West of Africa

Game Info

Year

2016

Collection

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Description

In the late Middle Ages, the Canary Islands had faded into obscurity from a European point of view. There was neither gold nor silver, and the islands did not play a role as a trading post because the north-south trade of that time went through the Sahara.

In 1312, the Genoese merchant and seafarer Lancelotto Malocello effectively "rediscovered" the Canary Islands. During the 15th century, the archipelago was conquered by the Spanish. Spanish masters pushed agriculture, cultivating sugar cane, wine and grain, which quickly gave the islands a certain economic value and importance.

In West of Africa, the players cultivate goods, try to sell them profitably, and build settlements. Each player has their own deck of cards. Each turn the players select cards from their decks to conduct successful actions, always keeping the actions of the other players in mind.

Episode 90 - Africa - West of Africa and Ascension Dreamscape Reviews and Flying Squirrels

Rolling Dice and Taking Names Jul 15, 2026

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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 0 · mix 2 · neu 0 · neg 0

Showing 1–2 of 2

Video Ty01LetgVxA Rolling Dice & Taking Names Review at 36:30 sentiment: mixed

video_pk 93566 · mention_pk 280670

Click to watch at 36:30 · YouTube ↗

Overall sentiment (raw)

mixed

Pros

Quick to set up and clean up
Easy to pick up for people familiar with games
Simultaneous action selection makes turns faster
Gold track tie-breaking mechanic is 'genius' and important to strategy
Plays fast once cards are known
Values on cards for actions and initiative are well-designed
Significant player interaction, especially with more players, keeps players on their toes

Cons

Lot of math and decisions can lead to analysis paralysis (AP) during action selection
Player interference (taking desired settlements or cultivating spots) can be frustrating for some
Game can end quicker than expected if settlements are built rapidly
Nagging concern about the game becoming 'scripted' or having a mathematically computable 'optimal' winning strategy
Could become a 'four-hour 4x game' with new players due to AP
Rulebook unclear on movement mechanics, leading to lengthy discussions

Thematic elements

Cultivating goods, selling them for profit, becoming the mayor of an island
Canary Islands, historical time period of cultivating agriculture

Comparison games

Puerto Rico
Vikings
Blood Rage
Fields of Arle
Trajan

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

action selection — Players choose action cards from their personal deck to perform various actions like moving workers, cultivating crops, selling goods, or forming settlements.
Card Values (Initiative) — Each card has an assigned value that helps determine play order, with lower totals going first. A '-4' card can be used to significantly lower one's total.
Crop Cultivation — Players plant crops on islands, incurring costs that can be reduced by having workers present on the island.
Goods Selling — Players can sell cultivated crops from warehouses on islands for varying prices, generating gold.
Mayor Influence — Players gain influence on islands based on goods in warehouses, workers, and ships, with the highest influence becoming mayor and earning victory points.
ship movement — Players can move a ship up to three sea links to transport crops between warehouses, potentially to more profitable locations.
Simultaneous action selection — Players simultaneously select cards for actions, then resolve them based on initiative values, influencing play order.
Tie-Breaking (Gold Track) — A unique mechanic where the player who landed on a spot first on the gold track breaks any ties.
Victory Points — Players aim to gain victory points by building settlements and becoming mayor of islands. The game ends when someone reaches 25 points or all 20 settlements are used.
worker movement — Players move workers up to four spaces between islands and boats to facilitate actions like cultivating crops.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

"Marty it's our anniversary month so it's going to take a lot to drag me away from you there's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do just move on to the intro you're so unromantic."
"I don't know whether people like them or not but hey you know we're gonna do a couple of them."
"I one day i will pay you back for this."
"A card laid is a card played."
"Why did you pick round tokens that just floors me I don't understand that."
"I'm an old man it's a little small on cards people i know i know you got to get it in there yada yada yada whatever but the font was kind of one of those um Ignacio odds they're intense that's what we're gonna call it now yeah the annossy fine big na SI phan which now for from here on that would be known as a small small fun yes."
"Everybody knows your gay oh dude that was pretty I was nice was that their slogan you just make that up it's actually on his business card dude."
"I cannot believe that somebody hasn't come out with one of these before now."
"You need to drop start craft on them one down man just do that just come drop that on the table and say go for it."
"It's just it's a nagging gnawing type of feeling I have but I'm going to let those that are way smarter than me to tell me whether or not I'm wrong or right after they have a whole bunch of plays in their pros at these euro games."
"I'm a blind hog and found an acorn and saw it come it just hit me a blind hog finding an acorn yeah that's a common expression blind squirrel is blind hog Google a hog a hug are you serious why would a hog find ok for squirrels find a core is it a hug Hyundai corns too but ok for this show it's a blind squirrel finding an acorn."
"Anthony was possessed devil you know anyway I try to tie it together and you messed me up but that's okay I'm good with that."
"That's only one third of a 20-ounce coke in the hotel i'm at right now."
"It was abysmal dude it was like being releasing a horror flick in the middle of summer which you picked which idea which was an idiot pic but anyway."
"Our Marty obviously did not pay attention to that very well because he has been sharing it with every other guy and not me."

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.

Video NAortXy5_bU The Dice Tower Analysis at 1:42 sentiment: mixed

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Click to watch at 1:42 · YouTube ↗