Board Game Arena

Agree wholeheartedly with all those critiquing the new version. The worst part is the x2, which is not accurate.

CosmoTable wrote: ↑16 April 2026, 22:14

Rukus McUallas wrote: ↑16 April 2026, 12:25
Oh, and I've tried to find that new edition this version is supposed to resemble. I cannot find anything similar! And even the latest designs I could find use the handshake iconography snd not this ridiculous "×2"! I think these "official comments" need to be evaluated and maybe even validated. I'm seriously considering sending a comprehensive email to Kosmos.

BGG does not list this new edition in the "versions" section but I did hear a recent interview with the designer in which he mentioned that a new edition of Lost Cities was on the way.

After somebody mentioned that it's French, I found a 2026(?) Iello version with the white bordered cards used here. This version uses an X instead of the handshake (not a ×2!).

When it comes to readability etc. I think the 2019(?) edition is the best. The black cards with strong colors and simple icons looks good, too. The new version with white borders and pale colors is far harder to distinguish. No matter if it's on BGA or physical.

Besides fixing actual bugs that came with the new version, I'd suggest as a compromise to add the 2019(?) cards as an option. They're more inclusive than the 1999 version and the black cards offer more contrast on BGA and are more eyefriendly. It's like having some sort of dark mode.

And if I was going to buy the physical game, I'd nor even consider this new edition. Because the cards are far harder to distinguish.

I hate the graphics change!!

Not only are the new graphics terrible, but when the first round is done, the cards stay on the table and when you try to draw from the draw pile, it shows a negative number and removes a card from the table. I don't even want to play this any more, which is sad, because it was a favorite.

Who thought this was an improvement?
Did anyone get feedback from actual players before making the change?
The x2 is ridiculous.

I thought for sure there would be an option to change cards.

Please change this new graphic. There’s a lot of confusions

Who knows if the developers read any of the comments posted by users here, or in their main announcement.

No replies at all since they sent the rather grumpy message the other day.

I just played on my mobile to give it a second chance and sadly I still found that it was a very poor experience, so I probably won't be playing unless it is changed sadly.

It frustrates me that improving accessibility for colourblindess has been used as a reason for the change, when it is clear that the new design fails WCAG standards in multiple ways.

For those who don't know, WCAG are the international standards for making websites etc accessible for all users, for example those with visual impairments.

Whilst I was playing I counted at least 10 failures, mostly around text colour contrast, UI colour contrast and animation.

I also note that in the forum for developers, someone has taken time to share WCAG standards to aim for witn fellow developers, but clearly there has been little to no consideration of this for this redesign. A real shame.

https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48349

If a developer does read this and wants to know more, or where the failures are, I'd be happy to provide screenshots and annotations.

Unplayable as is. Thankfully there are other good games in BGA but will miss this one in the mix.

Please change the graphics back. The old ones were much better

I hate the new design. Been playing that game for years and it was my favorite but now its just awful