Mariposas

Very fun and easy to play game, more to it than meets the eye

Mariposas is 'multiplayer solitaire' - everyone does their own thing and nothing anyone does has any effect whatsoever on anyone else's turn or final outcome. The game has some cool/interesting educational elements about the life-cycle of butterflies, but that isn't enough substance to keep the game interesting (at least in my play group). The game looks great, has high quality components, and is easy to teach with play coming in at about an hour, so it might be something to play with children.

The game is simple to teach and on the surface it looks rather simplistic to play, but the decision making for what you are going to do each round, especially leading up to the last round is not. The game plays relatively quickly even at larger player counts. I find its pretty good to play at a two player count, I haven’t found a player count that really is the sweet spot for the game. Your strategy on how you will move up the board will change with more players, I find the way you approach things is much different with two players or four players.

My mum and I played this one evening and were surprised how interested we both became in the life cycle of butterflies. And the mad rush to get to Mexico in the final round is such an awesome change of pace. Having the different optional goals also make the game fun and forces you to change your strategy each game. By the end my mother had proclaimed herself the 'mighty monarch' and we were laughing so hard... about butterflies... butterflies...