Games are such great mind-food for children’s imaginations, and the thing I really love about games is that they require active work from the brain. Many games give children an opportunity to put themselves into a fantastical world. Games have have been an invaluable gameschooling tool and have provided our family with so much material for writing prompts, imaginative growth, math and social skills, and creativity.
I LOVE Cartographers for all of these reasons. It’s a beautifully designed and illustrated roll player card game and the STORY and WORLD that the game tells and builds is magical.
You’re a cartographer in the Queen’s service and have been sent to map a territory and claim it for the Kingdom. The Queen issues official edicts, announcing which lands she values most and each cartographer improves his reputation by successfully meeting her specified demands.
Each player gets a Map. Four Edict Cards (A, B, C, and D) are laid in a face-up row in alphabetical order and are each assigned a scoring card (underneath).
The game is played over 4 seasons, beginning with Spring.
Cards from the Explore Deck (on the left) are flipped over, one at a time, until the Time Values of all the Explore Cards meets or exceeds the Time Threshold (the numbers in the top left corners of the cards). Players simultaneously choose one of the Terrain types and one of the available shapes from the explore card and draw it somewhere on their map.
There are mountain spaces (pre-filled) and ruins spaces (can only be filled when a Ruins card is drawn). The scoring cards for that season (A & B for Spring) are what will give players points, so those are the objectives each player tries to meet during that season.
Ambush cards force players to swap maps and draw the Monster icons in the shape from the card anywhere they like, usually placing it in the least advantageous place possible for their opponent. All empty spaces adjacent to monster spaces are a -1 point. Ambushes are the worst!
After the time threshold has been met, players add up their score for that round.
The cartographer to reclaim the greatest share of the queen’s lands after 4 seasons earn the most reputation points and earns the title of Greatest Cartographer in the Kingdom.
This game is a real brain-bender. Trying to fit the shapes and terrains in to earn the most points available requires some focused spacial manipulation and strategic skills. It’s a great analytical, imaginative, competitive thinking game that can be played by 1-100 players ages 10+.
Cartographers works well with just a few people or dozens and dozens! It’s a very versatile, easy to learn, super fun game to play.
There’s also a Skills Mini Expansion Deck that includes 8 skill cards. Three are chosen, laid out on the playing table face up. Players may pay for and use 1 skill each season for some extra help mapping the territory and fighting off ambushes.
We have had so much fun playing this flip and write game, we think you will love it too. Thanks to Thunderworks Games for sharing it with us!
