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
Blue
Outer
North
Black
South
East
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
White
West
Outer
Yellow
North
Inner
Blue
South
Middle
Black
Middle
Corner
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
White
Corner
West
Yellow
Inner
East
Blue
North
East
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
Black
Outer
South
White
Corner
Middle
Yellow
Outer
Inner
Blue
South
North
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
Black
Middle
West
White
East
West
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
Yellow
East
Corner
Blue
Inner
North
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
Black
South
Middle
White
North
Inner
Yellow
Outer
Corner
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
Blue
Outer
South
Black
West
West
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
White
East
Middle
Yellow
North
Corner
Blue
Inner
East
Black
Inner
Middle
White
Outer
Corner
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
Yellow
North
South
Blue
West
South
Black
Outer
West
White
Middle
Corner
Yellow
Middle
East
Blue
Inner
Corner
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
Black
East
North
Whit
Inner
Outer
Yellow
South
South
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!