A card game for a single (and not only) – a review of the card game “Lonely Island”

Build a village on an exotic island – that’s your mission! You can do  it  yourself or in cooperation with one selected person. And then  the only thing left …  pond ll of  face upcoming disasters! 

Welcome to a lonely island!

Jon Metling created the  Lonely Island  for several reasons. One of them was the implementation of the idea for a “tableless game”. Here she is! Its goal is to build an extraordinary village that will survive the coming cataclysms. To achieve this, however, we must consistently collect and  process resources, improve buildings, and  freely increase the production of said resources, and then sell them for profit at the market. Another option for completing tasks in the game should also be considered –  we can  build huts  and temples,  thanks to which we will gain  more victory points , and they are  – as you will notice during the game –  extremely valuable! It is the player who decides how to develop the island, but it may turn out that not every strategy is functional.  Details can be found in the instructions, but I can tell you that each card has two variants (front and back), but the one we are looking at is active. We use action cards by turning them over, turning them over  (yes, that’s the difference) or discarding them at the end of the deck. We hold a dozen or so cards in our hand, and some of them are turned by  90 degrees (max. 4, but always!). As you can see, the card game is not that simple.  

Elements and purpose of the game

In a small box of  Lonely Island  you will find  very nicely made cards, including  34 cards (2 player decks of 17 cards each), 9 achievement cards, 5 co-op cards (3 cataclysms, 2 special abilities), 12 on the obverse are facilities,  on the reverse  –  residents),  one help card  and instructions . Each  participant of the game  receives 17 cards ,  which he holds in his hand. Over the course of  eight  rounds, he must collect resources and improve buildings to get the highest score or  unlock an achievement. You can play in different ways – alone or hand in hand  in competitive or cooperative mode. At the end of a short manual has been posted Scoreboard – each player Moz s  see how it went, there is  also  information on how to increase the level of difficulty, also thanks to the author and the origin of  Palm Island. From the final note, we learn that this “little miracle”, as the author calls  Lonely Island  , was funded on Kickstarter in March 2018 , which is a huge success of an inconspicuous card game.

A card game from Lucky Duck Games

In 2020, thanks to Luck y  Duck Games, Lonely Island  appeared  on the market . A huge advantage is the small size of the box (you will save space on the shelf!), But also the way we play the game – we hold the cards in our left  hand  (yes, according to the instructions) and we  definitely  don’t need a table. Formula game thus differs significantly from such games as  Uno  or  love letter and yet remains a pocket version – no cards to discard unnecessary chips, dice …  At the same time it is more difficult than  another  , the card  –  Pioneers who  with tells about the settlement of the Wild West. Voil à ! The number of players is small – 1-2, the preferred age of the players is 10+, and the playing time is 20-25 minutes. The advantages are also relatively simple mechanics and replayability. The difficulty that characterizes  this card game is holding cards – the  more combinations , the more difficult it is to change them. You can of course help each other with the other hand, but be careful anyway. The lonely island  is rather  quiet ,  even in the co-op variant,  so don’t expect fireworks, but … if you  avoid the crowd  , the reviewed game will be a perfect idea for you for a lazy evening alone or for two.