Author Topic: Cacao board game with similarities to Carcassonne (Read 72779 times)

Paul · « **on:** July 03, 2015, 02:45:36 PM »

This week's Carcassonne surfing brought me this interesting new (2015 release) board game.

It's a tile laying game much like Carcassonne but, as the game title suggest, it relates to cacao beans. It seems to have similarities to our beloved game in terms of fields, cities(villages) etc according to the article linked below. It mentioned of tile size similarity to Carc tiles, but not exact size match confirmation.

Link to an article for the game: http://dailyworkerplacement.com/2015/04/20/cacao-chocolatey-carcassonne/
boardgamegeek.com: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171499/cacao

Paul

Edit: Hotlinked an image.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=1924.0

Koremu · « **Reply #1 on:** July 06, 2015, 12:37:13 AM »

The "number of meeples on a tile side" mechanic shares something conceptually with Tongiaki.

Decar · « **Reply #2 on:** December 29, 2015, 12:10:57 PM »

I got to play this with my wife today for the first time. The game mechanics is very simple; the rules are elegant.

Our 2-player game only took about 15-20 minutes, which was nice and quick. I wasn't blown away by the strategy, although it is similar to Carcassonne, I suspect the trick must be knowing which Action tiles you and your opponent have remaining. This will probably allow you to determine best choices; but this seemed straight-forward during play, so moves were fast. In a 2-player game it is not possible to count Jungle-Tiles, because you will probably not play all of them during the game.

I didn't like the River mechanic, it seemed like a simple way to buff scores; rather than grow, sell Cacao.

The production quality is fantastic. Tiles are very similar to Carcassonne tiles (I wouldn't be surprised to find out they came from the same machine). The Meeple are official HiG ones. The Box Inlay is very pleasing, all the tokens and meeple fit nicely.

Paul · « **Reply #3 on:** December 29, 2015, 01:50:57 PM »

Nice, Decar. I've unboxed it myself but still not had a chance to play it yet.

SRBO · « **Reply #4 on:** December 29, 2015, 03:31:43 PM »

Im pretty curious, looks like a nice game!
Maybe i will get this somewhere in the new year..

kettlefish · « **Reply #5 on:** December 29, 2015, 04:53:21 PM »

here comes the test with a tile from CC and a tile from Cacao- both tiles fit perfectly into the frame.

jungleboy · « **Reply #6 on:** December 30, 2015, 08:55:22 AM »

Quote from: Decar on December 29, 2015, 12:10:57 PM

I wasn't blown away by the strategy, although it is similar to Carcassonne, I suspect the trick must be knowing which Action tiles you and your opponent have remaining.

Everything I've read about it says it's quite a bit simpler than Carcassonne, strategy-wise. That's one of the reasons I'm interested in it actually, because it could be a gateway game for my non-Carcassonne fan wife.

Quote from: Decar on December 29, 2015, 12:10:57 PM

The production quality is fantastic.

Great to hear. Plus, because it's a new game, there's still 13 years to go before they bring out a crappy v2.0.

Decar · « **Reply #7 on:** December 30, 2015, 09:01:55 AM »

I hear the Spanish publishers are making an expansiom to improve the 2.0 art work.

Picture attached.

Paul · « **Reply #8 on:** January 10, 2016, 12:10:08 PM »

So today we finally got a chance to try Cacao for the first time. We played it twice (2x 4-player games) and I must say it was a really fun game!

It's fast paced and easy to learn with some very thoughtful tactics and variety to score points (earn gold coins).

First round my brother won with a lead of 57-something points (I came 2nd).
Second round I won with 42 points and my sister and brother both got 41 points each! Intense.

Curt194 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 12, 2016, 01:24:53 PM »

Looks like some good games Paul!

I really like this game. It's a quick fun game to play and certainly has interesting decision regarding which resource to go for, or whether you should block opponents from getting tiles they need, or even down to whether to use up the tiles that are in the draw pile.

I think the overlaying at the end of the game really adds a lot to the game too and this can really swing a game I think. I heard they are brining out an expansion in the spring and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do with the mechanics.

Paul · « **Reply #10 on:** January 12, 2016, 03:13:02 PM »

I love expansions, especially to games you like.

Now that I've played it, and enjoyed it, I am keen on getting Volcanoes. I already have the Brettspiel Calendar expansion.

Decar · « **Reply #11 on:** January 12, 2016, 03:32:01 PM »

Here's something great about volcanoes.... nothing goes to waste:

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2727881/cacao-volcanoes

Vasek · « **Reply #12 on:** January 12, 2016, 03:35:03 PM »

I like this game too. Expansion Chocolatl is going to be released at Spielwarenmesse Nurnberg this month.
Looking forward to that.

Decar · « **Reply #13 on:** January 12, 2016, 03:42:49 PM »

Wow, no messing about: that was quick.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/191540/cacao-chocolatl

Sounds like there are some good add ons here!

jungleboy · « **Reply #14 on:** January 13, 2016, 01:31:20 AM »

Oh cool! The only question for me is whether I can wait long enough to ask for the base game for my birthday (end of Feb), or if I just buy it myself ASAP.

Edit: I held the French filosofia version in my hands today (for CHF35) ... but decided against it in favour of waiting for an English or Spanish edition. Luckily I'll be in both the UK and Spain next month

Edit 2: I just gave my wife my birthday wishlist with both Cacao and Isle of Skye on it, so there'll be no more temptation for me to buy it.