While our world is being threatened by the Shadows, Shamans are trying to restore harmony to avoid chaos in the universe. Which side are you on?
3-5 players, ages 10+
Playing time: 40 minutes
Designer: Cédrick Chaboussit
Artwork: Maud Chalmel
Publisher: Geronimo Games (originally published by Studio H Games)
http://geronimogames.com/
At the start of each round, players are assigned a hidden role: Shadows win the round when the pawn reaches the moon at the end of the track, Shamans win when they prevent this and all rituals have been completed, or when all Shadows have been eliminated.
Players receive points for achieving their role’s objective, but also through a ritual or by collecting certain artefact tiles.
Each turn starts with the guide placing a card face up in front of him, with each other player in clockwise order doing the same. Players can play any card they want, but each card that doesn’t match the guide’s played suit makes the pawn move one step closer to the moon. Cards are placed open next to the game board, and the person who played the lowest matching card picks one of the artefact tokens, while the player with the highest matching card becomes the guide for the next turn, and when all cards of that suit are played, he performs that colour’s ritual.
Once at least one player has collected 8 points the game ends, and the player with the most points wins!
Shamans is a fun trick-taking game with a couple of twists. In most games of this type, played cards are discarded and players need to keep track of which cards might still come out, here it is open information.
Another twist is the hidden roles: if you play as a Shadow you have to balance between playing the wrong colors to push the shadow token to the moon, but also not blowing your cover by playing the right color now and then and possibly take some helpful artifacts in the meantime. With those artifact tokens you can eliminate other players, they can obligate players to reveal their role or even make it possible to switch roles which can change the game completely in a blink of an eye.
Overall Shamans is a fresh mix of trick-taking and social deduction way more depth than appears at first glance!
Tabletopping 