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Kariba box art
2010 Ranked #2,122

Kariba

Family card game where animals gather at a watering hole and compete to scare smaller groups away. Matching values create strength, so every play must decide whether to build a herd or strike before rivals do.

Family Games Card Game Children's Game Rock-Paper-Scissors Hand Management

Players

2-4

Play time

Not listed

Age

6+

Complexity

1.07/5

Rating

7.01

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.3/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 3.9/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.7/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.5/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

All animals are thirsty after an adventurous day in the savannah, so they've all trekked to the drinking grounds. Every animal wants to be the first to drink, but watch out!

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

All animals are thirsty after an adventurous day in the savannah, so they've all trekked to the drinking grounds. Every animal wants to be the first to drink, but watch out! The elephant scares the rhino, the rhino scares the ostrich, and the ostrich scares the zebra. Anything can happen... The mice might even scare the elephant! The player who scares away the most animals wins. To set up Kariba, shuffle the cards and deal five to each player, placing the remainder face down as a deck. Place the game board in the center of the table. During a round, a player lays down one or more cards of the same animal, placing the cards in the corresponding position (1-9) around the lake. If at least 3 cards of the same animal are placed in front of the lake, then these animals scare weaker animal(s) (closest lower number) while they are drinking. The player picks all the cards from the weaker animal off the board and puts them face down in front of her/him. Each card is worth 1 point, and whoever has the most points wins.

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Editions

Language and publisher variants currently recorded in the catalog.

Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
No editions imported yet.

Player resources

Rulebooks, player aids, FAQs, and solo resources.

No files imported yet.

Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
2–4
Best with
2–4
Play time
15 min
Age
6+
Complexity
1.1/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

1
Reiner Knizia

Artists

1
Felix Kindelan

Publishers

2
Goliath Games Helvetiq

Linked items

No published linked games yet.