Lewis & Clark: The Expedition

Traditionally, whenever I go for coffee at Playscape, Giannis treats us to some random board game I have never heard of—and it usually ends up in my collection later. To keep the tradition alive, out of roughly 500 games we could have played, he put Lewis & Clark: The Expedition on the table. I have no idea how it slipped under my radar when it came out 7-8 years ago, but now I obviously need to find a copy.

It is a very nice deck/engine builder, with every player trying to organize their exploration of the heart of America as efficiently as possible. Its mechanisms still feel fresh even today, while its choices have the right kind of cleverness: it is not enough simply to do something useful; you need to do it in a way that keeps your expedition organized.

What stuck with me most was the double-card system. It leaves room for some great plays and, together with camping, creates interaction that has a real sting. When another player camps at exactly the moment when, on your next move, you want to make use of their icons, you feel it. It plays especially well and tightly with five players, never allowing the group to get too comfortable.

I genuinely wonder why we have not seen more games make use of this double-card system. If you spot it second-hand, it is a blind buy for any group as far as I am concerned: it feels fresh, offers clever decisions, and delivers just the right amount of pain when other players get directly in the way of your plans.