| Release Date: 2025 | Players: 2-4 |
| Designer: Sidhant Chand | Length: 15-30 minutes |
| Artist: Janki Bavle | Age: 12+ |
| Publisher: Kheo Games | Complexity: 2.5 / 5 |
| Plastic (by weight): <1% | Air (by volume): 20% |
The sun had just begun its slow climb over the horizon, casting molten gold across the waves. In the harbour of Puri, the scent of salt and spices mingled as the Sadhabas prepared for the season’s voyage. Families murmured blessings, drums echoed from the shore, and the rhythm of the sea promised both peril and fortune. Odisha’s maritime heritage would continue when the sailors left in their Pattachitra-patterned Boitas by Sidhant Chand from Kheo Games with art by Janki Bavle.
Listen to the Audio Version
Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot (https://www.
Sound Effects: ZapSplat
Link: https://www.
Music: Crash & Burn by Aakash Gandhi (https://www.
Music: Fusion of Dhol by Aakash Gandhi (https://www.
No. The introduction isn’t far-fetched, just like the setting of Boitas isn’t just superficial. The designer, Sidhant Chand, drew inspiration from the maritime traders of ancient Odisha for this trick-taking game with set collection scoring from Goan publisher Kheo Games. Navigating vast oceans in their distinctive boats, known as boitas, which gave the game its name, the seafaring traders went on epic journeys. They played a crucial role in fostering trade and cultural exchange between ancient Odisha and various parts of the world. The boitas were skillfully made to transport goods such as spices, textiles, and precious metals.
When you first look at the game box, you immediately know that this rich cultural heritage is woven into the fabric of Boitas. The game’s aesthetics follow the traditional design, and its mechanisms emulate the challenges the sailors faced to bring back valuable goods. The game’s design aims to celebrate and preserve the history of Odisha’s ancient seafaring merchants.
Trick-Taking a la Skull King
Boitas is a clever mix of trick-taking and set-collection. Instead of winning points based on the number of tricks, in each trick, players compete for goods tokens and the consolation prize of one cowry. The game is played over four rounds, during which you play three tricks, before you can use your cowries to purchase upgrades and refill your hand. At the beginning of each round, you can see what goods you’re competing for in each trick. That allows you to plan what tricks you want to win and which ones you’re not too worried about. Each trick also has a different trump colour, but again, you can see that in advance.
Boitas is pretty much a standard may-follow trick-taking game. So you don’t have to play the same suit as the first player. Once everyone has played a card into the trick, the winner is decided in the usual way. The player with the highest value trump card wins. Otherwise, the player with the highest value card wins, irrespective of suit. In case of ties, the player who played their card first in turn order wins.
Get yourself a wooden Tabletop Games Blog dice tray.
Each tray is the perfect size to roll your dice, and with the soft mat, it’s really quiet, while the wooden frame makes it wonderfully sturdy.
However, there are a few exceptions.
There are so-called elephant cards, which beat all other cards, except the card of the current trump suit that has the same value as the current trick number. So if it’s the second trick and you play a 2-value card in the trump suit, you beat the elephant. That trump card also beats all other trump cards, even if they’re of a higher value. I know, it sounds confusing, but the game comes with a clear graph that explains it all.
That way of resolving tricks is very reminiscent of Skull King. So if you played that game before, then Boitas will feel quite familiar.
Set Collection
Once a trick has been resolved, the winner chooses one of the two good tokens available for the current trick. The player with the second-highest card then gets the other token, and everyone else gets one cowry.
At the end of the game, the goods tokens are scored in either one of two ways. You can either score the highest value token of each type, and there are five types in the game. Alternatively, you can score all goods tokens of any of two types. Working out which option is better isn’t always easy. That’s where the game slows down a bit. However, it only happens at the very end. Also, players will have an idea of what they’ve been working towards. So it’s not too bad.
You also get points for certain cards in your hand and for your remaining cowries. The player with the highest total points wins. That’s pretty much it. As you can see, Boitas is a pretty straightforward game.
If you already know trick-taking, you will feel right at home. That’s especially true if you know Skull King. All you need to work out is how the scoring works. If you’re new to trick-taking, Boitas‘ set collection mechanism can be a useful pull for players. Also, given the clear chart of what card beats what other card, learning the trick-taking part isn’t too much of an issue. It also helps that there is no must-follow.
I certainly found it very easy to teach to people, even though the rulebook could do with a bit of a tidy up. All of the information is there, but it’s not always obvious where to find it. However, the rulebook isn’t very long, so with a little patience, you will always be able to find what you’re looking for.
Boitas Ahoy
What makes Boitas really stand out though, is its roots. The history it represents and the artwork that emphasises its heritage make the game feel very special. As a Westerner, playing games from an Indian publisher is always interesting. When the games are based on the country’s history before British rule, when the region was still a mix of diverse kingdoms, empires, and cultures, it becomes especially fascinating. Thinking about skilled and brave sailors from the Kalinga region setting out in the early hours of Kartik Purnima, the full moon day in October and November, to travel across a vast ocean to trade goods with foreign nations, while you play the game Boitas, which is named after their boats, is amazing.
Even if you ignore the setting, you still have something that magically combines trick-taking with set collection, two seemingly clashing mechanisms. Yet, when you have played the game, it all makes sense. Replacing the traditional way of scoring tricks with set collection isn’t only clever, but also creates an interesting decision. While in many traditional trick-taking games you don’t necessarily want to win every trick, in Boitas it becomes a bit more of a complex choice, because losing a trick could give another player exactly the good token they need to greatly improve the point potential of their sets.
Put it all back together, and you can see how much of an interesting and exciting game Boitas is. If you love set collection games and are curious about trick-taking, or if you’re a trick-taking aficionado who wants to try a really clever twist on the genre, then definitely take a closer look at Boitas. You won’t be disappointed, and you may just learn something about the history of a region in India that you didn’t know about before.
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Useful Links
- Boitas: https://kheogames.
com/ product/ boitas/ - Rulebook: https://boardgamegeek.
com/ filepage/ 290065/ rulebook - Rules video: https://youtu.
be/ cdvL2j9q7Bo? si= bfo-Y9BrQS_ FIc4c - Kheo Games: https://kheogames.
com/ - BGG listing: https://boardgamegeek.
com/ boardgame/ 424277/ boitas - Skull King review: https://tabletopgamesblog.
com/ 2020/ 01/ 04/ skull-king-saturday-review/
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Transparency Facts
- I was given a free review copy of this game by the publisher.
- At the time of writing, I have not received financial support from the publisher or anyone working on their behalf.
Audio Version
Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot (https://www.
Sound Effects: ZapSplat
Link: https://www.
Music: Crash & Burn by Aakash Gandhi (https://www.
Music: Fusion of Dhol by Aakash Gandhi (https://www.
Playlist
These are the songs I listened to while I was writing this review: