Can We Get the Elephants to Safety?

Ready to cross the savanna? It can get pretty dangerous our there. But there are also so many beautiful landmarks to visit! I’m sure if we stick together we can make it through in no time!

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What Is It?

🎯The Goal of the game is to get the herd to the end destination board
⚙️Cooperative – Players all work together
⚙️Modular Board – Set up changes every game (shape/orientation) and players will play cards to the savanna differently which will affect gameplay
⚙️Multi-Use Cards – Players can use cards to build the savanna where their elephants can travel, or use them to place elephants out on the board to get the herd closer to the destination
⚙️Puzzle – You have to build the board efficiently so that you can get the elephants to all the landmarks, and eventually to the end, while avoiding the lions as much as possible

Who Is It For?

👥1 to 4 Players – Fine at any count, but I did find solo a little bit harder because of the large hand size
👥Ages 10 & Up – Pretty approachable, and being cooperative helps that since you can help other players. Light strategy skills needed
👥Fans of cooperative games; players who work well together
👥Fans of puzzley grid games

PROS

🟢Aesthetics – Really nice artwork and table presence
🟢Components – Nice quality all around, the elephant pieces are great
🟢Rules are well written and clear
🟢Lots of variety for map layout and overall difficulty, plus the ability to add events or play a campaign
🟢Unique theme (though it is pretty sad when you consider the lions)
🟢The puzzley aspect with the multi-use cards works well and I find it interesting that you can’t rotate all the cards however you want, because it makes the ones you can rotate really valuable

CONS

🔴Luck of the draw – feels like you have to play Matriarch cards as soon as you get them to avoid ever having 2 in hand and suffering a penalty, but it’s not always optimal to play them. Plus, if you get back to back lion draws, that can also hurt your planning of moves; so overall the randomness can be frustrating in some games
🔴Bit long for what it is

Final Thoughts

This one looks good on the table and has a fun, puzzley nature to it. I really enjoyed considering my best options for my cards and building out the savanna with my team. I also liked that you played the cards based on how you were facing the board. Unfortunately, the randomness just felt like a bit too much sometimes. An unfortunate draw of lions and/or Matriarchs could really foil your plans and make it feel like your planning didn’t matter much. I liked it, probably mostly because I like elephants, but it’s not something I would return to too often because of the randomness.

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Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 5/10

Designers – Asger Aleksandrov Granerud, Mads Fløe,
Dan Halstad, Daniel Skjold Pedersen
Artist – Vincent Dutrait
Publishers – Sidekick Games, The Op
MSRP – $39.95
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