Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken Game Review: Outwit, Outplay, Outstanding

Thanks to the rise of interactive technology and the reality game show, TV fans have lost a true staple: the home game. Losing contestants on game shows in the 70s and 80s who may not have gone home with the brand new car or an armload of cash at least went home with a miniaturized reminder of their greatest failure.

These days, the words “home” and “game” barely spend any time together in the same sentence. Big, sprawling reality game shows are hard to reproduce in board game form. If they do have a board game version, they are usually lukewarm re-creations of the actual thing and not nearly as fun.

Exploding Kittens has addressed this missing facet of game show-dom with its card game version of the long-running CBS reality game show Survivor.

A card game may not sound like the most effective way of simulating a game where contestants have to make fire without matches, sleep outdoors for weeks at a time, and build a latrine. Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken — designed by the show’s host Jeff Probst — focuses on imitating the social dynamic and strategy of the show’s central game to create a fun and engaging experience.

You’ll have a great time screwing over your friends purely for the sake of an emotionally gratifying win.

Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken Card Game

$19.99 from Exploding Kittens $19.99 $18.09 from Amazon

Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken may not be able to recreate the physical challenges like the “Hand on a Hard Idol” or “Teeter Tower,” but that actually works to its advantage.

The long-running CBS show is really about what happens to the social associations between people when they are trapped in a dire situation and the only control they have on the game is to form alliances and screw over enemies.

The card game is more about strategy than strength, but it still feels like you’re playing an episode of Survivor. Exploding Kittens’ game takes the smart approach of focusing on this dynamic while including iconic staples from the show like immunity idols, tribal advantages, and the tribal counsel.

And believe it or not, this is something the whole family can play if their relationship is strong enough to face the potential cutthroat nature of the core game.

How to Play Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken

Each player takes a vote card, three action cards, and a pair of Survivor character cards featuring some of the show’s more memorable contestants. They place each character card in front of them and hold their action cards in their hand so no one else can see them.

Shuffle the remaining action cards and place the deck in the middle of the playing field. Then take the nine tribal council cards and consult the rule book to determine how many single and double elimination cards you’ll need based on the number of players in the game (e.g. if you have four players, you’ll need two single and two double elimination cards). Put one of the tribal council cards face down at the bottom of the main deck. The remaining required tribal cards are placed face down throughout the middle of the deck.

The game starts when the first player steals a card from one of the other players. Every person must steal a card from another player at the start of their turn. Then they have the option of playing a card from their hand by placing it on top of the discard pile. The turn ends when the player draws a card from the main deck.

Players keep stealing, playing and drawing cards until they reach a tribal council card in the deck. Whoever drew the card revealing the tribal council card will serve as the tribal leader for that round. The leader reads out the “Tribal Council” script in the instruction book to give each player time to discuss potential alliances and ask questions in public and private. The discussion ends with the tribal leader announces that voting will begin. If any player has any cards that can change the voting process such as the immunity idol, now is the time to play them.

Take the voting box and turn it right side up so the voting slots are on top. All players will close their eyes and tap on the table as each player opens their eyes and places their voting card in the color slot of the player they want to vote out of the game. You can also place the voting box in a seperate room and have each player cast their vote in private.

Once the votes are cast, the tribal leader counts the vote. If the round is a single elimination, players will cast votes for one player to be removed from the game. If it’s a double elimination, players will cast their votes twice for two different players. Each player who receives a majority of the vote must turn over one of their character cards. If both character cards are turned over, they are eliminated from play until the final tribal council.

Once the game is down to two players and they reach the final tribal council card at the bottom of the action card deck, the final tribal council begins. This time, all of the eliminated players will vote for the remaining player who they think should win the game.

The most recently eliminated player will serve as tribal counsel leader and read from the “Final Tribal Council” script in the game book. The final vote occurs when the leader says “The winner of Survivor is…3…2…1…” Then on the imaginary zero, every member of the jury must point to the player they think should win. The remaining player who receives the most votes wins the game.

You Gotta Dig Deep!

Exploding Kittens is my favorite mainstream game maker for one simple reason: They know how to make amazing games. They don’t just copy basic formats and put a new coat of paint on the board or a deck of cards. They try to create new forms of games made from scratch with innovative concepts and beautiful artwork.

Forcing players to steal cards on every turn creates natural enemies that kickstart the gameplay. Even if you’re a generous person who doesn’t hold a grudge, someone will steal a card you were planning to hold onto creating an enemy or an alliance or a friend for the tribal council round.

It also forces you to think strategically about things you wouldn’t normally think about in similar games. You have to be careful who you take a card from and how to arrange the cards in your hand if someone tries to steal from you. How many times have you played a non-casino based card game and just lumped together cards in your hand by category or type? You might need to move them around so your opponents don’t pick up on any patterns.

Games based on reality shows like Survivor often try to force physical challenges into the experience and nine times out of 10, they don’t work. The Survivor card game doesn’t come with a tiny obstacle course or little wooden spears for a pointless (no pun intended) throwing game. Instead, it forces players to compete in rounds of “rock, paper, scissors” or “One, Two, Three Shoot!” to score more cards and win advantages.

The tribal council rounds are easily the most fun part of the game. The game box is designed so it turns into a ballot box for players to insert their voting cards by the players’ colors.

First, there are cards you can play from your hand that completely sabotage the democratic process like the immunity idol that keeps you from being “voted out,” the inheritence card that lets you take a losing player’s entire hand if you have the right one for the right player, and other “tribal advantage” cards that can really screw with the experience. It’s a great way to spring surprises on players the way they do on the show without creating too much seething anger between you and your opponents.

Exploding Kittens produces solid titles that are well thought out, new and fresh and wildly fun, above all else. Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken fits snuggly into Exploding Kittens’ library of board and card party games that are unlike any other game on the store shelves.

Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken Card Game

$19.99 from Exploding Kittens $19.99 $18.09 from Amazon

The Tribe Has Spoken, This Game is Awesome

A card game based on TV’s Survivor may sound like a boring time but that’s probably what TV executives said when they were pitched a reality show about 12 strangers living together on an island for weeks at a time. Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken is a unique experience filled with treachery, alliances, and other social strategy that can be replayed for a long time.