Rabbit Island: Explore, Build, Conquer (2019)

Overview

(Note: The title changed to Rabbit Island in December 2016, thanks to lots of crowd input. Original title was Bunny Island.)

In Short: Tile-laying modular board game; main mechanic is territorial control.

In Full:

You are a rabbit -- one of a wandering band of rabbits in search of a new land to call home. After many months at sea, you and your companions discover a beautiful, uninhabited island. Splitting up into your separate tribes (Blue, Red, Yellow, or Green), you will each set out from Founder's Hill to explore the island, discovering new areas to build up and plant carrots. It is up to you to lead your tribe into the unknown and develop the largest and most successful civilization on the island!

While it looks cute at first, Rabbit Island reveals itself as a very competitive and multi-faceted game. The primary aim is territorial control, and there are several supporting mechanics that increase your strategic potential, including Action Cards and Harvest Groups.

Each player starts out with a rabbit pawn, 100 Carrots in Carrot Tokens, and 25 Building Tokens. There are three phases to the game - Explore, Build, and scoring (Conquer!). The main goal of the game is to gain the most Victory Points by the end of 20 rounds of play (or 10, if playing a short game).

During the Explore Phase, each player lays down the uniquely shaped Map Tiles to create the board and form the Pathway Arrows. Players also get the chance to build their first Camps (lowest building level) on the Territory Tiles.

During the Build Phase, players now follow the Pathway Arrows around the Island until they reach the Rabbit Holes, which take them right back to Founder's Hill to start following the paths over again. They will Harvest new carrots from their established Territories, and continue to upgrade their buildings - from Camp to Village, and Village to Town - for more Victory Points!

By upgrading an opponent's Territory, you can wrest away control to become the new Territory Owner! All players will receive Victory Points for each building level they establish, so build build build - but watch out for Earthquakes, Poor Harvests, and more, from the Action Card deck!

Harvest Groups are two or more adjacent Territories owned by the same player; these areas equal big Harvests for their Owner.

The Conquer Phase is the scoring phase, where players count the number of Victory Points each building level has netted them. There is one extra point awarded to the player with the most Carrot Tokens, and another point awarded to the player with the largest Harvest Group.

Who will come out on top at the end? Conquer your opponents and feast with your tribe!