A very fun and beautifully illustrated game. I have played this game several times now and the outcome changes every time, but the score always seems to remain close and competitive. It seems that two of the most important factors in the game is when to use your native indian card to avoid the dangers of the jungle and the importance of trying to remember what bonus exploration cards have been revealed so that you can try to capitalize on your income. Even if you get pushed out of completing your mission card, the score remains close and you can still win!

If I were to compare this to other games, Ticket to Ride would come to mind, another very fun transitional gateway game. I would, however, place Amazonas above Ticket to Ride in the lineup as it has more "meat on the bones." There is more strategy, choices and player interaction in this well balanced game. I think Amazonas has a definite chance at winning the Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) if nominated, if it's not nominated it has been definitely overlooked! This game has quality written all over it, it's pleasing to look at, has well written rules and the components are well made.

I can see no reason why this game would not deserve five stars in my opinion. A prized game in my collection that will be hitting the table quite frequently due to it's relative simplicity (my nine year old daughter picked it up the first time around), while still being a gamer's game that is a pleasure to play. This one belongs in everyone's collection!

I had this game on my 'things to get' list and kept forgetting it was there, it would get buried by the newer and more hyped games. And fortunately in my last barrage of game buying I had room for an extra game and came upon this one on my list.

This was a great game for my group of 'post-beginner' players from work. It is surprisingly simple and turns go quickly (of course someone could think too hard and take a long time, but none of that thinking hard in our group!).

The two things that were worrisome to me ended up actually working just fine:

1. Why is it that you determine your income in one phase, do something else, and later actually receive your income? It certainly reads like you can forego this. But reading it and playing it are two different things and it all made sense and was just fine.
   
   
2. Income Card play - Uh oh - you have 7 income cards and play 1 each turn, which is then out of the game until you have used all of them once upon which you pick them all back up again. Each card has an income amount listed from 0-6 and you get bonus income based on how many tokens of the indicated specimen you have obtained. I am always leary of this type of mechanic - do I play the 4 income card or the 5 income card? And everyone plays theirs at once so how does they effect each other? I am happy to say that this too ended up working very well, my fears unfounded and I the card play worked very well.
   

Having just played Colosseum, I ended with with a bit of the same challenge happening to me in this game, I did not look at the big picture to start the game and it ended up causing me to lose. Since our group has played Ticket to ride a number of times, the secret mission card, showing the villages you must build in by game end or lose Victory Points, was very familiar - that is to everyone but myself where I cavalierly tossed down my starting hut and started placing huts with very little strategy for completing the mission. About halfway through I realized how relatively few huts there were, certainly not enough for me to ramble all over on my way to my destinations, and then I realized that with only 18 turns, I would not have enough time, nor money to make my connections! And I will tell you, in a game where you score 8-10 points, losing 3 points per destination you miss is not a good thing!

Final thoughts: Great game for casual gamers - flows very nicely and should not be overlooked. Be sure to look at your mission card and figure out find the most direct route!