We are in the middle of summer, the sun is bright, and the sea is calm and warm, knowing us near us, encouraging hours of fun, laziness and calm. But what if you are stuck in the city, sweat and breathe hot air, not having the opportunity to rest. Dreaming of white beaches and blue paradise? Not at all, since board games are here to take you to where you want to be. Today's destination is exotic ... Tahiti!
Tahiti is a family game for 2-4 players, which takes about an hour, and its chief mechanic is “pick-up and delivery”. The manufacturer Minion Games offers a minimum age of 13+ to play the game, but, in my opinion, the nature of the theme, as well as its mechanics, make the game more accessible to children.
In Tahiti, you take on the role of mata-iapo (or auxiliary chief) of a prosperous island that has overcome the limits of supporting the tribes that live on it. It is impressive that the beautiful inhabitants of Tahiti prefer not to worry about it, rather than fight each other for what’s left, but instead look elsewhere for the precious goods they need. Therefore, you decide to go on your high-speed canoe to nearby islands to gather vegetables, fruits, spices and fish, and then win fame and fame among your people. You will be rewarded for the collection and the quantity and variety of goods during the game. The extra bonus is credited for collecting your favorite items.
Such peaceful people could not but believe in such peaceful deities, such as Haumea, the goddess of fertility. Haumea takes part in the game and will accompany players on long journeys away from home, bringing them to the most fertile islands until the surrounding areas are explored.
The game has a modular board consisting of several bright plates (actually hexes) that depict your home island, nearby islands and the sea. At the beginning of the game, the island "House" is located in the center of the playground, surrounded by 6 pre-installed plates. A tile set is used for 2 or 4 players, and another for 3 players. Of course, experienced players are allowed to start with random slate plates instead of regular ones. On each island tile, you can see the goods that may appear on a particular island, along with a dangerous coral reef surrounding the two sides of the island. Crossing this reef is dangerous and can lead to the loss of your precious cargo!
Another component of the game is depletion tokens, which are used to indicate when the island’s goods have been exhausted. The goods that the islands produce are represented by wooden cubes in the colors of the goods: yellow for bananas, green for taro, pink for spices and brown for coconut. White cubes are fish. Didn't I mention that you can also go fishing in Tahiti? One of the funniest aspects of the game (maybe disappointing !!). All wooden cubes are placed in a special bag provided by the game, and well mixed.
When launched, the Haumea pawn is placed on Home Island, and the product spaces on all other source islands are filled with the appropriate cubes of goods. All remaining island tiles are shuffled and placed face up in two piles. Ignoring tokens are also shuffled and placed face down in a pile next to the play area.
Each player chooses a color and takes the appropriate card for the canoe and the player. They also receive a special tile of their favorite products, which are kept secret from other players through the game. The players begin their journey on their native island, so they place their canoes.
Players & # 39; The boards are divided into two parts: the upper part represents the player's canoe, which has two places for goods, one place for the rower and three spaces that can be used either for the rowers or for the transport of goods. The number of available rowers determines the number of available actions that the player has on his turn. The bottom of the board is used to track goods for each wheat player.
Each player translates enterprises of the following phases:
- Research phase : Haumea shows the way to the fertile islands. The player must first transfer it to the edge of the play area, then draw a new island tile and add it to the playing field so that it is adjacent to the Haumea pawn and at least two other tiles already on the board. This phase is skipped when placing all island plates.
- Phase Bounty Haumea : The player pulls three dice of goods out of the bag (two, if Haumea left the game) and fills them with any suitable subject spaces on islands that do not have a depletion token on them.
- Stage of action: A player can perform a series of actions depending on the number of rows his canoe has. This number can increase and decrease when the player loads / unloads goods. Available actions:
- Immerse your canoe: in one step, you can move your canoe to an extra tile. If you decide to cross the reef and your canoe is loaded, you must draw a cube out of the bag for each reef you cross, and if it matches the cube you have on your canoe, you lose that good.
- Cleaning goods: in one action, you can collect one good cube from the island on which your canoe is located and place it in your canoe, which is on the canoe diagram on your game board. Canoes can contain up to four cubes of goods, and goods that you can carry can be either of the same type, for example, bananas or anything that is different from each other.
- Go Fishing: When you go fishing, you pull two cubes of food out of the bag, and if you draw some fish, you can put one of them in your canoe. If there is a depletion trap with fish on it on the island on which you fish, you take out three dice of goods from the bag.
- Delivery of goods: in one operation, you can unload all your cargo while your canoe is on the island Home. You place the cubes that you have collected in the appropriate places on the players.
- Exhaustion phase: This phase is skipped until all the tiles of the island are placed on the board. The active player checks if there are any islands on it without cubes of goods, chooses one of them, takes the depletion token and puts it on the island. From now on, this island does not produce any goods. However, you can go fishing there, and if the depletion den has a fish, you will have a better chance of catching fish.
The game ends when there are only four islands left on which there is no exhaustion anywhere (not including the home island). Players continue to take turns until the end of the round, so that all players have played an equal number of turns.
There are three ways to collect victory points: from the number of cubes that you have collected for each type, for sets of all five products and from your favorite products. The player with the most victory points wins the game.
Now let's see how the game is rated in our usual categories of points:
Components:
Tahiti has wonderful, vibrant components. The islands and the marine tiles are made of hardboard, katana style and have many different islands, and their coral reefs are realistically shown. I also liked the front of the island tile, which, although not used anywhere else, depicts the head of some ancient god who really gives me the right mood to play. The same head appears on the back of exhausted tokens, which are made in the same style as island tiles, and show either a fish or a statue. The cubes of goods are small wooden cubes that perfectly fulfill their role. Favorite product tiles are also very beautifully made, keeping the exotic design style. The Haumea pawn is an ordinary wooden token. Players & # 39; canoes in the shape of a canoe made of wood, which can only be good, which adds to the feeling and immersion in the game. One of them is the temptation to put the canoe cubes in place of the player's board due to the realistic design of these canoes, and I guess it would be a great design idea. With a little effort, these canoes could be a little longer, and perhaps the cubes of goods are a little smaller, so that canoes place cubes of goods on them and add to the theme of the game. Then the rowers would suggest a more complex problem in how they can be replaced with goods at any given time. In any case, the fact is that it would be really nice to carry the goods on a canoe. The special mention refers to the coolest bag I've ever seen in a game, and this is a bag for cubes of goods included in Tahiti. This is so traditional and corresponds to the theme that I wish that each game production company would pay much attention to the theme and details of their games. Overall, great ingredients for Tahiti! 9/10
Game process:
The gameplay in Tahiti is simple without complicated rules or mechanisms. Players must make decisions at three stages of the game: the research phase, the action phase and the exhaustion phase.
Exactly where you need to place a new island tile and how to orient it, it does not hide a clear strategy and is mainly related to your short-term and perhaps even long-term goals, as well as the current position of other players. The action phase is the heart of the game, and decisions at this stage have a more direct impact on your progress. You will have to answer the following questions when you go canoeing on exotic islands:
- Should I wear one good type or species?
- Should I only wear two items to be fast or should I wear more, leaving less space for the rowers to be slower?
- Should I take a chance and cross this reef or go the safe route around it?
All these questions are calling on the analytical side of your brain, but do not expect analysis syndrome and paralysis. Answers will always be related to your current status of the collected goods and your goals. The most intriguing of all, which I think is the second question, is when you have to find the right balance between transporting more goods by canoe, but slower (with less action) and less than fast. I usually prefer the first method, but I still need to try the second one and see its effect.
Luck has its own share in the game, but this is a fair share, enough to keep the game unpredictable and not spoil the fun for strategy lovers. Fishing in the early stages of the game is not recommended, as luck is likely to return to you. Before Haumea leaves the cave, you can only draw two cubes, and there are still a large number of cubes in the bag. In the second half of the game, when there are holes with fish, and the percentage of fish in the bag will be higher, the fishing will be much more attractive.
Interacting with the player is what I’m always looking for in the game, as I think it makes it more interesting and interesting. In Tahiti, there is little room for confrontation. As I mentioned earlier, the prisoners of Tahiti are very peaceful and will not sabotage each other in search of fame and glory. Thus, the only way to indirectly interact with each other is to be the first to seize the goods of the island if there is another player next to him, which may cause him sufficient frustration regarding the player’s interaction.
One more thing I liked in Tahiti is a variation in the game settings, which is guaranteed by the modular board. In addition to the initial fragments (which can also be random if you choose), the rest of the playing field will be different with each reproduction and may result in a regular shape, uniformly structured around the initial fragments or asymmetric with large distances between the edges and home tile.
In general, Tahiti gameplay is simple and interesting, carefully designed and balanced. The final win of the game is likely to show close results. 7/10
Learning curve:
The game is pretty easy to learn, even for non-gamers. His rule is very well written with examples for every important aspect of the game. Initially, there may be a little confusion with different numbers of actions available to players in their turn. Since the number of actions depends on the available rowers, and their number will increase or decrease when unloading / loading goods, the number of actions will also increase / decrease during each player's step. Players must get used to this rule, which, although it is clearly explained in the rule summary. 7/10
multiplayer:
With such a large number of games that appear every year, it is very difficult for a game to get into the list of games that will eventually be played regularly by a separate game group. Tahiti is intended mainly for families and can be easily reproduced by children (as opposed to age restrictions, which are indicated on the playing field), who will love it for its bright colors and theme, as well as for casual gamers. He has nothing interesting or original, but he will be a convenient choice for everyone. Summertime seems to be the perfect season to play for me because of the exotic theme! 7/10
subject:
Being in constant loyalty to the theme of your game can be one of the most difficult in the design of a board game, but it is always an element that is highly valued by both players and critics. Light games, such as Tahiti, usually do not remain so attached to their topic, but this is an exception. The theme shouts its presence in all aspects of the game and can be specifically found in:
- realistic form of canoe as game tokens
- unique and detailed design of island shingles with coral reefs around them
- helping the presence of Haumea (remember that she leads players to the most fertile islands, so they follow her). When she leaves the game, the islands become less productive (although it is unclear whether this is due to her vacation or the islands just start to dwindle).
- available actions available at the action stage. More rowers make your canoe move faster. If you decide to have fewer rowers, your canoe becomes slower. However, there is a hit in the subject. You begin your journey from the island of Homes with the help of 4 rowers, since your canoe is still empty. In the course of the game, you can replace the rowers with goods, but what happens to the rowers? Do they get to stay on the new island and give their position to the goods? A bit strange concept that ...
- how you take action to move around the islands and the risk associated with rowing through coral reefs.
All of the above adds basically a realistic gaming experience that brings players closer to their intended role in the game. 9/10
Fun:
Despite the fact that Tahiti implies minimal interaction with the player, which is usually a great source of pleasure in board games, I cannot say that it was not entertaining to play. Since there are not many pickups and delivery games there, it was a refreshing experience for me with pleasure, mostly from situations where canoe players were close to each other, that was competitive in collecting goods and fishing, or in reefs just unpredictable. 7/10
Final verdict:
Tahiti is a great addition to the family desktop genre with its simple but interesting gameplay and high production values. A game with excellent components that improve the sense of immersion in the world of games and are aimed at all players of gamers from board game enthusiasts for children and adults who do not have much gaming experience. Tahiti's gameplay has a very realistic feeling and includes elements such as intelligence, finding a balance between carrying more and faster, and being able to choose a route between short but dangerous and longer but safe. Modular board game adds repeatability, as every time you play on a different card.
Pros:
- great components
- excellent application of the topic
- simple and simple rules
Minuses:
- it would be nice if, in fact, the goods were transported to game canoes and did not put players on the baidar map. the boards
Recommended for: families, casual gamers, non gamers, kids
According to our scoring system, scoring categories have different weights. Components have a weight of 15%, Gameplay 35%, Learning curve 5%, Theme 5%, Reproducibility 25%, Fun 15%. According to this system and the above result in each category, the total weight gain in the game:
Overall: 7.4
