K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth as well as the second deadliest. It's known as the Savage Mountain, as it kills one person for every four who have reached the summit... Now your team stands in its shadow, ready to climb for fame and glory.
K2 is a board game in which each player controls a team of 2 mountaineers, trying to climb to the summit of K2 and return before the other players' teams and before the mountain kills them. Every player uses an identical deck of cards. You use the cards to move your climbers on the route pictured on the gaming board, or to acclimatize the members of your team.
You can also set up a tent and wait for better weather. You will have to choose your path carefully, as the other mountaineers can block your way, and watch the upcoming weather which can lower your acclimatization to 0, thus killing your climbers.
K2 is a hand management game for 1-5 players, with strong interaction and low luck factor, lasting up to 60 minutes. The theme is very well represented by the mechanics, including such elements as changing weather, lack of oxygen and death of the mountaineers. The result is an exciting match for gamers and non-gamers alike.
The box includes, among other materials, a double-sided board with two different routes to the summit (easier and harder) and two sets of weather tiles (for summer and winter).
K2: Broad Peak is an expansion for the mountain-climbing game K2 that includes a double-sided game board, tokens and new rules. The game board features the twelfth-highest mountain in the world, formerly known as "K3" and now typically called "Broad Peak" due to the length of its summit.
Broad Peak gives you two very different challenges to undertake, which are based on the historical achievements of Polish mountaineers on Broad Peak in 1984. Both challenges have their own game boards and rule changes to make them individual game experiences.
The first challenge is "Race to the Top", a quick and thrilling game in which the game lasts three fewer days than normal, players have no tents, and the deck contains fewer acclimatization cards. Also, the board just has fewer places to climb, so watch your step!
The second challenge is "Traverse of Broad Peaks", which is more strategic and a little longer than the base game. The board shows three tops of Broad Peak and mountaineers can earn additional victory points for traversing all of the mountain and for reaching the top of each of the three peaks – which is very difficult to do, especially since the mountaineers have only one tent with them.
"Lhotse" means "the southern peak" in the Tibetan language. The southern wall of Lhotse is over 3,000 meters of a very steep and dangerous climb. Many great mountaineers have been defeated by the peak. Are you ready for this challenge?
K2: Lhotse is an expansion of K2 in which the players' task is to lead the team of two climbers as close as possible to the summit. The expansion includes an alternative, two-sided board and new weather tiles. K2: Lhotse also introduces a completely new mechanics - fixed rope tokens which allow you to set your own routes.
Each side of the board offers a different scenario and a different challenge.
The first scenario is a demanding and strategic fight against time and weather. The board showing the southern wall is divided not only by height, but also into three vertical sectors, dividing it into the eastern, central and western parts. The new set of weather tiles will show a different aura depending on the sector. The player's toolkit has been enriched with fixed rope tokens thanks to which players will be able to set up new routes between the already known ones. These ropes will allow for more efficient escape from bad weather or deadly landslides.
The second scenario is a fast race to the top of Lhotse from the safer side, the southern pass, which is also the easiest way to Mount Everest. Players will have fewer cards to use, as they will have to discard 3 of them at the very beginning. However the better cards they discard, the more extra victory points they receive at the end of the game! Additionally in this scenario the time becomes even more important: the climb will last only 15 days, so players will have to hurry up their way to the top.
K2 : The Avalanche, a small expansion for K2, contains four new weather tiles describing bad weather conditions and there is an additional icon showing when the avalanche is coming down. All climbers who are not hidden in their tents that day have to move one space further from the mountain peak.