In another engaging, theatrical, and fantastical setting, HABA brings us MEDURIS, a strategy game for 2-4 players ages 10+, for a quest to settle in the base of Mount Meduris by building huts and, most importantly, making offerings to the mystical druid who travels about the foothills. Players compete to collect precious rune stones and build temples, all while trying to earn, maintain, and hopefully increase favor with the gods!!
The game begins by placing workers in the center, resource gathering, area of the board. Up to 3 workers can be placed in each region, and workers are stacked on top of each other.
Two parts make up a turn:
- Small Yield: roll the dice, each player completes the action of the dice by either choosing material chips per worker in the rolled region, choosing a material of their choice, or returning one material chip to the supply
- Big Yield
- Move workers and obtain materials from the new region OR
- Build a hut in an undeveloped field by paying the two resources listed above the field. This move choice also includes
- taking the rune stone from the build-in region
- moving the druid forward to the next hut
- Build a temple by paying the required materials. DO NOT collect the rune stone for a temple but DO move the druid.
Huts built adjacent to each other form a settlement. The second hut in a settlement costs 2 of each material listed. The third hut in a settlement costs 3 of each material listed, and so on.
When the druid lands next to a hut, the player who owns the hut must present the druid with an offering of one or both of the materials listed on that field space. If the player offers only one of the two materials, he receives one victory point (score is kept on the score track on the exterior border of the board.) If the player makes an offering of both materials, he gets as many victory points as there are huts in the settlement. If he makes no offering, he loses a victory point.
Game play continues until the first player has built both of their temples and all of their huts. Each player takes one more turn and then a final round begins, in which the druid makes one more complete trip around the board, receiving offerings and awarding or confiscating victory points.
Final scores are tallied and the player with the most victory points wins!
Meduris has some interesting economics elements that are great for gameschooling! The idea of risk and reward comes into play, as building huts in a settlement cost more but also have the potential to earn the player massive victory points IF the player can make the appropriate offering to the druid when he arrives. This risk can pay off with gobs of victory points or can result in negative points if material chip collection hasn’t gone to plan. This fun and educational strategy game is a wonderful resource and tool for teaching problem solving, opportunity cost, resource management, probability, and logical analysis. It’s one of our favorite games to play when talking about economics and also mythology/ancient peoples and religions.
Thanks so much to HABA for sharing another high quality game with well made components, fantastic design, and educational and fun game play!
