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Kahuna box art
Rich game profile

Kahuna

"Who will rule the South Seas? Two Kahuna - ancient sorcerers of the Pacific - compete for dominance on an archipelago consisting of twelve small islands. Using their magic and wisdom, they struggle for control of the islands. They anxiously await the cards handed to them by fate...

Players

2

Time

30-40

Age

10+

Weight

2.05

Rating

6.61

Should this hit the table?

Quick read before the metadata.

Moderate level of direct and strategic confrontation with high interaction frequency, but low emphasis on cooperation.

Teach 2.1

Teaching signal

Replay 4.0

High replayability

Interaction 3.6

Highly interactive

Scaling 4.0

Scales well

Strategy 4.5

Deep strategy

Control 3.8

More strategic control

Table feel

Moderate level of direct and strategic confrontation with high interaction frequency, but low emphasis on cooperation.

Replay value

Kahuna has a high variability gameboard, offering different experiences each time it is played. The availability of expansions adds to the replay value. The game also provides deep strategic possibilities and allows players to improve their tactics over time. The player interaction score is average, and the game scales well with different numbers of players. While it may take some time to learn, the depth it offers makes it worth the effort. Overall, Kahuna has a strong replayability score of 8.05.

Luck profile

Kahuna has a moderate influence of luck. While random elements have minimal impact on the game outcome, players have substantial ability to mitigate randomness through strategic decisions and planning. The game outcome is primarily determined by player strategy and decisions, with luck playing a minor role.

Overview

What ABG knows about this game

"Who will rule the South Seas? Two Kahuna - ancient sorcerers of the Pacific - compete for dominance on an archipelago consisting of twelve small islands. Using their magic and wisdom, they struggle for control of the islands. They anxiously await the cards handed to them by fate. But when the time is right, they move to capture one, two, or even more islands, trying to gain the upper hand. At the mercy of the magical powers of the South Seas, they quickly realize that even the best magic is no good without strategy." Originally published in 1997 as Arabana-Ikibiti by the designer's own publisher Bambus Spieleverlag, then reprinted by Funagain in the U.S., Kosmos' Kahuna – part of its Kosmos two-player series – is the best known implementation of this design. It's a two-player game, played on a board depicting twelve islands. Players use cards to place bridges between these islands or remove opponent's bridges. If you get the majority of bridges around an island, you place one of your marker stones on it and also remove any of your opponent's bridges to that island – which might cause them to lose a bridge majority on an adjacent island and lose a marker stone there. The game is played in three rounds. A round ends when all cards from the face down deck and the three face up cards have been taken. Then points are scored for the islands with a marker stone on them. The game can also end sooner when one player has absolutely NO bridges left on the board. The Kosmos edition has excellent graphics and nice wooden pieces and plays very well. Reimplements: Arabana-Ikibiti Reimplemented by: Kanaloa

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