A Desert in the Oasis

I'm going to have to challenge the publishers of Oasis on their rating the game a "10 on a scale of fun." And that's because I'm also going to have to challenge their rating of it as a 4 on a scale of luck.

I don't hate games that have an amount of luck to them, despite what some might think. I recognize that a random element is pretty crucial to what makes most good games tick. And every once in a while, I like a game with a larger amount of luck to it (hi, Mystery of the Abbey!), so long as that amount doesn't go over the edge (hi, Galaxy Trucker!). Basically, the more the game aspires to a large strategic element, and the longer it takes to play, the more that a high luck factor annoys me.

Enter Oasis. The premise of the game is quite simple. There's a constricted board space in which players must deploy tokens (tiles, or wooden camel bits) to carve out terrain for themselves -- in four different types. But at the end of the game, the size of the terrain you've claimed is multiplied by the number of "score markers" corresponding to that terrain type. If you have a large terrain, but no scoring markers (or vice versa), you won't score as much as a player who has balanced the two. And of course, if you manage to get a good number of both, you're well on your way to a sound victory.

But how you acquire these tokens and score markers leaves a good bit to chance. Each player has a personal "deck" of cards; you begin the game with five. Every turn, you must make an offering to your opponents, of one to three cards from your deck. The cards show what one of your opponents will acquire from you. And you actually want them to like your stuff, because the player whose offer gets picked first gets to choose first from all his opponents' offers in the subsequent round. But the catch is, your "deck" only replenishes by making smaller offers. You get two fresh cards for your deck if you offer only one card in a round, or one if you offer two cards. Make a juicy three card offer, and you replenish no cards at all that round.

I've played Oasis a couple times recently, and found each to be a frustrating experience. Making your offering is a bizarre form of Press Your Luck. Turn over a card... is that enough to entice your opponent? No, offer another card... still not enough? The problem is, some cards are just better than others. And some cards are worth more than others in the eyes of the players who pick first, because of the ways their strategies have unfolded.

If your offering isn't good enough, then you're forced to keep offering more cards. You can't pick last for too long, or there will never be anything useful to you left to take. But if you keep offering more cards, then you're not replenishing your own deck! Soon, you only can make one card offers because you have no other cards left. Your bad cards soon become no cards, and you can remain trapped at the back of the pack all game.

Or not! You might suddenly get good cards, and find someone else getting suddenly shafted by the luck of the draw. There feels to me to be very little you can do to control your fate.

The multiplying scoring is a good idea, in the classic German board gaming style. You want X, but you have to balance it with Y. But toss in this element by which your ability to get X or Y is only barely under your control, and the game just isn't for me. There's a much greater illusion of strategy, in my view, than actual strategy.

I'm planning to get rid of my copy of Oasis.