Lost Cities – The Duel of the Explorers 🗺️🏔️

Set out on daring expeditions with Lost Cities, the original card game by Reiner Knizia! Two players form expedition routes that lead to remote and mysterious corners of the Earth, from the Himalayan mountains to the bottom of the sea. It is for ages 10+.

Each player starts with eight cards. On your turn, you must first play one card, either by placing it in one of your own expedition columns or by discarding it face up onto the matching discard pile on the board. Then you draw one card, either from the draw pile or from the top of any discard pile, which can hand your opponent exactly what they need. Each colour is its own expedition, and within a column the numbers must increase from card to card. If you are particularly daring, you can place wager cards at the start of a column to multiply its value, but beware, this can backfire. Every expedition you start comes with costs: at the end, 20 points are subtracted from each started column, so a weak expedition can leave you in the minus. After three games, the player with the highest overall score wins. The game includes a board for the discard piles, expedition cards with values 2 to 10 and wager cards; the English edition also adds a sixth, purple expedition for a longer variant.

🧭 Expeditions

One column per colour.

📈 Ascending Order

Numbers must rise.

🎲 Wager Cards

Multiply the risk.

➖ Expedition Costs

20 points each.

Why You'll Love It:

• 👫 For two: a tense duel.
• 🧠 Depth: simple rules, real choices.
• 🔁 Replay: three games per match. More ideas among our card games.

Quick facts

• Players: 2
• Age: 10+
• Designer: Reiner Knizia
• Publisher: Kosmos (English edition: Thames & Kosmos)
• Contents: game board, expedition cards (values 2–10) and wager cards
• Variants: English, German or Croatian-Slovenian edition

Why not start every expedition? Each started expedition costs 20 points at the end.
What do wager cards do? They multiply the value of an expedition, for better or worse.

Chart your route to glory in Lost Cities. 🗺️

⚠️ Warning: Choking hazard – small parts. Not for children under 3 years.