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Review. Caretos
Frightened Teammates
By STEFAN DUCKSCH
In our review of Carrossel (#4/20), we reported on the incredible comprehen- sion skills of Portuguese elementary
school students. Now, there is another game for the same target group. Accord- ing to the box text, Mebo’s latest game Caretos is again aimed at players aged eight and up. So, we decided to also test its accessibility – especially for the German-speaking market.
Villagers of five different colors gather in several plac- es on the game board, which features many paths, meadows and buildings. They are huddled around campfires warming them- selves, but not for long.
The Caretos are on their
way: demon-possessed
people who frighten the vil-
lagers into running away in a panic.
That, we can use to our advantage. In addition to the two scary Caretos, we send our own creatures into the fray: witches, werewolves, and ghosts. They also hunt the villagers, and if they find one of them alone at a crossroads, they capture him. Of course, only for the VPs because this is a family game, after all.
One of the tricks in Caretos is to have your own monsters stand around non- chalantly, waiting for someone nearby to start a panic, causing the fleeing vil-
lagers to run right into your arms. Thank you very much. If the villagers match the color on your Final Bonus Card, they’re worth more than the usual one point at the end.
However, if you scare a whole group of villagers, you won‘t capture anyone, but you do get the campfire that the villagers left behind. With it, you can later buy Bonus Cards and score more points if you fulfill the conditions on the card. Or, if one of your creatures ran into a Caretos and landed in a witch’s cauldron, you can use a campfire to
free it.
The core of the
game is the appro- priate movement of our terrifying creatures. Each of us is assigned two per game. Large cards show their abilities and what each creature’s op- tions are (either movements or actions). We decide which option to use by play- ing a Night Card, with the corresponding color, from our hand. These actions allow our creatures to hop from one building to the next, swap places with others or even
move the nasty Caretos.
This is one reason why Caretos is quite
confusing; it takes a while to master the movements. In addition, the game pieces,
which are mounted on transparent plas- tic stands, are difficult to distinguish from one another. Can my neighbor use his special ability to stuff me into the witch‘s cauldron? It‘s hard to tell.
Consequently, you wait until the player before you has drawn his card and an- alyzed the board. This takes time and seems to last forever. But it soon be- comes clear that certain creature combos are quite strong – especially if you know how to trigger a double move with both monsters. Some of them move across the board sucking up villagers like a vacuum cleaner, while others have to work hard for every single capture.
The bottom line is that this makes for a tedious gaming experience that not only permanently scares off the villagers, but also many a fellow player; even if they are ten years old or more. (tw)
Title: Designer: Illustration: Publisher: Players: Age: Duration: Price:
Caretos
Paulo Pereira
Matteo Piana
Mebo
2 – 4
about 10+ years about 45 – 60 minutes about 40 Euros
Reviewer
Stefan Ducksch
Udo Bartsch
Playing appeal
4
4
The artwork makes it difficult to play.
Gerhard Göldenitz 6
Luck factor not to be underestimated, because it’s also uncontrollable. If you keep getting the wrong cards, you won‘t become a fan of these mythical Portuguese monsters.
Marie Poenisch 6
Movement game with a nice theme, but the character abilities are not always clear.
Gerald Rüscher 3
Bizarrely badly balanced. My note includes a special point because of the great graphics.
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