24. Incan Gold

In this episode, we review a game that will have you pressing your luck to recover lost treasure–Incan Gold!

Incan Gold is a 2005 game designed by Alan R. Moon (Ticket to Ride) and Burno Faidutti. In the game, between 3 and 8 players take on the role of treasure hunters exploring the ruins of an ancient Incan temple looking for turquoise, obsidian, and gold. This adventuring is dangerous work since the temple is full of hazards: giant spiders, poisonous snakes, creepy mummies, rock slides, and fire traps. Over five rounds, players send their adventurers into the temple to see how much treasure they can pick up before they fall prey to one of these hazards.

There’s a stack of 30 quest cards, half of which are hazards cards and half of which are treasure cards. The game consists of flipping over those quest cards, one at a time, for treasure or a hazard. Between revealing each card from the quest deck, all the players secretly decide if they want to press on into the temple or head back out to their campsite. Players who choose to leave keep any treasure they’ve collected this round, stashing it under their tent for final scoring. Players who choose to press on then anxiously await the next card in the quest deck. Is it more treasure, now split among a smaller crew of adventurers? Or is it a second copy of a hazard that’s already been played, in which case, like I said, the players are doomed.