Prehistories Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Prehistories, a tile laying and hand management game published by 25th Century Games. In Prehistories, players are trying to hunt animals and paint their cave walls to earn victory points.

Tony: “Do you want to review this game?

*Tony holds up a copy of Prehistories*

Me: Yes!

That is the true story of how I received my copy of Prehistories.

Prehistories is an auction and polyomino tile placement game for two to five players. Games play quickly, taking between 20 and 40 minutes.

The game is played over numerous turns, with four phases per turn:

Turns continue until one player completes 8 objectives, at which point the game immediately ends and that player is crowned the winner!

It might be a case of lower expectations as I am not a huge family/lightweight game guy, but I really enjoyed Prehistories. The premise of the game intrigued me, but I found it more entertaining than I expected!

By far the most thought-provoking and entertaining mechanism of the game is planning your hunting party. Every player has 12 Hunter cards, made up of two copies of one through a six strength; however, each Hunter card has a unique speed number, with the lower numbered Hunters having a higher speed number. You can play any number of Hunters facedown (or no Hunters if you want to draw more cards on your turn).

The hook is correctly balancing speed, so you can pick a zone before someone else claims it, and strength, allowing you to actually hunt in the zone you want. Do you want to be first to pick your Hunting zone, but have to pursue smaller animals, or do you want to commit several cards, knowing you will be going last and hoping no one else has the strength to hunt your target? This interaction is entertaining as it allows