Ocasta

The last game of the first full day. This brightly coloured stand containing a game we hoped was about scantily clad beach babes caught our eye because there was a table free as we walked past the stand.

The game centres around the exploration of a Pacific atoll. Each hex tile contains three islands each containing a mix of; harbours, island officials, tabbaco factories, island trinkets and breeding centres. Most of these tiles are face down and placed in a grid. Each player starts on a face up tile in one of four corners.

The turns consist of selection two actions from a list of 6 possible (each getting more expensive if chosen earlier in the round); each action activating one feature of the islands - money from factories, babies from breeding centres, elections for president, collect trinkets - or move your pieces to another island or explore a new tile.

The game plays quickly, there are plenty of decisions (generally relatively simple ones) with only light competition for resources. The interaction centres around the selection of activities and the occasional election for island president.

I'd rate this a game as an acceptable way to pass an hour. It's enjoyable, the result was close and down time minimal.

[Update] I played this again this evening. The game finished when we were only on turn 7, my last game went the full 12. This was due two plays doing what can best be called Extreme Discovery. I am worried that this indicates that the game may not have been play tested with the aggressive players that are found in many UK and US groups. This has been known with previous Euro games.