WhaDiYoB? - Ra (2023)

🕑 6 min read

Welcome once again, to our 'What Did You Bring?' segment!

For the purposes of this (review) post, player names have been changed to protect the innocent and the mummified.

RAAAAA!! The Sun God Ra is the bringer of life, light and an immensely fun auction game. As a devoted worshipper of Ra, it is our job to enrich ancient Egyptian civilisation through Art, Religion, Astronomy, Writing, Agriculture and the construction of epoch spanning Monuments, all in his name. 

Don't worry though, you don't have to do all that in a single hour at the pub. Just shout 'Ra' a lot during the game and hold... hold.... NOW! Bid NOW!!  

I like my games simple, and this is as simple as they come - let's not talk about the end game scoring yet. At the heart of this game is a (closed) auction system. So please allow me (a serial hater of auction games) to try to convince you (a non-believer of Ra) to give this game a try if you ever get the opportunity. 

RAAAA!!!

Winning, as mentioned previously is easy. All you have to do is bid the highest, and collect as many tiles as you can, which have been picked out of a colourful bag. If you did well, your collection (or set) will be the most valuable and beat the scores of every other player. Boom! Ra loves you, and only you. Go on... give that big Ra statue a kiss. It's beautiful. Kiss it. 

At the start of the game, depending on how many players there are, each player is given 4 rather chunky Sun Disks numbered between 2 and 16. The Sun Disk with the 1 on it, is placed centrally on the communal tableaux. Ooo.. I've never written that word before... tableaux. Sounds lush. 

Anyway, each player uses their Sun Disks to bid in the upcoming auctions, but you only get to bid once in each auction! So if you really want those tiles for your collection of Monuments, Rivers, Civilizations, or Gods etc. then you had better pay up son!! The higher the number the higher the bid.

This game is broken into 3 Epochs - which are essentially rounds. During each round, players have 1 of 2 simple decisions to make during their turn. 1. Do you draw another tile from the sack and add it to a burgeoning public display of gifts to Ra? Or 2. Do you just call RAAA!! Thus beginning an auction and prematurely ending the 'Generation Game'* style conveyor belt of victory points amassing. Pro-tip: If you do call Ra! Then you will get a distinct advantage in the bidding process, as you will bid last. This turns out to be a delicious game of chicken with your opponents. Do they use their high numbers to secure the auction win? Or do they let you take all the tiles for a measly '3 Sun Disk'? 

When you eventually do win an auction, then you will swap your winning Sun Disk with the central one left over from previous bids - and keep it for future rounds.....yep that happened. Congratulations, you just played yourself. Or did you....? ::sly smile::

During the game lots of other bad stuff can and will happen too. There are Disaster tiles! Of course there are, this is ancient Egypt. These tiles are like a fly in the ointment of your offerings to Ra, they force players who collect them to lose some of their collection's value. Some tiles only score when accompanied by other tiles; other tiles only score if you have the most of them, and one tile even penalises you for having none of them. Plus, just in case you weren't having enough fun yet, several tiles that are drawn from the bag are Ra tokens! This token artificially begins an auction, which can be both horrible and sublime at the same time. They also act as the Epoch (round) countdown timer.  

If you have been paying attention, you will have noticed that every new conveyor belt of offerings to Ra has value, however, that value is different for each player. Therefore every auction is exciting, fast and mouth-watering (in it's own way). Between the screams of "RAA!!" and "Stop them! They are going to WIN!", you will be trying to count the value of your offerings - hoping that you can predict the outcome. Do not do this. You are wasting your time, and you could easily miss the opportunity to gain massive rewards, or even prevent another player from doing the same thing.

After the 3rd Epoch has finished, and the count-up begins - this is where the game lags a bit. Yes, it can be exciting announcing your totals in turn order, but very frequently I have found this stage to drag a small amount and can become technical. Losing by 2 points can feel horrible, but not as horrible as realising that you just lost by 20 points and was probably playing a different game all along. Ra hates you. But don't be sad though, the game doesn't last very long, and you may even be able to get an additional play out of it during the evening, if everyone is on board. 

All jokes aside, this game is kind of genius. Maybe it won't be to everyone's taste, since crunchiness only pops up during the set collection and the count-up at the end. However the interpersonal challenges, the pushing of ones luck and the schadenfreude as you announce "RA!" to the screams of delight from all your new friends... then watch in horror as one by one, they all 'pass' on bidding for the tiles, and you're now stuck with them... cue the giggles. 

In conclusion, I do recommend giving Ra a try if you get the opportunity.

If you want to know more about this game, then you can find the Board Game Geek link here! Plus if you have any suggestions on which games to review in WhaDiYoB? then pop a comment down below for us. 

Enjoy your screaming. I mean evening!! Enjoy your evening.