Cost: $17.00 From: Doris & Frank, Obere Buch 24, 8520 Erlangen-Buckenhof, Germany Players: 2-5 Playing Time: 15 minutes Type of game: Card Complexity: 4 Skill level: 9 Reviewed by: Peter Sarrett, Issue 2.2, Winter 1993
When I hear the phrase, "Banana Republic," I immediately think of West End Games' classic Junta. For my money, Junta is the definitive game about military regimes in small, tropical countries. But Junta takes quite a while to play. New from Germany is Banana Republic, a much faster but no less interesting foray into the political intrigues of its namesake nations.
Banana Republic comes in a tiny little box even smaller than Hexagames like Musketiere. Inside are 62 cards, 55 small wooden cubes in five colors, and a rule booklet. Seven of the cards are Voters. Three Voters have 24 votes each, two have eighteen votes, and two have twelve. The rest of the cards come in five colored sets of eleven cards each, one set per player. Each set includes one Journalist, one Killer, one Bodyguard, and eight checks of differing values (1,000 to 10,000) and currencies, and the backs of each set show the color of the player to whom the set belongs. The object of the game is to use your cards to influence the Voters and earn a majority of votes at the game's end.
To begin the game, all Voter cards are shuffled and laid in a row face down. To get everyone in the proper frame of mind, now players rob each other. Each player takes two cards at random from the player to her left (or only one card in a two or three player game). The thief may look at them, but may not keep them-- they are instead set aside, out of the game. One at a time, each player may peek at one of the Voter cards. To help everyone remember who has looked at which cards, after a player views a card she places a wooden cube of her color on the table above it. When all players have looked at a card they do it again, viewing and marking another card.
On the third round the game introduces a new variable: the players' cards. On his turn, a player must play a card face down in a column beneath one of the Voters, slightly overlapping any other cards already there so that the colored backs of all cards can be seen. Then the player may look at any one Voter or any column of cards beneath a Voter. A marker is placed above the Voter or card column viewed. Players may choose to look at a Voter or column they already viewed earlier in the game, but this counts as their peek for that turn.
The cards have varying effects on the Voters. Checks are bribes. A player's bribe for a Voter is the sum of all of his checks in that Voter's column. Whoever pays the most gets the Voter's votes at the end of the game. Checks come in two currencies (local bananas and foreign dollars) which have equal value... unless a journalist discovers the bribe.
The people in Banania, although tolerant of corruption, are patriotic and get angry at foreign intervention. Voters will try to hide their involvement with foreign agents if it's about to become public. If one or more journalists turn up in a column, all dollar checks there become worthless. Of course, this is only discovered when all columns are flipped over at the end of the game, or if you happen to peek at that column after the journalist is played.
Sometimes it's necessary to resort to violence, which is where killers and bodyguards come into play. If a single killer sneaks into a column, he knifes the Voter before he can cast his votes at the end of the game. But if more than one killer stalks the same Voter, they get in the way and kill each other instead. A bodyguard in a Voter's column will prevent one-- and only one-- killer from reaching his target. In a pile with two killers, this leaves one killer free to stab the Voter. As an added bonus, Bodyguards also contribute 1,000 bananas to their boss' bribe.
The game ends when everyone has exactly one card left in their hand. All columns are turned over, killed Voters are removed and the surviving Voters give their votes to the player paying them the biggest bribe. The player with the most votes wins. Games don't take long to play, so you may opt to play a series of elections with the winner being the first to gather a certain total of votes.
Banana Republic sounded like it would be fun to play, and we weren't disappointed. We were surprised by the amount of strategy involved. The game mechanics are simple to learn, but the nuances in play are varied and deep. We frequently found ourselves pausing for serious thought about which card to play and where to play it, or which cards to view. Choices which appear simple turn out to be complex.
In the early stages of the game, players typically spend their time hunting down the three big- ticket Voters. Often their locations can be deduced from where other players place their initial cards, although this can be intentionally misleading. Once the values of the Voters have been detemined, deciding which column to view on your turn is crucial. And frustrating, since you can only look after you place a card. Which means you often react to other players without knowing exactly what you're reacting to. It's important to remember that one card in your hand won't get played-- too often we get down to two or three cards and someone grunts a Homer Simpson "Doh!," suddenly realizing that his plans are screwed because he forgot that he can't play one of those cards.
Banana Republic earned high marks in our group, catching on instantly. Quick, easily taught and reasonably priced, Banana Republic would be a coup for your collection.