Lost Cities

About this board game

Lost Cities is a two-player card game that takes about 30 minutes to play, challenging you to mount profitable archaeological expeditions across colorful sites.

On every turn, play one card either to an expedition or to the discard pile matching its color, then draw a card from the deck or from the top of a discard pile. Expedition cards must be played in ascending order, though they do not need to be consecutive, so each early decision can limit your future options.

Each color represents a different expedition. Handshakes rank below 2 and act as investments: one handshake doubles an expedition’s final value, two triple it, and three quadruple it. However, every expedition begins at -20 points, making it important to commit enough numbered cards to overcome that starting cost.

• Play cards into expeditions or discard them to color-matched piles.
• Draw from the deck or claim the top card of a discard pile.
• Use handshakes as multipliers and pursue the 20-point bonus for expeditions with at least eight cards.

The game ends when the final card is drawn from the deck. Players then score every expedition containing at least one card, adding card values to the initial -20, applying any handshake multiplier, and awarding the eight-card bonus when earned. A negative expedition remains negative after its multiplier, so investments carry real risk.

A complete game of Lost Cities lasts three matches, with the scores combined. The game includes a board to organize discarded cards and collections, along with six colored suits; the sixth suit is optional for gameplay.