I’m getting rid of this game instead of moving it with me. I bought it because it sounded really cool. I mean, look at this set of pieces, not counting the game board which contains two embedded sub-boards:

• 54 Virtue Cards
• 9 Flag/Conch Cards
• 18 Wrath Cards
• 40 Karma-Destiny Cards
• 22 Prowess Cards
• 16 Warriors
• 24 Blessing Cards
• 108 Coins
• 6 Game Pieces
• 2 Dice

The Virtue cards are all different: “gratefulness”, “maturity”, “equality” (?), “wideness” (??), etc. The “Karma” cards are like Chance in Monopoly. A lot of thought went into this game.

I would say that too much thought went into the game, actually. It’s only slightly less complicated than the Mahabharata itself. Some of this is unavoidable since one of the points of the game is to teach the characters and plot of the Mahabharata, but there’s got to be a better way to do it. The game is full of one-off mechanics and keys that only fit one lock. There must be a simpler game that achieves the same goals; maybe an RPG (the manual reads like an old AD&D manual, down to the tables) or even a real-time strategy game. Failing that, there must be a simpler game that uses these cool Wrath Cards and Virtue Cards.

The game isn’t on BoardGameGeek. I found it in a co-op supermarket in Lawrence, Kansas. You can get it from Lotus Press, or you can take my copy off my hands if you live near San Francisco.