Stats:
No. of players: 2
Amount of time to play: 45 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 5 min

Jambo Rules Description:

Jambo is an African-themed card game where you and your opponent are both merchants. Can you turn 20 gold into 60 gold first?

On your turn you get 5 actions. Your first action allows you to draw a card. If you dislike your draw you may discard it and draw a new one, but it will cost you one action.

You may then play a card from your hand for one action, of which there are four kinds; utilities, people, animals and ware cards. Utilities can be played and used for one action point and stay in front of you. You may only have up to three utilities at any time and they can only be used once per turn. People and animal cards tend to either help you make a bit more gold or attack your opponent. Ware cards enable you to buy and sell wares.

So your turn may consist of drawing a card and discarding it for a new one. Then playing two cards from your hand and using a utility. That would use all five of your allotted actions. If you finish your turn without using more than three actions you take two gold from the bank.

As stated above the game ends when one player reaches 60 gold. The only catch is their opponent gets one last turn to try to gain more gold. If they do then they are the winner.

A Quick Review of Jambo:

Jambo is a great 2 player card game and is especially enjoyable if you like economy games. There are a variety of cards and they are all playable and balanced. There is good interaction between players and once you become familiar with the cards there is good depth.

The variety of cards creates great replayability, but it will take 3-5 plays to become familiar with them. This learning curve can hamper new players that are taking on experienced ones. There is also a good bit of luck involved. Still I recommend this game to anyone who plays and enjoys two players games.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 5 out of 6
Replay Value 5 out of 6
Complexity 3 out of 6
Fun 5 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6