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"Asante", Swahili for "thank you", is something an African merchant might say to you after he has made a good deal, and if you prove to be the better merchant in this game, you might wind up with an "Asante" at game's end.
Asante is a two-player game set in the world of Jambo and Waka Waka with the same designer and artist as those games: Rüdiger Dorn and Michael Menzel. The players are dealers in an African marketplace, buying and selling furs, silk, jewelry, fruits, tea and salt in order to make the most money possible. During market day, they meet individuals with special abilities who can make deals not otherwise available; a player can also cause havoc for the opponent by loosing animals on his stand. If you visit one of the fifteen holy sites, you can take advantage of the special powers at those locations in addition to your normal five actions.
Asante can be played together with Jambo or its expansions to create a marketplace with even more activity among its stalls!
Avanti! Board Game
- Wild, chaotic, and fast-paced gameplay
- Short playtime around 20 minutes
- Accessible party-game vibe with social interaction
- Attractive artwork and travel-themed presentation
- Real-time mechanic adds a lively tension
- Standees are tight in the car module and can cause damage
- Rules exist only in French, German, and Italian (paper rules language may be a barrier for some) — though the game is language independent due to icons
- Vacation planning and social deduction
- World travel destinations with a travel/vacation theme
- Real-time chaotic party game with quick rounds
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Chip placement with limited spots — Each destination can hold up to two chips; players must act quickly to claim spots.
- deduction — Face-down clue tiles indicate where the vacation cannot occur, driving deduction.
- Deduction from clue tiles — Face-down clue tiles indicate where the vacation cannot occur, driving deduction.
- dice placement — Each destination can hold up to two chips; players must act quickly to claim spots.
- Real-time mechanic — Players act simultaneously in fast rounds to place chips and reveal clues.
- Round reset and tile reveal — After scoring, clue tiles are flipped, chips reset, and a new round begins.
- Score-and-Reset — After scoring, clue tiles are flipped, chips reset, and a new round begins.
- Scoring by proximity to correct destination — First to have a chip on the correct destination scores two points; others at the same spot score one.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The game is a lot of fun it can get really wild when players pick up and try to figure out the clues
- The artwork was quite nice
- I'm a big fan of the game designers so I had to check out this game
- The game doesn't take a long time to play