First Impressions

Mammut is a pretty simple board game, but the first time I played, I kept thinking, “What the hell are they talking about?” The rules are lacking in a few areas, for instance when prey cards can be played. We muddled through, making our best guess,, and the game became clearer as we advanced. Once we got rolling,  the game picked up and increasingly became more fun and more cutthroat. I’m glad we stuck with it because this is a seriously fun (and sometimes frustrating!)​ game.

Mammut involves a lot of stealing, strategy and even some bluffing, so it isn’t hard to figure out why this game works so well with our group, and why I like it. (The fact that Wes didn’t initially like this game—he doesn’t like games he doesn’t win often—didn’t hurt, either.)

Thoughts

I was skeptical from the description and lack of reviews. When I first played, I'd never heard of Queen games. Plus, there were spelling errors…I know, right? I’m being so stupidly particular, but if you spend so much money on developing a game, wouldn’t you want to ensure everything is perfect? I just wasn’t sold…

When we first started playing, I didn’t realise how important some of the game tokens are. There’s a lot to track in this game, including other player’s tokens. You need to pay attention to what you're getting and what other players have. Mammut is played over four or five rounds (it adapts to the number of players), and each round, the spoils of your mammoth hunt are laid out on the table. The trick is to take what you need without being greedy, or taking too much to score too many points. Either of these moves risks the next player stealing your entire pile (minus a token or two), and you then needing to figure out what your next best move is.

Some of the tokens give you easy points, so we as a group largely focused on those, realising our mistake soon into the game. (For instance, fur is a quick one point per fur token taken and tusks are points per tusk token taken. However, other tokens are staggered point allotments, and some make you lose points if you have the least amount. Don’t worry about remembering all of that—check out the complete “how to” for game play.)

Intense strategy games aren’t necessarily my favourite. I’m often decision-stricken and these games can take waaaaaay too long for fun, but Mammut isn’t like this. Even while other players are making their turns, you’re thinking about what you’re going to do--no waiting until your turn to decide. Surprisingly, the strategy element is what I like best about Mammut. Hidden cards can impact even the most well thought-out strategy by capitalising on player gains–no matter who plays the cards–and the Shaman tile always impacts scoring order and how ties are broken—and the Shaman tile is up for grabs, just like everything else.

My point is, not everything is an easy points tally. Sometimes you have to make concessions which is a tough choice, and this is where strategy comes into play. It’s surprisingly difficult to stay objective about other players’ tokens while trying to gather the best mix for yourself. Sometimes players are too greedy (Wes), but their pile doesn’t work for you—so what do you do? Take away their points and potentially mess up your round, or leave them alone and potentially give them a huge lead?

It’s a game that makes long-term planning difficult, and every round, every player turn, is a surprise. A round isn’t over until all the tokens are taken, but anytime you steal someone else’s tokens, you have to put at least one back into the spoils pot, so it’s not a simple grab and go. The spoils pot is different every single round, too, so you can’t start strategizing until the tokens are laid out, and even if you scored big on a previous round, it’s pretty easy for people to catch up. One round can make a huge difference. Sometimes that one decision, that one, simple, straightforward decision, ends up becoming a twist that changes the entire game. (One game we played, I flipped over one of Wes’ tokens, and that won him the game. You’re welcome, Wes.)

Conclusion

Besides all the game play, I really like how pretty this game is. The drawings are entertaining and well-illustrated, and each token is thick and durable. The “cards” are larger versions of the tokens so they will withstand a lot of use. The boards you use are clearly labelled and the scoring rules are clearly marked on one of the boards, a huge bonus to a rule Nazi like me is. It makes it so easy to mentally tally points and integrate it with your strategy.

The player meeples are little wooden mammoths, and each player keeps one of his or her coloured meeples in front of him/her to keep things straight. Seriously, these creators were thinking. I love it. The box has ample storage and comes with a nice cloth bag for storing and game play. I can’t say enough good things about how well this game is designed and executed. We got it on sale for $20, and I think that was a steal. Even if we’d paid retail for Mammut, though, I’d still be so pleased with this addition to our board game library.