Lookout Spiele | Mandala | Board Game | 2 Players | Ages 10+ | 30 to 60 Minute Playing Time

Product Information

It’s a game you grasp straight away but then discover more and more as you chip away at the mountain. Like a multi layered film the more time you spend with it the more you see, and because Mandala only takes 20 minutes to play you will more often than not play at least two games in a row. Highly recommended for abstract and two player game fans, but also for anyone who often finds themselves playing at two players. Mandala is played over a series of turns. Each player has three options as to what to do on their turn, but first, there is a bit of explanation needed. The board for Mandala, which is a nice linen cloth, is divided up into different areas. In the middle there are two mandalas, one on the left and one on the right. At any time on their turn a player can play cards to either of the areas. Each mandala is broken up into three areas. In the middle there is what is called the mountain, and on each side of the mountain is a field area where a player can play their cards. Placement rules are fairly simple, there are six different colored cards in the game, and in each mandala, a color can only appear in one of the three spots, either in the mountain, or in one of the player’s fields. A player may only play cards into their field or the mountain, but not the other player’s field. The board also has two additional areas for each player, a scoring line, called the River, and a pile for scoring cards, called the Cup. You can only take cards from a mandala and add them to your cup once it has been built up and is ready to be destroyed. Repeat for each colour along your river and the player with the most points in total is the winner! Once a mandala has been destroyed and all the colours in the mountain claimed, cards played in the fields are discarded, two new cards are dealt face up into the mountain, and the game continues.

Mandala has grabbed me with its immediate gameplay and variety. In fact it’s easier to play than it is too explain! I didn’t expect a game like this to have so much variance in gameplay, but the subtle changes to scoring and colour value added to the mind games that transpire makes this one of the best two player games I’ve played. It is a game I can play with my mum and my friends, and one that they have a chance of winning too. Mandala is a two-player game were you’re trying to score more than your opponent by collecting valuable cards. Then, the central mandala scoring board and main board are placed within easy reach. And believe me, you are going to want to be up close and personal with those gorgeous stones! It's a game where you need to remain flexible and adapt to a situation where control shifts during a round. This is one of those games with very little rules but lots of strategy. On your turn you can do only 1 of the following 3 actions.Add a card into either mandala - here you must follow the “rule of colour” which means that the card you lay can either match an existing colour or be a new colour. It cannot be a colour which your opponent has already added into the mandala or their field surrounding that mandala. But you can keep adding to whichever suits are in the mandala, regardless of who laid that colour (suit) first. MItchell T: An original and interesting card game. It requires judgment, finesse, and some brinkmanship. There is some depth here, but the cards will also surprise you. You do gain skill as you play, but it is easy to learn and lots of fun to play. The first thing that hits you upon opening the box is a rather overpowering smell. It emanates from the player board which looks a bit like a tea towel, and if you end up hating the game would function as one rather well. Annoyingly I keep forgetting to air it out, but that’s ok, because that smell is the biggest, perhaps only, real misstep Mandala makes. I hope this has helped you to learn the rules and how Mandala plays. Obviously I would always recommend people use the official rule book to learn the rules in depth but this blog should give you a really good flavour of how the game flows. It's helpful to note at this stage that the six squares in front of each player represent a player’s “river” and is where the cards in their cup will be sorted for scoring at the end.

Note: although this game is very colour-centric, the individual suit patterns on each card suit should help players with colour vision issues play without any disadvantage. Making it an accessible abstract! This is the typical Lookout Games box size for their two-player line, and for the most part components-wise it lives up to the games that came before it. I don’t necessarily like the cards being square, that makes them entirely too hard to shuffle for me — especially given that there are 108 of them. The linen mat is a really nice touch and I love that folks are thinking outside the box as far as what they can make their components from, but every time I unfold it from the box and place it on the table, I feel like I should iron it first, as it’s like playing on a permanently pleated shirt, but that’s just my neurosis. But that’s all the game is, cards and the linen board, oh and the rule book. It almost feels minimalist. On each turn, you will be trying to gain cards that are of value to you by taking them from one of two central mandalas being built up over the course of a round. Then give each player two cards which only they look at and then place face down onto their own “cup." Finally, turn over two cards and place them in the centre of each plain rectangle, bisecting the geometrically patterned circle. These four cards are the beginning of each of the two mandalas.When drawing new cards you must never go over your hand limit of 8 cards. Also you may never end your turn with no cards in your hand. If you were completing the action ‘grow fields’ and you had 4 yellow cards in your hand you would not be allowed to place all 4 cards in the field. Completing A Mandala

To begin, each player receives a hand of six cards. Each player receives two random cards face down in their cup, then two random cards are dealt face up into the central mountain strip of each mandala. Continue taking turns until all the colors in the Mountain have been claimed. Then, place all of the cards in both of the Mandala's Fields in the discard pile so that no cards remain in the Mandala.Mandala Stones is an abstract strategy game designed by Filip Głowacz. Publishers Board&Dice have put out many games that feature wonderful components. Mandala Stones continues within this trend. There’s a strong presence of pattern-building and set collection in this game. Mandala Stones is somewhat abstract in nature, comparable to the likes of Azul.

Each time you add a card of a new color, place it on the next highest numbered space next to the other cards in your River. But, when colour, patterns, and abstract strategy collide, the planets in my gaming universe align. And not even meddling Mercury can mess things up! Think Calico, Sagrada, Azul, Azul Summer Pavilion, Azul Sta…..ok, so basically all the Azuls. You get the pretty picture. Add cards into one of your fields – again following the rule of colour, they can either match an existing colour or be a new colour but again you cannot add a colour which your opponent has already laid down into the manadala or their field surrounding that mandala. For you see, the board in Mandala isn’t a regular cardboard affair. No, in Mandala, it is a beautifully printed linen cloth that just begs to be flapped out when you take it from the box. Two-player games are an important market in the board game industry. Seemingly, no company has embraced this as much currently as Lookout Games has with their “Fur Zwei Spieler” series of games. The newest title I’ve had the pleasure of playing from this line is Mandala from Trevor Benjamin and Brett J. Gilbert. Mandala is a hand management game where the two competitors are attempting to create the highest scoring pile of cards.Note: if both players have the same number of cards, the player who didn’t complete the mandala goes first.