10 days in Asia (and Europe)

During this trip back to KK, I have played many new games at Carcasean, and the only one that felt fresh and was a bit of a surprise to me was 10 days in Asia. Well, that and the other game in the series, 10 days in Europe, too. There are four in the series, the other two being USA and Africa. It is not that the game or the series is especially good, but it is something quite different from everything else I have been playing. So it was a breath of fresh air for me, and I even ordered it from Chong Sean. I have played 27 games of these two games in the series, that I am now starting to get sick of them, and need to stop for a while before playing again. But I still think this is a nice game to own. It's suitable for new players. It's something quite different. It is educational and teaches geography, and is suitable for older children. Maybe I can play this with Shee Yun and Chen Rui when they are 8 years old or maybe earlier.

One thing which Chong Sean said that I found very true and very funny is that this game is like Mahjong. Indeed you are drawing tiles and trying make a winning hand. We kept using Mahjong terms when we played, like 单吊, 听牌, 吃胡, 拦胡.

In 10 days in Asia, you try to create a 10-day travel itinerary to win. Each tile in the game is a country or a mode of transportation. To make a winning itinerary, every tile in your hand must be connected to the tiles on either side of it. Adjacent countries are connected, i.e. you walk from one country to the next. Countries of the same colour can be connected by a plane of the same colour, i.e. you fly from one to the other. Countries bordering the same ocean can be connected by a ship sailing that ocean, and finally countries connected by the same railway can be connected by a train card. The setting up of the game is alread half the game. You draw cards into your hand one by one, and can choose the position to place the tile (but of course before you draw the next tile, and you can't change the positions after a tile is placed). During the game you draw a tile, replace one of your tiles with it if desired, and discard it to one of the three discard decks. And you repeat this until you complete your 10-day itinerary, or someone else does it before you.

This is a simple game. Easy to teach and quick to play. It teaches geography too!

10 Days in Asia

Close-up of the board. Countries with an asterisk have 2 tiles instead of 1.

Transportation tiles are usually good, but maybe not when you have 6 of them in your starting hand.

When I thought 6 transportation tiles in my starting hand was bad, then got this...

Michelle, Chong Sean and Han, at Carcasean.

10 Days in Europe

Han and Michelle. Chong Sean was kind enough to let us borrow this to try it out at home.

The map of Europe has 3 seas - the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Baltic Sea.

I had so many planes I thought I was building a bomber fleet in Axis and Allies.

When you have 10 countries and no transportation tiles in your starting hand, that's pretty bad too.