! Of course it isn’t really that easy. Your opponents will do their best to sabotage you by giving you a handful of cards, reversing direction of play and other mean tricks.
A fun game with easy, straightforward directions. Our 9 year old granddaughter loves to play it!
The Good: The balance and mechanics of Lost in R’lyeh are awesome.
The Bad: Tarot sized cards are a bit hard to shuffle but have sooo much room for the great art work!
The Dastardly: Wendy’s patented move of using the 1 cards to swap hands when she has a gazzilion cards and you only have a single card.
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