Kahuna Board Game - Playthrough & Review

Subscribe for weekly videos! Filmed a 2-player board game playthrough and review of "Kahuna" designed by Günter Cornett and published by KOSMOS. The video includes a "Kahuna" board game rules overview. Let us know what you think about the game in the comments section below!
JUMP:
0:00 - 5:03 - Overview
5:04 - 13:01 - Round 1
13:02 - 21:07 - Round 2
21:08 - 26:31 - Round 3
26:32 - 27:27 - Final Scoring
27:28 - END - Review
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[@BeforeYouPlay]

What are your favorite area-control games to play at 2?

[@joerobert7847]

The King is Dead is a nice game. Plays well at 2. 3. And 4. At 4 you play as partners.

[@jellevancamp7190]

I really enjoy the gipf series: a whole bunch of abstract two player games. They could be considered area control as well. If you want to jump in, try the newest one Lyngk. :) Thanks for the video. Really enjoy it!

[@billlavine3429]

It's sort of area-control, we like Age of War. You can play at a higher number but it's fun with 2. Another vote for the The Rose King as well.

[@pepeadri]

I like how you always take the time to explain what you're doing. It makes it easier to follow along and learn. That sets your channel apart. Keep it up.

[@GamingRulesVideos]

Such a great game. Had this since it first came out. Very clever and very good.

[@timotivdb2956]

20:24 black is supposed to remove it's Bridge. If so, 23:34 wasn't possible to happen including the effects (that didn't happen either 😁) Hope it makes sense. Great playthrough

[@teypan]

Great video. I would love to see a cooperative series!

[@marknadeski7485]

Great playthrough. Nice to see you finally showing a tiny bit of frustration. I watched this video because they have this game on BoardGameArena.com and I wanted to try it there, but I don't think I will get into a turn-based game that can take weeks when it has the potential to be a runaway. Having a non-competitive game draw out for weeks does not sound appealing.

[@aba824]

Our favorite 2 player only games are: Mr. Jack Pocket, Tao Long, Hive Pocket and Convoy :) great games plus in small boxes so we can take them with us on every vacation :)

[@dangerousbeans2907]

Carcassonne, Tyrants of the Underdark and Ethnos play pretty well as 2 player games. Excellent video, Nice to see a well done play through of this game and hear your thoughts on it. Have you tried The Rose King by Kosmos yet?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Great choices! Oooh that's interesting, I haven't actually thought of playing Ethnos at 2 but that's definitely a fun one! We played The Rose King several years ago actually, that's a great abstract. It's been a while so it was a pleasant surprise to see you mention that one!

[@ObviouslyCrap]

Just got a heads-up on this playthrough and I was thrilled because Kahuna is one of my favorite tactical two-player games and I have never seen a playthrough or a decent review of it. There is/was also a 2-to-4 player variant which came out four years later (2002) from _TILSIT Collection_ called *Kanaloa* and includes a kind of cheesy extension with Hawaiian gods who add an element of luck and chaos to the basic game. (Good for players less tactically minded, I suppose.) In your final review, you mentioned how difficult it was to remove bridges, however a big part of the tactical play is removing bridges not so much by playing pairs of cards (though that is necessary from time to time), but by (re-)gaining control of adjacent islands which will systematically remove any of your opponent’s bridges from that island (demonstrated 15:51 - 17:15 by the heavy damage on Naveen’s 4-card play!). By carefully collecting cards, timing your play, and holding cards in reserve, an initially defensive play can become a most effective counter-strike! (Monique recovers somewhat at 18:16, regaining two islands and removing Naveen’s control of one. Her “pass” at 19:47 was excellent, allowing her the final play in the 2nd round to even out control in round two and going into the final round with 1:0 in Naveen’s favor). I find Kahuna highly re-playable and elegant because of the simple rules, the quick turnovers (even expected ones), and above all the strategic openness: because most of the cards are drawn face up, you can get an idea of what your opponent is up to, both offensively and defensively, and prepare and plan accordingly. Moreover, this does not eliminate the element of surprise entirely (which is a good thing). I agree the theme as described by the game author or publisher is pretty silly, even childish considering how challenging it is to master this tactical game. You complained a little about how the islands are named, but you’ll notice that they are alphabetically named from right to left, top to bottom. If these were, say, the Polynesians you’d have names such as Tuvalu, Tokelau, Tonga, Niue, Rotuma, Wallis and Futuna. Pitcairn. The fictional names in Kahuna (which is not the name of any island on the board!) are easy to pronounce in any language and remove any potentially critical reference to real-life colonization or tribalism events.

[@ObviouslyCrap]

PS: There is also a "lite" rule in which you do not have to play an additional card to place a bridge on a connection you just removed an opponent's bridge from. For example, playing the pair Kahu-Coco would allow you to replace your opponent's bridge between Kahu and Coco with one of your own. This definitely creates for greater "exchange of blows". You can also adopt the scoring In Kanaloa which is a little more interesting: The value of a controlled island equals the number of empty connections. The more vacancies, the greater the value. Maximum points per island would be, for example, Aloa = 1, Bari = 2, Elai = 2, etc. If your bridges occupy all of an island, it's value is zero!

[@jwetsch]

@23:55 when you took Bari, it should have kicked white out of Bari, causing a loss of control of Coco

[@BeforeYouPlay]

You're totally right! Just put a note in the subtitles. Thanks for the catch

[@edwardhughes2186]

And again @25:50 !

[@dkoudrin]

Really want to see someone do Hunters and Scouts from kosmos

[@Thagrynor]

You mention about how there are Euros that also let one person get ahead without any real catch up mechanisms, and thus that doesn't make this a bad game. While I agree that outright, it doesn't, I do think that by the nature of most Euros where end game scoring isn't always apparent until you start scoring, this situation is more forgiving in the Euros rather than this game. The fact that early to half way through round 3, you could tell Monique really didn't stand a chance of winning, it removes any real motivation to finish it out since you know how it will end. With the Euros, I feel like since you can't recognize that one player may have chance, you are compelled to keep playing as best you can. Additionally, I am not sure that is a great situation for a 2 player game. It really just drives home the "taking the wind out of your sails" feeling when you recognize the game is over with more gameplay still left. The production is really nice. And as always, I love love love your playthroughs! I think in this series, Targi might have been my favorite option. Imhotep Duel was nice too. But Targi seemed the most ... Engaging and most Euro like in terms of options for scoring and different paths to take and focus on. Great job with this series! I enjoyed having a series with a theme. Any plans for more series like this about other themes? Perhaps based on game type specifically (deck builders or tile laying or engine builders maybe)?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Yeah I definitely agree with that actually, I (Monique) did have that feeling during the third round that we hit a point of no return lol. Thank you so much for watching! Targi is my favorite as well, and I think Naveen's was Imhotep: The Duel. Targi definitely has the most euro-y/strategic gameplay IMO and it's really no surprise that they've sold so many copies throughout the years. Yes actually we really enjoyed working on a specific series, so I think we will keep it up for as long as we can. Next week starts the Vital Lacerda series, which will run for a while. We know it's not everyone's cup of tea so we'll be posting some other playthroughs on the other days as well. After the Lacerda series is over, we will start another themed series but haven't decided on one in particular yet, so we're open to suggestions!

[@Thagrynor]

@@BeforeYouPlay oh that sounds fun. I am curious which games you will end up playing. I will definitely keep a look out for those! I personally would love to see a bigger game playthrough, like maybe a series of a campaign? Something that runs alongside other videos. Like maybe Nemesis. Or a legacy game? Pandemic would be good for a 12 episode series! :D Or maybe play through all the books on Hogwarts Battle? You could probably get books 1 and 2 in a single episode, so that would potentially be only 6 episodes.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

@@Thagrynor That is a GREAT idea! We actually have Hogwarts Battle on our shelf waiting to be filmed, so making that into a series sounds pretty promising.

[@Thagrynor]

@@BeforeYouPlay well, then now I hope you decide to do that because that does sound awesome! Plus there is the expansion if you wanted to elongate it. :)

[@paulszki]

The prejudice against poor Huna Island!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

lol! Sorry Huna!

[@marknadeski7485]

Another low scoring game: Troika from Oink games. Scores can go negative and had someone win with a score of 1 before. Over 3 rounds, scores are bound to -3 on the low end and +6 on the high end.

[@nikola7721]

@16:05 Moni should have lost control of Kahu. Consequently, Naveen should have probably won second scoring, right? :)

[@LeRichardGames]

Curious, what did Naveen say at 18:13?

[@BeforeYouPlay]

I think it was - "Do what you must with what you must" LOL!

[@LeRichardGames]

Before You Play I thought he was saying a phrase in a different language! I thought it was funny because I catch myself cursing in Spanish during games. Lol

[@BeforeYouPlay]

@@LeRichardGames oh that's awesome! I love that you do that. We actually do curse in other languages too when we play off-camera lol

[@alisss9346]

pls focus !