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Annotated Games: 4 Players

This game was played during the game testing of Apokalypsis. The general strategy is to observe each others' moves, deduce which cards that are kept and which cards that are returned, and move to safe areas and away from unsafe areas.

The meeples are denoted with colored circles; filled in the hexes they stand in and hollow in the regions they moved from. A "round" ends when an apocalypse takes place and hexes get flipped. "Hand" refers to the omen kept and "Pile" to the omen returned to the pile.

Note that white and black meeples were used instead of orange and purple in this version. Also, the Omens Volcanic Eruption, Earthquake, Flood and Storm are referred to with their geographical meanings "Inner", "Middle", "Outer" and "Corner".

Round 1

Player   Hand   Pile   
BlueOuterNorth
BlackSouthEast

Player 1 picks color Blue and Omen Outer, since there are no blue meeples on those hexes. She returns North and moves to this probably safer area but she also moves to Middle to keep the other players unknowing about her omens.

Player 2 swallows the bait and, believing Middle to be safe, picks color Black and concentrates her meeples in Middle and the returned East.

The game sees an early apocalypse as the Outer South hexes are flipped, taking 2 red, 1 yellow and 1 green meeple with them.

Round 2

Player   Hand   Pile   
WhiteWestOuter
YellowNorthInner
BlueSouthMiddle
BlackMiddleCorner

Player 3 picks the only color left with 6 meeples: white. She also returns the Outer Omen and, knowing that Outer is now safe for some time, moves her Northern meeples in that direction.

Player 4 correctly guesses that Outer is safe and picks Yellow. By keeping the North Omen and returning the Inner Omen, she hopes to bring an apocalypse that will hurt both Blue and White.

Player 1 (Blue) now gets worried about her meeples in North and starts evacuating them. With many meeples in the Middle, she returns this Omen and keeps South.

Player 2 (Black) sees that Middle will hurt many opponents and keeps this Omen. Corner is returned and, assuming that an apocalypse will happen soon, don't bother hiding this information and moves there.

The apocalypse becomes rather devastating, flipping almost all Middle hexes and removing no less than 8 opponent meeples!

Round 3

Player   Hand   Pile   
WhiteCornerWest
YellowInnerEast
BlueNorthEast

White keeps the Corner Omen to hurt Black as mush as possible. She also build a bridge to save her corner meeple.

Yellow has meeples both in East and Inner and chooses to return the former and vacate the latter.

Blue would like to keep the East Omen to hurt Black but cannot afford it and keeps North instead.

This triggers an apocalypse that flips the North Inner and Corner hexes, removing 1 black meeple.

Round 4

Player   Hand   Pile   
BlackOuterSouth
WhiteCornerMiddle
YellowOuterInner
BlueSouthNorth

Black keeps the Outer Omen to hurt the second player White as much as possible. Her own meeples are spread across the island to spread the risks and she also pushes Blue towards Outer, since the elimination of Blue will end the game while Black is in the lead.

White in turn keeps the Corner Omen to nail the many black meeples there and she also build a bridge to open an escape route to the safer Middle.

Yellow draws 2 equally bad omens and choose to prioritize escaping the dangerous Outer part of the island. She does that by using the newly built bridge to push Black over to the South, hoping that this Omen will show up again soon.

Blue gets the point and keep the South Omen while also escaping Outer, which seem to be shunned by many players.

In spite of all intrigues, only the empty South Corner gets struck by the Apocalypse and the game continues.

Round 5

Player   Hand   Pile   
BlackMiddleWest
WhiteEastWest

With both Outer now in the discard pile, Black feels safe there and keeps the Middle Omen to hurt as many other players as possible.

White considers keeping the West Omen, since black's meeples in East are safe on the Outer hexes, but decides to go for East, hoping that the other players will push the black meeples to danger. However, that won't happen as the the next apocalypse takes place already after her move.

The apocalypse strikes the two weakest players in the game, Blue and Yellow, and leave them with only 1 meeple each left. The game could end any turn now...

Round 6

Player   Hand   Pile   
YellowEastCorner
BlueInnerNorth

Yellow's only meeple escapes East while hoping that an apocalypse there will strike Black. Blue reasons likewise and escapes Inner across a newly built bridge. She also hopes that South Inner will be safe for Yellow for the time being.

The result becomes another quick apocalypse but only a neutral red meeple is affected. The island is quickly decreasing...

Round 7

Player   Hand   Pile   
BlackSouthMiddle
WhiteNorthInner
YellowOuterCorner

Black makes an aggressive move by keeping the South Omen and moving across a newly bridge to Inner. This blocks the white and yellow meeple on the South Inner hex. White then draws Inner and North and must obviously return the former and escape North.

Yellow, now thinking East is safe for the time being, keeps returns the Corner Omen and keeps the Outer Omen, hoping that the apocalypse will bring down black and white meeples.

Her hopes are only partly realized as the flipped Northern Outer hexes only brings down 1 white meeple. White's glad to have escaped with 1 meeple but Black still has 5 meeples left.

Round 8

Player   Hand   Pile   
BlueOuterSouth
BlackWestWest

Outer is still the area that hurts most black and white meeples so Blue keeps this Omen and leaves it with her only remaining meeple. Black on the other hand is left with no choice when drawing 2 West Omens. Nevertheless, she correctly assumes that all her meeples are safe and let them remain where they are.

The apocalypse is revealed and the flipped Western Outer hexes brings another white meeple down. How long will Black's luck last?

Round 9

Player   Hand   Pile   
WhiteEastMiddle
YellowNorthCorner
BlueInnerEast
BlackInnerMiddle
WhiteOuterCorner

With limited room for movements, the players now try to keep the Omens that will hurt the leading Black the most. White keeps East, Blue keeps North (since Corner may hurt Blue as well and end the game), and Blue keeps Inner. Note that the game continues, since both the Eastern and Northern Inner hexes have been flipped already.

Black realizes that she must end the game herself and keeps Inner to get rid of the last Yellow meeple. She also builds a bridge and escapes across it. White starts evacuating her until now blocked meeple in the center and finally manages to trigger an apocalypse by keeping the Outer Omen.

The apocalypse removes 2 black meeples and we suddenly have a game again!

Round 10

Player   Hand   Pile   
YellowNorthSouth
BlueWestSouth
BlackOuterWest
WhiteMiddleCorner
YellowMiddleEast
BlueInnerCorner

With so many hexes already flipped, many Omen cards are bound to be drawn before the next apocalypse. Yellow cannot move and has no choice but to keep North as South might hurt her. Blue is blocked as well and keeps the area where Black and White are abundant: West. Black returns West for her own good and keep Outer. White returns Corner and, hoping that this part is now safe, gambles and placing her second meeple there as well via a bridge. Yellow keeps Middle, since East might hurt Blue while Blue returns Corner, where her last meeple stands and keeps Inner. At last the apocalypse is triggered.

This time, the Western Inner hexes are flipped and again, Black suffers the most. She had 5 meeples 2 apocalypses ago but is now down to 1. White is suddenly in the lead!

Round 11

Player   Hand   Pile   
BlackEastNorth
WhitInnerOuter
YellowSouthSouth

Black's only hope now is an Eastern apocalypse so she keeps the East Omen. White now targets the last Yellow meeple by choosing Inner and when Yellow draws to South, the game is over.

Yellow causes her own fall as the Southern Inner hex is flipped and with 2 White meeples against the 1 Black and Blue, White has the most survivors of the Apokalypsis!

P&P (PDF, A4)

P&P (PDF, US Letter)



Annotated games

  • Version 2.99: 4 players
  • Version 2.96: 4 players
  • Version 1.5: 4 players
  • Version 1.3: 4 players
  • Version 1.0: 4 players

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