Stats:
No. of players: 2-5
Amount of time to play: 45-60 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 5 min

Ra is an auction and set collection board game with a bit of press your luck. If you bid wisely and get lucky you can win.

Ra Rules Description:

Ra takes place over three Epochs. In each Epoch you bid to collect tiles. Some tiles score at the end if an Epoch but others score at the end of the game.

You start the game with three or four sun disks depending on the number of players. The sun disks are numbered one to sixteen. You will use a different number of them based on the player count. You use these to bid on tiles and the tile numbered one always starts on the board.

On your turn you take one of three actions, draw a tile, invoke Ra or spend a God tile. When you draw a tile it is placed on the board. Ra tiles are placed on the Ra track and an auction begins. All other tiles are placed on the Auction track. You can also start an auction by invoking Ra. I’ll get back to using a God tile in a bit.

When an auction is triggered by drawing a Ra tile or invoking Ra, the bidding starts with the player to the left of the triggering player. You either bid with one of your sun disks or pass. The auction ends with the triggering player and each sun disk bid must be greater than the previous one bid. The triggering player must bid if they invoked Ra and all other players have passed. The winner takes the sun disk on the middle of the board and replaces it with the one they played to win the auction. They also take all the tiles on the Auction track. The new sun disk they got from the middle of the board is placed face down and cannot be used until the next Epoch. Players that are outbid keep their sun disks for later auctions this Epoch.

Disaster tiles drawn from the bag are added to the Auction track. If you win an auction that has a disaster tile you resolve it then return it to the box. Disaster tiles force you to discard good tiles you have collected in the current auction and over the course of the game.

You can win God tiles in the auction. On your turn you can discard a God tile to take any tile currently on the Auction track. Unspent God tiles are worth 2 VPs at the end of the current Epoch.

An Epoch ends once all players have used all their sun disks or if the Ra track is filled with Ra tiles. In fact the last Ra tile placed on the Ra track ends the Epoch immediately and no auction takes place.

There are five types of tiles (beside God tiles) and most score based on the number you have. The player with the most Pharaoh tiles scores 5 VPs and the player with the least loses 2 VPs. Gold tiles are worth 3 VPs each. Nile tiles score 1 VP for each if you have a Flood tile. With no Flood tile they are worthless. There are five different Civilization tiles and you score VPs based on the different number of them you have. If you have none you lose 5 VPs. All the above mentioned tiles score at the end of each Epoch and some are discarded after scoring them. Monuments stay with you the entire game but only score at the end of the third Epoch. There are eight different monument tiles and you score for having different types as well as having multiples of the same type.

The last things you score are your sun disks. Total the values of your sun disks you have at the end of the game. The player with the highest value gains 5 VPs and the player with the lowest value loses 5 VPs. The player with the most VPs wins the game with ties going to the player with the highest sun disk.

A Quick Review of Ra:

Ra is a classic auction game. You must balance what tiles and sun disk you are getting against the sun disk you must spend. Especially as the sun disk you use to win an auction is available for the next auction winner to take and use in the next Epoch.

The components in the reprint are very nice. I know a lot has been made of the previous print having wooden sun disks and this one having cardboard ones. But the art in the new version is better. So there are some trade-offs. The rules are easy to read and follow and player aids help clue you in on how all the tiles score.

How the sun disks work is just great. I mentioned the tension of balancing the sun disk you use vs what tiles you are getting. But this is even more important in the third epoch because of the end game sun disk scoring. I have seen games won and lost based on a player’s final sun disk total.

There is some skill in knowing the value of the tiles for auction based on what you already have. There is some pure luck in what tiles are drawn. And as Ra tiles are drawn you can press your luck to try and get a high-valued auction on the cheap.

Ra is a well-designed, elegant auction board game that plays fast and has just the right mix of mechanics. If you have never played it you should try it. And if you and your group like auction games or are looking for a good one, you should just buy it.

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