The Quest for El Dorado

Lead an expedition through dense South American jungle in search of the legendary city of gold. Players build and cycle a personal deck of expedition cards, using cards each turn to move along a modular map or to recruit helpers and upgrades that improve future turns. Movement, card acquisition, and route choice determine progress; reaching one of the finishing spaces triggers a final round. The player who arrives first and, in case of ties, holds the most collected blockades wins.

Players: 2–4 best 4
Playing time: 30–60 min
Age: 10+
Complexity: 1.9 / 5

7.5 on Ludoya from $26.97ExplorationHand ManagementGrid MovementHexagon Grid

Play it with Ludoya Where to buy it

Where to buy it

Shop prices and second-hand copies, checked every day.

Compare all prices in Ludoya

On Ludoya's tables

Full stats in Ludoya

1,305
Plays logged: 1,131
Players: 50m 20s
Average play: 362
In collections: 37
On wishlists: 2
Pre-ordered

7.5/10

from 172 Ludoya reviews

Mohasz7.9
It's probably the novelty factor, but I really do enjoy this one. I'm currently trimming down my collection, and I'm almost tempted to sell Flamme Rouge or even Clank! (which I love but rarely hits the table) after playing this a few times. The theme is very palatable (one could argue rather boring) and it comes through the mechanisms just enough. The gameplay is much more streamlined than something like Clank, which makes this a great family game. A session takes somewhere between 30-60 mins, which is a nice length for a race game, and the games tend to be pretty close unless someone makes mistakes regularly. While there are not a huge amount of different cards, the game seems to have quite a lot of depth when it comes to building your deck, the layout of the map matters a lot. Works really well with 2 because managing 2 pawns is fun, and you still only do it with one deck. I imagine it would be a bit different with more, maybe less decisions but a bit more important deckbuilding aspect.
No plays logged
Mestremuten6.0
Rating: 3/5 Production value: 3/4 Is the game in my collection/Love to have?: 0/1
First impressions · 1 play

Read the reviews and rate it

Rules questions

Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.

Can I combine multiple cards to meet the power requirement of a landscape space?

No — you cannot combine multiple cards to move onto a landscape space; a single played card must meet the space’s symbol and power requirement (page 3).

If I play a card and it has leftover power, can I use that leftover to move further?

Yes — leftover power from a played card may be used to continue moving to the next space by subtracting the power already spent; you may stop at any time and any unspent power is lost (page 3).

How many cards can I buy on my turn and how do I pay for them?

You may buy up to one card per turn; play any number of cards to add their coin values (cards with a coin symbol are worth their power, all others are worth 1/2 coin) and place the purchased card on your discard pile — you cannot use it that same turn (page 4).

What happens to cards I play to enter a base camp space?

Cards played to move onto a base camp are removed from the game (not placed on your discard pile), which is a way to permanently thin your deck (page 3).

What do I do when my draw pile runs out while I’m drawing to hand size?

Draw as many cards as you can from the draw pile, then shuffle your discard pile to form a new draw pile and continue drawing until you have four cards (page 5).

What are blockades and how do they affect end‑game tiebreakers?

A blockade is an obstacle that the first player to pass it must overcome by meeting its power requirement; that player keeps the blockade and blockades are used as tiebreakers (most blockades wins, then highest‑power blockade) if players tie reaching El Dorado (page 5).