Lost Cities the card game is a filler "push your luck" game where two players attempt to play as many ascending cards in four suits as possible and the boardgame is a very slight extension.
The boardgame adds support for up to four players and an extra layer of strategy provided by the need to collect artifacts. It also includes a variant allowing players to choose to progress by playing descending or ascending cards which was part of the core rules for the German version, Keltis.
Scoring is managed by moving a lovely Indy Jones meeple up one of four tracks that match the suits of the cards. The tracks start at -20 which means you need to be sure of progressing a fair way to get any points at all.
You can further gamble by using your larger Researcher meeple which doubles your score for that track, either positive or negative. As you only have one of these you need to choose carefully which track the Researcher takes.
Similarly collecting artefacts during the game's three rounds moves you further up a score track that starts at negative numbers. Because the artefacts are a finite resource the need to collect them to avoid a penalty can sometimes force a player's hand.
A solid attempt at making the popular card game into something a little more substantial without losing it's accessibility.
