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Karmaka box art
2016 Ranked #3,019

Karmaka

Competitive card game where players advance through multiple lives from dung beetles toward transcendence. Cards can score, be saved for future lives, or affect rivals, so every choice must build karmic progress that survives beyond the current hand.

Thematic Games Animals Card Game Deck, Bag, and Pool Building Open Drafting

Players

2-4

Play time

25-60 min

Age

13+

Complexity

1.93/5

Rating

6.54

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 4.0/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.6/5

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?

From the creators of Osmos comes Karmaka, a competitive card game that plays out over multiple lives. Karmaka is a tactical card game set in a karmic universe.

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

From the creators of Osmos comes Karmaka, a competitive card game that plays out over multiple lives. Karmaka is a tactical card game set in a karmic universe. Players begin the game as lowly Dung Beetles. In life after life (hand after hand) they climb their way up the Karmic Ladder, racing to see who will achieve Transcendence first! During each of your lives you'll be working towards three ends: Score enough points to climb the Ladder and keep up with your rivals. Stash a good selection of cards to your Future Life. This will become your opening hand next life. Play cards for their abilities to help yourself or to hinder others. But what goes around comes around. A key tension in Karmaka is that after playing a card for its ability, a rival may take the card into their Future Life. Your actions may come back to haunt you in the next life... Score points to ascend while sowing the seeds of your next life, and – if necessary – sabotage your rivals. But remember, what goes around comes around, and your actions have consequences in this life...and the next.

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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.

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Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
2–4
Best with
2–4
Play time
25–60 min
Age
13+
Complexity
1.9/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

2
Eddy Boxerman Dave Burke

Artists

5
Eddy Boxerman Lane Brown Marco Bucci Dave Burke Scott Nicely

Publishers

1
Hemisphere Games

Linked items

No published linked games yet.