Archive for the 'Tobago' Category

This is the first of my on-going updates of games which I have already reviewed, have now played again and had some more thoughts about them.

Tobago is a fun, relatively simple game with some fresh gameplay mechanics, a beautiful board and lovely pieces (initial review here).  I’ve even seen talk of it being a nominee for the Spiel des Jahres – I can imagine that coming true but it’s a long way off yet.

On first play, the game may seem fun but shallow; however, this play of Tobago revealed that there are some light tactics to be found within the game, especially in the final turns.  Adding clues to multiple treasure searches is a great way to gain treasure cards without neccesarily needing to move to pick the treasure up – so it pays to co-operate with others.  However, one player will always find it tempting to dominate one treasure by playing lots of their own cards on it.  This is fine early on but doing this late in the game means you’d better be able to pick it up yourself because no-one else is likely to do it for you. Read the rest of this entry »

Ever since I saw the photo of Tobago, I was looking forwards to it.  When I read the rules, I was even more certain.  Then I played it, and Tobago delivered.   I like games that offer a fresh game mechanic and Tobago was great because it’s beautifully diffferent.

The game focuses on determining where treasures are hiddden, primarily by playing an accumulation of clue cards to discern a treasure’s precise location, like “it’s not next to a palm tree” or “it’s in the biggest jungle”.  When the location of a treasure (there are always four being sought) is reduced down to just one hex/location, it can be picked up.  Instead of adding clues, you can drive your ATV to pick up treasures or amulets.  When grabbed, the treasure inside is revealed and shared between the players who helped find it.

There are two really great mechanics.  Read the rest of this entry »