Mauna Kea is a game about explorers fleeing from an erupting volcano.  This is not a co-operative game so players will be stepping over each other to reach the boats taking all the artifact they can with them.

During the game, players place tiles on the board to reveal the landscape.  Each tile without lava displays 4 smaller squares and these may contain artifacts (there are 17 white, 7 grey, and 1 black artifact in the game).  Some squares contain mountains which blocked movement.  Tiles with lava are added to the matching lava flow (there are 4 different flows) and an arrow shows the direction too.  Sometimes the lava flows split too.

The core game mechanic looks interesting as players have a few tiles in their hand.  On their turn, a player must play all of their tiles.  Tiles can either be placed on the board or they can be spent to earn movement points which the player then uses to move their explorers.  Each lava tiles shows on it how many movement points it is worth.  So, players will need to balance revealing new areas (thereby, hopefully, making a safe and beneficial pathway) and moving towards safety.  This definitely appeals to me as I do like multi-use items which the player can choose how to use them. Read the rest of this entry »