Overview & How to Play

Incan Gold is a SUPER simple game of chicken, where players advance through ancient ruins, all trying to be the richest explorer/archeologist/grave robber.

One card gets flipped every round. If it has gems (money) on it, that pile of gems all gets divided amongst the players currently in the game. If it has a disaster (lava, scary mummies, spiders, etc.), there’s no money for anyone, but instead there’s an increased danger for the players- that is when there’s of these two disasters flipped in total in a round, everyone who is left in the ruins has to drop all their money.

So that begs the question, oh, after seeing a card flipped, should I just:

A) Pull out now, have a guaranteed stash of all my money, but then lose any hope of getting more?

B) Keep going and getting more money! (And hope the next card flip doesn’t result in 2 of the same disaster on the board)

Rounds end once everyone pulls out, and/or everyone in the game has struck 2 disasters. Players play 5 rounds of this, with stashed money in between rounds carrying till end game scoring. Whoever has the most money at the end wins!

Pros

Incan Gold has some cool visuals to get you in this reckless mood: bright 3D gems that you just need to rob, scary looking disasters, and even stand-up tents to stash your loot in between rounds! There really is something glorious about taking the multicolored gems and happily hiding it from your opponents in your tent.

Let’s get into the chiiiiiiicken gameplay though, Incan Gold is ridiculously simple, and filled with reckless greed encouragement. Just pull out, or stay in. But even when you see some red disaster cards emerge in your journey, don’t immediately run the other direction with just a handful of gems! You don’t want to pull out too soon, because you never know if the next card will be the motherload and provide 13 gems! You actually want others to pull out, and for you to stay in, since if you’re the only one left in the journey, you take all the gems! It’s the huge question of: so how long should I stay in, as you count up how many gems you actually have saved, and compare it to how many gems you’ve stashed from previous rounds… then accounting for disaster risk and other player’s tendencies. Note that the more people you have staying in the ancient ruins with you, the smaller the slice of pie you’ll be getting.

That being said, Incan Gold excels at nudging players players throughout a round to pull out. As different types of disasters start accruing on the board, adding more potential for duplicates of red cards, people rightfully get cold feet and slowly pull out. But maybe not you! Maybe you’re the bold one, and will venture on until- oh that’s the second rock slide, shoot my 20 gems are now gone.

Something that starts adding motivation to pull out early is an artifact mechanic: that is loot that is worth 5 gems, but doesn’t pay anyone when flipped. Rather, it is a prize that can be grabbed by one player that pulls out after the artifact is revealed. BUT, if two or more players pull out at the same time, no one gets it! That really adds a fun mind game element and tension to every single pull out phase once artifacts are revealed- 5 money is no joke.

There’s also a really neat progression between rounds, where once players get hit by a disaster card, you remove one of those disaster cards permanently from the game. This allows the rounds for go on for longer as the entire group gets more aware of how the game is ending soon. So, more risks for everyone is encouraged! Plus, the actual quantity of gems of everyone is hidden within tents, so determining who exactly will win late game is a fun toss up.

Incan Gold is just a hootin’ and hollerin’ time of reckless abandon, and laughing at your friends who decided to stay in the ruins, while your ESP just knew that there was a snake just around the corner. Or how you totally mind gamed all of your friends that you were pulling out, while you decided to stay, and the two that actually pulled out didn’t get the artifact! Some of the funniest moments are when everyone agrees that they’re pulling out, and then flip over their cards to show that they’re staying in… and the next card flipped is disaster, to make them drop all their money.

Cons

This has one really glaring flaw though: that is how its core mechanic to pull out or stay in, is really visually confusing! Players get this mixed up ALL the time, where the art of someone entering a cave, or leaving it, is so similar, that in the heat of gameplay and chicken prodding, these get confused. They needed to be at least different colors, come on!