Okay, I'm sure that other people have played this game this month, but only two of us have logged games. The point being that this game appears to be little known, but deserves to be much better known.

When I first read about this game, it didn't appear very promising because the idea of Moai shooting lasers out of their eyes seemed just silly. Moreover, as a big Zombies!!! fan, this game did not seem typical of Twilight Creations line-up.

But my wife got me Easter Island for my birthday, and I was very impressed. It's a very good brain-burner, with lots of choice, but not AP prone. It also plays quickly and is great if you want a quick, highly satisfying abstract.

Bits:

The Moai statues (7 of each colour) are pretty cool--plastic receations of the famous statues from Easter Island. The board is an aerial view of an island (I have no idea how closely it resembles Easter Island) with a grid with 25 intersections superimposed on it; also included are 16 tokens (8 of each colour) depicting the sun.

The components are of very good quality, but the box is rather odd. It has an insert with a holder for the components, but unfortunately it is not closed, so every time you open the box, you get to fish for Moais under the insert.

Set Up:

Other than having to fish for the Moai, set up is very quick, with each player receiving 7 Moai and eight tokens.


Rules/Play:

The theme of the game is that the statues fire laser beams when controlled by wizards, so the goal of the game is to reduce your opponent to only one statue. This is a very strange theme, but you soon forget about it when you get playing.

The game begins by players alternately placing statues on the grid until each has placed four. When placing your initial statues, you need to consider how they could eliminate your opponent's.

The statues have triangular bases, with their base parallel with the back of the statue. The other two sides of the triangle can reflect the sun beams indicated by the tokens, but the apex of the triangle and the base (or front and back of the statue) cannot.

The sun tokens are placed on the perimeter of a circle that encloses the grid, with 20 spots available. When the token is flipped, a beam of light (imaginary) travels directly from the token. If it encounters the front or back of a statue, that statue is eliminated. The beam refelcts off the sides of a stutue at a 90 degree angle, and can reflect a number of times before eliminating a statue. Aside from receiving a beam on its apex or base, a statue can also be eliminated when the beam reflected off it goes off the grid without encountering another statue. The statue is also eliminated if a single beam reflects off both of its sides in the course of its travels.

I was very surprised at how easily this idea works when you play, and it is much easier to play than explain. From our first play we had no difficulty visualizing potential paths of light reflecting around the board.

There are five actions and you can take two of them on your turn, including repeats (exception: after the initial statue placement, the first player only gets one action). The actions are:

a) Place another statue on the board. You only get seven statues and four of them are placed initially. Placing them is critical as you lose when you only have one statue left on the board, regardless of how many you have in reserve. You may not palce a statue and direct a beam with that same statue in the same turn.

b) Place a sun token. These are placed face down on one of the 20 points aligned with the grid. They are not activated until they are flipped over, so placing them can really put your opponent in a bind. You may not direct a beam from a token in the same turn you placed it.

c) Rotate a statue 90 or 180 degrees. This is very useful as a potential beam can be redirected to harm your opponent instead of you.

d) Move a statue in a straight line, without rotating it or jumping over existing statues. This is very useful for defence or offence, or turning defence into offence.

e) Direct a beam from a token. When the token is flipped over, a beam travels in a straight line and is reflected accordingly. No token may be placed over top of it, and it cannot be reactivated in any way.

The game ends when one of the players only has one statue on the board, regardless of any he has in reserve, or if no beams can be sent, then the player with the most statues on the board wins.

Strategy/Tactics:

There are lots of possibilities on your turn, enough that you never get the feeling of having missed the single best tactic, and that is one of the qualities I really enjoy about this game.

Having statues in the middle of the board is important, as they can often find protection from beams by getting behind other statues; however, since tokens can be placed on all four sides of the board, they are far from immune. Still, statues in the middle of board are also good for redirecting beams on more complicated paths.

The edge of the board is also important as these statues can send the beams from tokens placed near the edge to the middle of the board. You have to be careful about the corners though. If you get hemmed in by other statues, you are a sitting duck.

Placing tokens adroitly can really put your opponent on the run or get you out of a jam. I find that placing two tokens, each directed at a vulnerable statue, can force your opponent on to the defensive, and give you an edge. They spend their whole turn getting away from your tokens, and then you have yet another turn to creat greater threats by moving your statues, or you get to capture at least one of your opponents.

Having said that, it is not a good idea to devote your entire turn to defence. Placing a statue, moving one, or rotating one can often turn your opponent's ammunition against him, neutralizing his token, and allowing you to do something with yours. The tokens cannot be moved once placed, so the more of your opponent's you can neutralize the more powerless he is.

Moreover, any statue put in a position where its only way to avoid capture is to move and rotate, is likely going to be sacrificed, as devoting an entire turn to evasion for one statue is not very efficient.

Once a token has ben flipped and used, it becomes a safe haven, especially if you can get your statues between a used token and your opponent's or your own statue, or between two used tokens.

Of course nothing is permanent in this game, which is highly tactical. It is all about getting just a little edge on your opponent. Our games have always been close.

Also, it is worthwhile to keep in mind that you only have to bring your opponent down to one staute on the board. If you can keep them really busy, they may not have the chance to add statues to the board, and you can get them down to one statue while they still have a couple in reserve.

Finally, it is important not to be too cheap with your tokens. Their placement determines your opponent's moves, so I try to get 5 or 6 of them out pretty quickly, such that they cover all four sides of the board, covering both edges and the middle.

Conclusion:

I am not a huge fan of abstracts, but I find Easter Island very appealing. Its a brain burner, but also a very fluid game, in which there always seems to be room to try something, or to turn things around. While there are usually quite a number of choices on your turn, there always seems to be more than one good one, so we haven't found that sinking feeling of having made a wrong move that lost, or won, us the game.

While not as elegant as Hive, I rank Easter Island equally high in terms of filling the need for quick, stimulating abstract.

I rate this game a 9.