Giants

Carve giant Moai statues and haul them across Easter Island with help from your rivals.

Designer: Fabrice Besson
Published by: Matagot
Editions by: asmodee

Giants, a 2008 game, puts you at the head of a clan on Easter Island in its golden age. Your clan wants to carve the biggest and most impressive Moai statues and haul them from the quarry to the rock platforms called ahus. Your pawns are groups of men: each turn you decide which of them sculpt and which transport, and statues travel along paths made of pawns and logs, so you often need help from rivals. You spend Tribal Markers to claim the best statues or to mark the ones you cannot finish this turn. It is a network-and-delivery puzzle with bidding for influence, and the most prestige wins. Three to five players, about ninety minutes.

Carve and transport Moai statuesPaths of pawns and logs from quarry to ahuTribal Markers to claim the best statues

Who it's for

You like logistics puzzles and a theme with substance, and your group enjoys negotiating who helps whom.

Not for you if…

You want a light game or can't stand hauling things across the board for ninety minutes.

Vibe's take

Cooperative-competitive logistics: you need other clans' workers to move your statues, so every deal is a favor and a cost at once.