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Description:
A lone swallow flies across the grey skies of Brittany... The forces of evil are gathering around Camelot - The Black Knight was sighted atop a desolate ridge; a scheming Morgan plots her revenge; the Saxon troops are on the move; and acres of timber are being felled for the siege engines. And yet Lancelot has all but vanished, with Excalibur yet to be recovered. These are heavy times indeed... Will you, young squire, come forth and pledge allegiance to your fellow Knights at the Round Table? Is your heart of pure intent and ready to sacrifice for the good of all? Or will the dark promise of power seduce you into treason? Shadows Over Camelot is a unique collaborative game featuring a malevolent twist! As the incarnation of the Knights of the Round Table, players work together to defeat the forces closing in on Camelot. But beware players must be vigilant for a traitor in their midst who is biding his time secretly sowing the seeds of havoc and destruction. Yet too much suspicion will undermine the knights efforts to protect the kingdom. These are dangerous times indeed... Many memorable game nights await in this highly anticipated new Days of Wonder game. 3-7 players - 90 minutes
Average Customer Review:
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Shadows Over Camelot a great family gameJul 18, 2008
We bought this game because we were intrigued by the idea of a collaborative game. We have three competitive, perfectionist kids (ages 7, 10, and 13), and we thought they may enjoy playing a game where you try to beat the game instead of each other! It worked! They love the beautiful game board and the knights theme, and they love that, when we win, we all win (and losing isn't nearly so bad when we all lose)--not factoring in the traitor here. This game takes a while to learn (a rather lengthy instruction book), but it's great fun. If you like games such as "Settlers of Catan," I think you'd like this one!
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Looking for a favorite game?Jun 13, 2007 Shadows Over Camelot was the game that got me into board games. It's visually arresting, fascinating to play, and the complexities of the game don't get old, even if you play once a week for almost 2 years! In fact, the game gets better the more you play - at first, wrapping your head around all the rules can be a little daunting. But stick with it! More than likely, by the time you finish playing the first or second time, you'll have all the rules and a good deal of strategy down as well.
But let me skip right to the good stuff. Shadows Over Camelot is my favorite game, for one main reason. The Traitor. Not only does the mere idea that one of your knights might not be loyal throw a wrench into the cooperative mechanics of the game, but actually *being* the traitor is... is... so delightfully treacherous!!! You undermine your friends' work. If you have Lancelot's armor, you pretend to wince about your limited choices while playing a black card that may well screw them all over. And so long as you remain unrevealed, it's wonderfully stimulating to try and remain that way. (Last time I was the traitor, my hands were shaking so hard that I was sure both my "fellow players" (read: opponents) knew what I was up to. Also, the amount of King Arthur lore embedded in the game is really fun to discover! For example - the quest for Lancelot's armor turns out horribly when Guinevere appears on the scene, but Merlin may be able to save you...
One last note - once you get the hang of the game, be sure not to give each other too much information!! Our most recent handicap is that we give each other no advice or information about cards other than what we intend to do on our next turn. If someone wants to say more than that, they have to discard a white card or lose a life point, so you can imagine it doesn't happen very often.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Interesting ConceptNov 10, 2006 The game's enjoyment really comes from taking on the personas of the characters - kind of like a mini roleplaying game - and getting into the action that way. You're actually working to beat "the game", and not really competing against each other. That's part of what makes this game so creative.
The best part of the game is that one player can end up as "The Traitor" and actually be working against the other players without their knowledge, advancing the cause of the "Dark Side" in the shadows. There are 'loyalty' cards dealt out at the beginning of the game; all of them say "LOYAL" except for one. We always include ONE more loyalty card than there are players, that way, someone probably is the traitor, but not necessarily.
I remember the first time I was the traitor - it was so exciting! I mean, I was just so into that game, trying to pretend like I was helping, and instead going to a location where I could burn through my good cards without anyone realizing it. Then, when I blew my cover, I made a really bad play, intending to harm the other players, and ended up killing off my character! I just wanted to cry. (Well, not REALLY.) Anyway, this is a great game. Takes about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours with four people (but that's with 4 kids running around and lots of snack breaks.)
The other thing about this game is that it is just BEAUTIFUL. I mean, every time we open it I just marvel at the level of detail and the beauty of it. (And it smells good, too!) This game is expensive, but when you open the box and play it, you'll know why. It FEELS like a $[...] game; nothing cheap or cheesy about it.
7 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Boring!Jun 05, 2006 I have to say, I was surprised at just how boring this game was. Normally I like games from this publisher (Days of Wonder) as nice, family-friendly games with a touch of good strategy. But Shadows over Camelot not only took a long time to play and was complicated to learn, it also offered me little in terms of entertainment. Most of your choices are pretty obvious - if you're on the Grail quest, you just draw a random event card, and then play a grail card if you've got one, then wait a few minutes for your next turn and do it all over again. The traitor really can't do that much to overtly sabotage the good guys, so there just isn't enough to the game to make it worthwile, especially in light of how complex it is.
Reiner Knizia and Fantasy Flight Games have made a very similar game, based on the Lord of the Rings book, called the Lord of the Rings Board Game, which Amazon also carries (be careful, Fantasy Flight Games also makes a game called War of the Ring, which is totally different and unrelated, but also pretty good). Anyway, the Lord of the Rings game is far superior to Shadows over Camelot in almost every way - more fun, more action, more evocative of the books, more interesting decisions, more sense of the players being able to control their own destinies, and more interesting discussions as the players plan out options and contingencies and discuss the trade-offs. Honestly, the two games are extremely similar and I can't think of any way in which I would recommend Shadows over Camelot over Lord of the Rings.
3 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Fun for AdultsFeb 01, 2006 Shadows Over Camelot is a great game, although pretty complex. It takes a couple of times of playing to get used to all the details. It is a good game for adults to play and not that great for kids...
based on 10 reviews
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