Camel Up Board Game Review

Year Published: 2014 (2nd edition 2018)

Players: 2-8

Playing Time: 30-45 Minutes

Probably the best compliment I can give to Camel Up is that, when a friend purchased the 2nd Edition and brought it to a game night, we all gleefully smiled with anticipation at the revelation of the “rogue camel” that travels backward. It can take other camels along for the ride (in the wrong direction). In a racing/betting game, the implications should be immediately obvious.

We quickly dubbed it “The Chaos Camel” and dove into the session with abandon.

If the basic premise of the game weren’t already kinetic and frenetic enough to have captured our interest, this addition wouldn’t have made a splash. Instead, it killed, because it represented the same sort of daffy caprice that came to define the original game for us. We wanted to laugh maniacally at someone whose prized camel accidentally wound up astride The Chaos Camel, sinking their chances of a win in the process.

This is getting ahead of myself, but hopefully it imparts the excitement I have for this game.

The Premise

It’s a roll & move racing game with, um, camels. On your turn, you take one of a handful of actions, involving things that can help certain camels along the race or impede them. Or you can bet on them. There are a limited number of bets available for being among the leaders in a given round. And at any time, you can slap down a wager on who will win the overall race (which ends the game when the race is over). The earlier you are in betting on a particular camel, the more points (coins) you’ll win…provided the camel you bet on actually wins.

So that also means more risk, since you have to bet early to be first.

Not every camel will move on each round, and there are some odd, humorous rules involving camels being on the same space, wherein a camel can benefit from the rolls of one underneath it (and thus carrying it).

It’s not meant to be taken too seriously, but has small opportunities for tactical choices that can help your cause. Mostly it’s a psychological game of risk assessment, hiding behind a ridiculous premise.

The Purpose

The whole thing is meant to inspire smiles and laughter. Strategy is low. Eye rolls at lucky breaks are high. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

The Execution

The race is invariably great. Even if one camel wins by a mile, it’s the betting that drives the tension.

For the second edition and its tweaks, it will, perhaps, come as a surprise and disappointment that the lovingly nicknamed Chaos Camel doesn’t always deliver on its promise.

One of the few criticisms I’ll level against the game is that the potential for chaos in the game as a whole doesn’t always match the reality of the game. Sometimes some good rolls from a particular camel will steamroll through the race, and any attempts to impede it.

This is fine for betting, but doesn’t fully unlock the hilarity of the camels bounding over one another. But you don’t have a camel that’s “yours,” so a very lucky camel could potentially benefit anyone in the game. The onerous effects of randomness are thus blunted by the fact that, on balance, luck isn’t affecting anyone more than anyone else.

At least on a macro level. Round to round, the winds of fate will buffet you liberally, and whether or not you enjoy this will be entirely related to your ability to roll with those punches and laugh at yourself when you’re on the receiving end of them.

The game is short, so a few early, bad beats might sink your hopes of winning as you round into the final turns, but it also means you’re never a lame duck for too long.

Bringing the Party

Speaking of game length, I also want to point out what a delight it is that this game holds eight players.

Look, it’s probably clear that this isn’t a deep game, and very much resembles a party game. One of the things that irks me about some similar attempts to create a party atmosphere is that they don’t adequately hold a party-sized game group.

If you have a party game and that only holds four, for example, it’s going to be hard to play with the party-like abandon that will allow you to brush off the bad beats and laugh at them.

Games like Cards Against Humanity are often derided in hobby gaming, and I agree with some of the criticisms. But one thing that game, and others like it, gets right is that it implicitly sets the expectation that no one should be worried about winning. You’re playing to laugh, not to finish with the most points.

Camel Up effectively recreates this atmosphere, where many other games don’t, despite featuring a similar level of randomness.

Camel Up vs. Camel Cup

Some early printings of the game created some ambiguity around the name, which looked like it could be “Camel Up” or “Camel Cup.” We had many a silly debate about it, as did other gaming groups.

Let me end the debate (see also: not end it at all) by saying that it should absolutely be Camel Cup. This makes approximately 5000% more sense to me, both in terms of theme and setting, and from a marketing perspective. The expansion titles write themselves at that point.

But, alas, somehow it canonically became Camel Up. Ah well.

Camel Up Conclusions

This one flirted with me for a bit. It was briefly on my “to buy” list and, I think, appeared on a Christmas list (my family still does those, generally to my chagrin).

So why don’t I own it? Who knows, really. Maybe COVID. Or other game interests. Or enough others in my gaming club owning it. Or maybe that I don’t often play with 6-8 people, even outside of pandemic times, which is when the game shines brightest. Regardless, I’m perfectly happy playing it whenever it crops up at gaming events and get-togethers. It fills a niche, but it’s a niche I don’t need filled. However, it will work amenably for those who do.

Regardless, it makes for a great family game, as well as one that will work with various whimsical game groups, either as a party starter or a palette-cleanser after a meatier game.