Karekare

About this board game

Karekare is a board game for 2–4 players, with games lasting about 45 minutes, in which Maori iwi leaders explore Aotearoa, expand their territories, and compete for mana.

Set in the beautiful beach environment of Karekare, within the archipelago known as Aotearoa or New Zealand, the game draws on the history of Polynesian exploration and settlement. In the 13th century, Polynesian explorers discovered these islands, where a new culture—the Maori—eventually arose.

As leaders of different iwi, players seek a new home while developing their presence across the islands. Exploration unfolds through the addition of new land tiles, gradually creating the territory where the players’ actions take place.

Every newly placed tile creates a reaction based on the other tiles adjacent to it. These interactions can shape the progress of an iwi by generating resources, enabling players to place control tokens, and ultimately awarding mana, the honor that determines the winner.

• Add land tiles to explore and develop the islands.
• Use tile adjacency reactions to generate resources.
• Place control tokens to claim influence over territory.
• Accumulate mana for your iwi before the game ends.

The challenge in Karekare is to guide your iwi’s expansion while making the most of each new land tile and its surrounding landscape. Players must build their presence across Aotearoa and gather enough mana to secure their place in history.

The winner is the player whose iwi acquires the most mana by the end of the third era. With its tile-driven exploration, territorial control, and setting inspired by Maori settlement, Karekare presents a focused contest for influence across a developing island world.