If you’re reading this right now, there’s a very good chance that, like me, you’re currently sitting in front of a copy of Bali desperately seeking some kind of useful information about it. Something. Anything.
Well, you’ve come to the right place. Welcome to my review of Bali, one of Uwe Rosenberg’s most obscure, undercelebrated, gems. As there isn’t even one single review or how-to-play in existence for this game (at least in English), this review is going to be a little rules heavier than is normal for me. If you just want to know what I think about the game, feel free to skip ahead to the Thoughts section. Otherwise, read on as we dig deep into the wonders of Bali.
Overview
From the back of the box (very roughly translated):
“In the kingdoms of the islands, the king’s rule is based on the possession of the famous sacred demon masks. The royal master of ceremonies, the great puppeteer Dalang, travels from island to island and awards demon masks to those rulers who seem worthy to become the next king. To do this, the players gather their forces with the help of scholars and use warriors to drive their fellow players from the current scene. With skillful use of their cards, everyone strives for spiritual and worldly power.”
I’ll admit, out of context, that all sounds completely nonsensical. So, to put it into context: Bali is a pseudo-deckbuilding game (with a healthy dose of hand management and memory elements in the mix) in which players use cards to move a figure (the aforementioned Dalang) between the game’s four islands to compete for dominance over them in order to score points and, hopefully, win the game.
On the surface, that description sounds pretty rote and routine, no different than another bazillion games out there. But, what sets Bali apart is that, rather than constructing a single deck like you do in traditional deckbuilders, you’ll instead be simultaneously constructing four at a time. For you see, each time the Dalang is moved to a new island, the deck you’re currently holding is left at the old one, and you’ll be picking up the deck that’s waiting for you at the new one.
So, let’s break the game down so that you can see how that works.
Setup
First, each player chooses one of the game’s four colors (blue, yellow, pink, or green). Then, the four Island tiles are placed onto the table such that the colored spaces at the edge of the tile are facing their respective owners. For instance, all the blue spaces should be facing whichever player chose the color blue. Leave space between the islands for two decks of cards.
The Start cards are shuffled and one is given to each player at random. Each of these cards features four pieces of information: the player order number, the starting location of your prince symbol (blue), the starting location of your priest symbol (yellow), and the starting location of the Dalang figurine (based on whichever player is sitting to the right of the start player). It may happen in games with fewer than four people that nobody is given the #1 card. If that’s the case, the player whose card is closest to the #1 is the starting player. These cards can be flipped to the scoring reminder side and kept close by as a reference. Except for determining the starting player and the starting positions of the various priests and princes, the numbers printed on the other side are only relevant during setup and won’t be needed for the rest of the game.
The other cards should all be shuffled into a central deck with room for a discard pile next to it. Then, cards are dealt from this deck into smaller facedown decks alongside each island such that each player has a three card deck at each island. Players are not allowed to look at these yet. After this is done, sort the Demon Masks by value and keep them, and the Power Seals close by.
Now, you’re ready to begin playing Bali.
A Round of Play
At the start of the active player’s turn, each player should pick up their deck of cards from the Dalang’s current island if they haven’t already. The active player (this is the starting player for the first round of the game) draws two cards from the central deck, and the other players receive one apiece. Then, the active player takes their turn.
The active player now has the opportunity to play as many cards as they like until they either decide to voluntarily end their turn, are forced to end their turn by one of the other players, or a Dalang location change occurs in which a scoring is carried out. Then, the next player in clockwise order becomes the new active player. Any non-active players are referred to as ‘passive’ players in game terminology.
There are two different types of cards a player might play on their turn: Court cards or Dalang cards.
The Court
There are five different types of Court cards: warriors, scholars, artists, priests, and princes. If the active player plays a…
…warrior, the other players present on the island (except for one player of the active player’s choice) must either flee or repulse the attack. If a player opts to flee, then they distribute up to three cards from their hand to their decks at the other islands, discarding any remainders. If they choose to repulse, they must play a warrior from their own hand. If one of the passive players is able to play a second warrior from their hand, then they will force the active player’s turn to end, and they receive a card from the central deck to replace the second card they played.
…scholar, they may either take up to three cards from their stacks at the other islands (considering them one at a time) and add them to their current hand OR they may place up to three cards from their current hand onto their stacks at the other islands. Passive players may then play scholars of their own to perform the same action. If one of the passive players is able to play a second scholar from their hand, then they will force the active player’s turn to end, and they receive a card from the central deck to replace the second card they played.
…artist, they may discard up to three cards from their hand and replace them with three new ones drawn from the central deck. Passive players may then play artists of their own to perform the same action. If one of the passive players is able to play a second artist from their hand, then they will force the active player’s turn to end, and they receive a card from the central deck to replace the second card they played.
…prince or a priest, they may then show as many cards matching the card they played from their hand as they wish. In turn, each passive player may up the ante by showing even more prince/priest cards than other players have shown or pass their turn. The player who showed the most cards receives the requisite symbol and places it on their side of the island on the marked location. If a player should end their turn with both the prince and priest symbols on their side of the island, they will receive the Power Seal for that island and will retain possession of it unless someone else manages to wrest it away from them.
To make better sense of that, consider this example. The priest symbol currently sits on the red player’s side of the island. The green player is the active player. They play a priest card from their hand to the discard pile and then reveal another two priest cards from their hand. The red and yellow players have two or fewer priest cards, so they have no option but to pass. However, the blue player has three priest cards, so they reveal them. Since they have revealed the most, they take the priest symbol from the red player’s side of the island and place it on their side instead. However, the prince symbol is not on their side of the island, so they do not receive the Power Seal for this island at this time.
The Dalang and Scoring
Each Dalang card features the name of two different islands. By playing a Dalang card, the active player is indicating that they wish to move the Dalang to a different island and possibly trigger a scoring. When they play the card, they must state which of the two islands listed they are wishing to move to. Then the passive players have a chance to respond if they wish. To prevent the location change, they must play a Dalang card from their own hand that bears the name of the target island.
If the location change was prevented, the active player may attempt another location change or they may continue playing any of the other cards. However, if the location change does occur, the Dalang is moved to the new island. Players place their hand of cards from the previous island face down at that island in an order of their choosing and shift their attention to the new island. Since the active player has not changed, no new cards are drawn from the central deck at this time.
At this point, if the active player has a priest and/or a prince symbol (referred to as ‘power symbols’) on their side of the new island, a scoring occurs. If they have…
…only one symbol, they receive the Demon mask that is one step up from the lowest valued mask and the player who controls the other symbol receives the lowest valued mask.
…both power symbols, they receive only the lowest valued Demon mask.
If a scoring occurred, players only get to draw the bottom four cards from their card stacks at the new island, discarding the rest. Then the current active player’s turn comes to an end, and the new active player begins theirs.
If a scoring did not occur, the active player does not change, and play proceeds as normal at the new island with each player drawing all of their cards into their hand.
The End Game
The end of the game is triggered once the last Demon mask has been collected. Players receive points equal to the values printed on their collected Demon masks and three points for each Power Seal they control. The player with the most points wins.
Thoughts
I’m not sure when it happened or how it began, but at some point, I transitioned from being an Uwe Rosenberg obsessed fan into being an Uwe Rosenberg obsessed collector. At last count, I currently own 66 distinct Uwe Rosenberg titles. Of those 66 titles, there were only eleven of them I had never played.
And now, having played Bali, it’s down to ten.
Bali has been sitting on my shelf staring me in the face since I won it in an auction back in 2019. I have vivid recollections of tearing it open, discovering that all of the printed material was in German, and scouring BGG in the hunt for an English translation. After printing it off and learning the game, I was eager for the chance to play it. But, that opportunity never emerged. No doubt, that is largely due to the game’s biggest flaw (even more so than the language barrier): Bali requires at least three players to play, a limitation which has consistently stymied my efforts to get it to the table.
Maybe that wouldn’t be such a hold back if it weren’t for Bali’s other weakness: it’s got a face only a mother could love. With its burgundy, brown, and mustard yellow color palette, Bali isn’t going to be winning any beauty pageants. This is a game that was produced in 2001, and it shows. It’s the kind of game you can set up on a table and pretty much guarantee that nobody will be flocking to play it. It just looks sad and unassuming.
At the time of its publication in 2001, Uwe Rosenberg already had a dozen design credits to his name, but only one of his designs (Bohnanza) had gained any sort of traction. I can understand why people may not have been eager to play Bali back then. Uwe Rosenberg wasn’t a household name. But now? It boggles the mind that people aren’t more interested.
Residing squarely in the Venn diagram intersection of memory, strategy, and tactics, Bali will test you at every turn. Should you follow the active player, or should you stay your hand? Do you force an opponent’s turn to end, or do you ride the wave to see where it goes? Which cards should you hold on to, and which should you ditch? When you do ditch them, where should you ditch them to? Can you remember which cards you’ve put where? And, this doesn’t even take into account trying to get the timing just right. Moving the action to a new island could trigger a scoring if you control a power symbol there. That’s fine. Scoring points is never a bad thing. But, are you really ready for your turn to end? Maybe moving the action to an island where you aren’t actively scoring might be better so that you can bolster your presence there instead.
These decision threads are woven all throughout the game’s tapestry leading to an experience that is highly interactive and richly satisfying. Bali stands as a testament to Uwe Rosenberg’s talent as a designer. It’s a firm reminder not only of his humble roots, but also of why he is so well-regarded today. If you can get past the German-language-only barrier, the dated appearance, and the three-player minimum, what you’ll find is a game that transcends its limitations—and your expectations.
I highly recommend giving this hidden gem of a game a try.
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