Camel Up - Amazing Fun

MookJong · 2 Jan 2015 at 10:54

Bought the 2014 award winning "Camel Up" over Christmas as the wife and I wanted a new game to play over the holidays. Just wanted to reccomend it for anyone wanting something with some light strategy but very thematic and fun to play.

It is a light Euro game based around betting on camel races in Egypt. The balance of randomness and strategy is perfect and causes some hilarous moments of risk, realisation and screaming at a small wooden camels!

I don't think we have played anything so fun and we own quite a few games. Going to take it round to the parents tonight to try it with 4.

Plays 2-8 players and takes around 15-20 minitues per race. We usually play best of 3 or 5 as it is so fun.

On a side note, we got Pandemic out the cupboard on New Years Eve and me and the Mrs managed to save the world before midnight! Had a very good game where it went right to the wire, I had forgotten just how well the mechanics work in that game, if anyone doesn't own it...you should.

Psymonkee · 2 Jan 2015 at 13:50

Can vouch for Camel Up, been singing it's praises since I got it last year

Muz333 · 3 Jan 2015 at 16:50

I bought it based on the components in my FLGS. It's a good game that has maybe a bit too much luck to it. Perfect when playing with my partner or her family that don't really take to heavier games.

MookJong · 5 Jan 2015 at 11:00

Muz333 said:
I bought it based on the components in my FLGS. It's a good game that has maybe a bit too much luck to it. Perfect when playing with my partner or her family that don't really take to heavier games.

I would say depending on which dice come out first some rounds have a lot more strategy to luck than others.

It is a light game and there is no way to stop the luck / random element but that is also how the most entertaining and unpredictable stuff happens. You could certainly play the perfect game strategy wise and still lose just like you could in a casino.

Muz333 · 6 Jan 2015 at 16:27

MookJong said:
I would say depending on which dice come out first some rounds have a lot more strategy to luck than others.

It is a light game and there is no way to stop the luck / random element but that is also how the most entertaining and unpredictable stuff happens. You could certainly play the perfect game strategy wise and still lose just like you could in a casino.

Yes, I enjoy the game so I don't mean to criticise it. Heck, I love Talisman and I really want to get DungeonQuest so some times I really enjoy luck.

I'm probably just comparing this game a little more to the likes of Formula D, a racing game, as opposed to a betting game.

milko · 21 Jan 2015 at 12:28

What sort of age is this good for? Wondering if my nephews and nieces would get a kick out of it. Cheers!

Psymonkee · 21 Jan 2015 at 21:03

The box says 8+ which is fine theme wise but might be a bit over their head gameplay wise. Very easy to go on a terrible losing streak which means no fun for them...

JeditOjanen · 23 Jan 2015 at 13:00

If you remove the betting aspect and make it a simple race where each player owns a camel, it becomes a 10-minute game for five players of any age with a fun pyramid.

Bickaxe · 3 Feb 2015 at 21:27

Opened it and played 3 games earlier with the missus.
Good fun and pretty quick.

Bickaxe · 20 Jun 2015 at 23:36

Picked up the expansion earlier for a bigger track and some other bits. Might get to play next weekend.

MookJong · 14 Jul 2015 at 12:00

Can anyone with the expansion tell me what you think. Does it add any strategy or anything?

Muz333 · 14 Jul 2015 at 12:19

MookJong said:
Can anyone with the expansion tell me what you think. Does it add any strategy or anything?

I think someone from these forums is going to take it along tonight to our weekly game night. If it hits the table I'll let you know.

Bickaxe · 14 Jul 2015 at 19:19

Still not found the time to try it. Brought it with us on holiday too.

Muz333 · 15 Jul 2015 at 10:52

So we played it last night. I think overall it does well to add in a little bit more strategy and less reliance on luck.

There is a way to change your bets when something just isn't going to work for you.
You can cash in on another players bet when you think they have it right.
There is even a way to add an additional die for your camel into the pyramid to give it an extra boost.

All in all I think it's a very worthy expansion. The game remains simple but perhaps with a little less reliance on luck.

JeditOjanen · 15 Jul 2015 at 12:59

Muz333 said:
So we played it last night. I think overall it does well to add in a little bit more strategy and less reliance on luck.

There is a way to change your bets when something just isn't going to work for you.
You can cash in on another players bet when you think they have it right.
There is even a way to add an addition die for your camel into the pyramid to give it an extra boost.

All in all I think it's a very worthy expansion. The game remains simple but perhaps with a little less reliance on luck.

You forgot the new action where you can set a camera up on a space of the track and win £1 for every camel in the next group to finish on that space.

I enjoyed the expansion, but I do think it increases the length of the game a little too much. We've played the base game with eight and have a leg end before someone has taken two actions, but with nine and the expansion modules we never went round the table less than twice and once I think we lapped three three times. I still think it's an 8-player game maximum.

Muz333 · 15 Jul 2015 at 16:02

I would agree with that. It never made the game drag out but it certainly increased game length. Perhaps a little too much for some people.

rnickster · 7 Aug 2015 at 10:30

thankyou to OP for this thread, found and bought the game because of it and has gone down a hit with weekly games group and even G/F

)

bakes0310 · 6 Oct 2015 at 16:56

Just bought this for my first board game to get my girlfriend interested. Hopefully arrive tomorrow. Hope its not complicated, last game I played was payday and monopoly earlier this year. In my teens I played a bit of warhammer 40k, gorkamorka and spacehulk.

Psymonkee · 6 Oct 2015 at 21:05

It's not complicated at all - only 4 things you can do:

Bet on the winner of a leg (round)
Bet on the overall winner/loser
Roll the dice (move the camels)
Place a modifier token on the board

Super simple. Not sure it works all that well with 2 players although after your familiar with the game you can probably try out a few things to improve it

krooton · 29 Mar 2016 at 15:20

Played this twice over the weekend with the gf and a friend (as well as a game of Exploding Kittens).

Better than I could have hoped for, hilarious when everyone is trying to work out the statistics, and you pull a 1 from the pyramid, making a leading camel land on a mirage, then go to the bottom of the stack they were just the top of

Much swearing and excitement!