Kaki Lima: Downtown KL
- Board's Eye View
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Kaki Lima: Downtown KL, from LUMA, is all about the 'Sticky Activities' that occur in the pedestrian walkways in downtown Kuala Lumpur. That sounds rather more questionable than it is. 'Sticky Activities' isn't a euphemism, it's the term used to denote an item of interest that might give a passerby cause to stop or 'stick' at a location; so in this game from Goh Choon Ean could include refilling your water bottle, having a key cut or listening to a busker.
This is a game for 1-4 players played over a number of rounds that is varied with the player count: three rounds in a four-player game, rising to six rounds if you're playing solitaire. For each game, you use cards to create a modular 5 x 3 grid, albeit with the middle space left empty. Players each represent pedestrians perambulating around the Kaki Lima and collecting 'vibrancy points' (victory points) for Sticky Activities. The Sticky Activities are on transparent acetates that can be laid on top of the Kaki Lima cards.
On your turn you roll three standard six-sided dice and choose two to allocate for actions; the third die is used by the other players, so that unless you roll three of a kind, all players get to take at least one action on every turn. This mechanism, more commonly seen in roll&write games, is a good way of minimising downtime, especially at higher player counts.
If you allocate a die to the Walk action, you move your pedestrian standee that number of steps around the Kaki Lima. You score points for the number of other pedestrians you pass, multiplied by the number on your die. Additionally or alternatively you can take a Sticky Activity overlay from those in the market display and add it to your reserve. Allocating a die to the Create action lets you take a Sticky Activity overlay from your reserve and place it on the card where your pedestrian is standing. You score points equal to the Sticky value multiplied by the number on the die, and you leave a 'Jom' tile on the card. Enjoy lets you score for the Sticky Actvities on the card on which you're standing and also lets you place a Jom tile on the card; for example, if you're at a location where another player has placed the Sticky Activity and has a token. If you take the Appreciate action, you score for matching the layout of tokens to those shown on one of the pattern cards you were dealt at the start of the game. In addition, you earn that card's single-use bonus ability (add or substract 1 from a 2-5 die roll; re-roll your dice; walk one step; move a token to an adjacent card and take an extra action). In our plays at Board's Eye View we've found the bonus ability of being able to move a Jom tile to be especially powerful.
Kaki Lima: Downtown KL is a satisfying puzzle optimisation game as players work out the actions that will maximise their score based on the positions of other pedestrians and the Sticky Activities and Jom tiles that have already been laid out. The dice sharing mechanic ensures that all players are focused throughout, and reducing the number of rounds for each additional player ensures that plays are unlikely to exceed a brisk 45 minutes regardless of the number of players. The gripe from some players was that they scored low because they were the victim of low dice rolls, tho' you can expect that lucky and unlucky rolls will mostly even out over the course of a game.
Kaki Lima: Downtown KL is beautifully produced by LUMA, with art by Goh Choon Ean and Charis Loke, with the Sticky Activity overlays being a standout feature. And, don't fear, none of the components are actually sticky!
