A board game with a Fantasy theme is extra special around here in my family of fantasy lovers. Iquazu, a HABA creation for 2-4 players ages 10+, tells the story of two warring tribes.
The Rhujas, a threatening group of warriors are seeking the hidden gemstones of the Inox tribe. To preserve their treasure, the Inox have cleverly hidden it behind the Iquazu waterfall, which is guarded by the Silon water dragon. Which player will use their cards most strategically to secret away gemstones and gain the most points?!?
This game board is one of the most unique we’ve ever seen with a sliding water frame and strips that are moved as the game progresses.
The board is set up by placing the bonus tiles face down on the game board fields. The water frame begins the game in the far left position with all the water strips to the right of the frame. Only one row of bonus tiles will be visible inside the water frame each round.
All players begin with a certain number of cards depending on the number of total players, and the player to the right of the starting player receives the box of water drops to being the game.
Each turn has three parts.
PART 1
- Draw 4 cards from the draw pile (max hand limit of 12 at the end of a turn) OR
- Place ONE gemstone by selecting a colored circle on the board and discarding the number of cards in that color equal to the column the circle is in.
- For example, a blue space in the third column would cost 3 blue cards to place a gemstone of your color.
- Any two cards of one color can be used as a single card of another color of your choice.
PART 2
If you’re the active player and you have the box of water droplets, place one water drop on the first uncovered colored circle in the first column.
PART 3
Pass the box of gemstones to the next player.
Players continue placing gemstones and drawing new cards until the first visible column in the water frame is filled with gemstones and/or water drops. Once this happens, the INTERIM SCORING ROUND begins. The player with the most gemstones in this column receives the top number of rock points (pictured on the game board below column 1). The player with the second most points gets the middle score, and the lowest point value gets the lowest number of bonus points.
The bonus tiles from the face up column to the right of the frame are now awarded. The player with the most gemstones in a row gets that row’s bonus tile. If it’s a tie, the player with a gemstone furthest to the right gets the tile.
Bonus tiles give either immediate (on your turn) or end game abilities/points. Bonus tiles award players additional points, allow drawing additional cards, act as cards to place gemstones, or allow a player to take both Part 1 turn actions.
After interim scoring is completed, remove the strip to the far right of the board, slide everything over to the right and replace the water strip in the now empty left-most spot. Five new bonus tiles will now be visible. Flip them over and pass the box of water drops to the next player in a counter-clockwise direction (opposite of regular game play).
The game continues in these rounds until the last column with rock points is scored. At that point, all bonus tiles and other points are tallied, and the winner is the player who most successfully hid gemstones and earned the most bonus tiles and points!
Iquazu is a fun strategy game that helps kids practice decision making, problem solving, and logical analysis. Players have to make decisions that could make or break the game! Going for more cards rather than placing a gemstone could leave a valuable spot open for an opponent. These kinds of strategic puzzles give kids excellent reasoning practice and helps with math and other logical kinds of problem solving challenges.
Thanks to HABA for sharing this excellent gameschooling resource with us!
