LogFAQs > #963186978

53. Diamant

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15512/diamant

Category: Player vs player
Key mechanics: Push-your-luck, multiple hands, simultaneous action selection
Rules complexity (0 to 7): 1
Game length: 15-20 minutes
First played: 2019
Experience: 3-5 plays with 5-8 players over 2 sessions, plus online play as Incan Gold

Diamant is a classic push-your-luck game. Players are exploring a cave for treasures, and each step they take, they simultaneously must decide whether to go deeper. Going deeper means that a tile is flipped for the collective table - so anyone who's in it when the spiders attack, or you fall into that pit of spikes, is eliminated at the same time. But if you leave, you do get to keep what you've collected so far, plus some booty that is split between everyone who has left on the same trip.

Also implemented as Incan Gold (and on BGA), Diamant's simultaneous choice mechanic is one of its strongest points. You don't know who will persist, and you don't know who will chicken out. Your best course is determined very strongly by this, but none of you knows precisely what the other does. Trying to cut bait at the moment everyone else does will result in both of you losing out. But while you can never get screwed by another player by staying in, you can get wrecked by the collapsing tunnel. It's a cool bit of tension and a game of chicken.

I also kind of suck at these games and they just don't click great for me. There's nothing wrong with Diamant's design, but for some reason I just feel bad when I see others continue on and on without me. I guess that's part of the emotional hook of the game - it feels so good to be the only person going deep into a tunnel and then winning, especially when others are rooting against you. But I feel kind of lame sitting there and rooting against others while being bitter at my fellow cowards. Maybe I'm the crazy, bitter one.

Diamant's speed is its other key design point (enhanced by the simultaneous play). No single decision should take more than fifteen seconds, so as long as you haven't left the adventuring party, you'll essentially never have true downtime. And playing a high number of players means there's really no situation where Diamant shouldn't be at least a reasonable pick.