Emboscados (2020)

About this game

Players play animals in a forest. Five predator cards are lined up a row; above them three random herbivore cards are placed. Each player is secretly assigned one predator and one kind of herbivore. During a turn, a player can move an open herbivore below a predator card. When two of the same herbivores are adjacent, they will either fight (if they are of the same gender) or mate (if they are of different genders). Fighting removes a card, mating adds a cub token on one of the parents. The predators eat the top four size points of herbivores in their column. Each eaten herbivore counts a point for the owner of the predator. Each surviving herbivore card or cub of the kind you control also scores a point. When a player has reached nine points, they win the game.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 2 to 5.
• Rules load. At 1.5/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 14 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.