Tsuro - The Game of The Path

Got out last night with a new group of folks who introduced me to a number of new board games, many of which I had never before experienced. The game that resonated most with me was a simple yet stylish offering called Tsuro.

In Tsuro, each character is a wind dragon (not to be confused with the luck dragon from The Neverending Story).

Played on a sqaure board, laid out as a grid, each dragon starts at a separate point along the exterior of the game board, and then each player in turn places a tile down infront of their dragon, which dictates the path that the dragon will follow. Each player receives 3 tiles to begin the game, and draws a new tile from the deck after a tile is laid. The point of the game is to lay down tiles so that your dragon avoids flying off of the board, or colliding with other players dragons. Last player standing wins.

The artwork of the game board and box draw heavily on Asian dragon symbolism, and very clean, simple lines. The game play, while seemingly simple, can become relatively complex once a player starts to manipulate the paths of their opponents. Ofcourse, choices are dictated by the tile cards in a players hand, but how a player chooses to utilize these tiles leaves significant room for varied play styles.

Game play moves very quickly, with a four player game lasting under 10 minutes.   Our game ended in a draw with a spectacular head on collisio between two dragons.  Because we had other games to sample, we didn't play a second round, but the game obviously caught my interest as I found myself contemplating strategy later in the evening. After our play test, our host mentioned that he had first discovered Tsuro through Wil Wheaton's online show: Table Top. I immediately decided that I would need to find the episode, just to see Wil Wheaton's approach to the game. As I expected, the episode of Table Top featuring Tsuro, featured 2 other mini games as well, Zombie Die, and Get Bit.

If you aren't familiar with Table Top, the premise is simple.   Wil and his compatriots play test various board games, for the sheer joy of playing. It was entertaining to watch their game unfold and compare the various play styles of Wil's playtesters to the players that I had played with earlier in the evening.  Wil took the master startegist approach, attempting to gain control of the center of the game board early on.  Unfortunatley, it was all for naught, a he failed to secure the victory.

I love that such a seemingly simple, yet remarkably complex game has still got me thinking about it 24 hours later. This will definitely be a box that I will be adding to my games closet very soon.