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Game Info
Year
2018
Collection
Mechanic profile
Not enough video data yet
Vibe profile
Not enough video data yet
Description
As the head of an international archaeological team, it is your job to establish camps across the four corners of the globe and uncover the long-lost golden scarabs of Scarabya.
Scarabya is a tile-laying puzzle game, in which your goal is to score scarabs by positioning your tiles such that they create enclosed zones of 1 to 4 squares. Each scarab in an enclosed zone is worth a number of points equal to the number of squares in its zone. Players all play the same tiles, in order. Each turn, a new tile is drawn and all players simultaneously place their copy of the tile on their individual boards. The game is over after all 12 tiles have been drawn (and either placed or discarded). The player with the most points wins.
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 2
This page: 2
Sentiment:
pos 2 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–2 of 2
Video QASOivUwpH8
Review at 0:02 sentiment: positive
video_pk 68067 · mention_pk 164397
Click to watch at 0:02 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Elegant and clever mechanics, especially the drafting system.
- Escalating gameplay with more workers in later rounds.
- Excellent execution of resource conversion.
- Strategic depth in planning and passing for cards.
- Thematic integration of recycling and generational progress.
- Incentivizes both specialization and variety in gatherers.
- The game ramps up well after the initial round.
Cons
- The first round with only one worker feels lackluster and slow.
- Desire for objective cards (from solo mode) to be included in multiplayer.
Thematic elements
- Helping humanity thrive and survive
- Scotland, about 5,000 years in the past
Comparison games
- North Sea Redux
- Ship Rights of the North Sea
- Raiders of the North Sea
- Tigris and Euphrates
- West Kingdom trilogy
- South Tigris trilogy
- Circadian
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting — Players draft cards from available rows, with passing being a key strategy to secure future picks.
- end-of-round scoring — Players must feed their villagers, and the generation of midden negatively impacts end-of-round scoring.
- Resource management — Players gather and convert resources, manage storage, and deal with waste (midden).
- set collection — Collecting sets of different gatherer types provides end-game scoring bonuses.
- worker placement — Players place workers to perform actions, with a special worker allowing placement in occupied spots.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- And if you've done that, well then welcome to Scotland, everybody.
- This is huge part of the game. There's a lot of brinksmanship.
- The more prosperous we are, the more stuff we collect and store, the more midden we create.
- This is not a high-scoring game, folks. 11 points is a pretty big deal.
- Oh man, that's going to be great. So, I cooked uh two I got two bones.
- So, I love the story this game tells, of course, but then on top of that, I love this. This is so simple and so elegant.
- I don't know why we can't use these in the multiplayer game. Minor complaints because make no mistake, the game is a lot of fun without it except for maybe that first round.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video Fs8652l-aTU
Meeple University Rules Teach at 0:17 sentiment: positive
video_pk 63910 · mention_pk 157428
Click to watch at 0:17 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- waste management and recycling in a village
- around 500 BC (based on sun's location)
- procedural/ instructional
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting — There are three open drafts; players pick or pass
- Card drafting with open drafts — There are three open drafts; players pick or pass
- drafting — Draft cards from available options
- end-of-round scoring — Count points from village cards, upgrades and tiles
- Food/cooking conversions — Convert resources into food to feed settlers
- Resource management — Manage resources and storage, feed settlers
- Solo variant rules — Rules similar with slight drafting variant for solo play
- special action tiles — Random special action tiles give extra goals or cards
- Storage/waste slider — Unlimited storage with a waste slider that affects negative points
- Upgrading buildings — Upgrade buildings to improve actions/resources
- worker placement — Place workers to actions in their village
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- the game plays one to four players
- with mechanics such as chaining Drafting and Resource Management the game is of medium complexity
- feed one food per settler
- you have unlimited storage capacity but each time you need more storage you move your slider to your right means you'll produce this waste
- the components featured in this video are prototype
- rules and artwork are not final
- the minister of recycling in their country
- now to build your village and recycle your waste in Scarab
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–2 of 2