Since there was only one review for Tiki Mountain, I thought I'd add another perspective to the mix. Context/expectations for the purchase were that the game looked like a fun game to play with the family. The artwork is appealing and the theme playful. Now, on to the review.

Theme: 4/5
The game is set on a mysterious island dominated by a massive volcano. The islanders (of which you are one) have clearly developed a respect for the volcano, controlled by the volcano God. They believe that to appease the God and thus prevent a catastrophic volcano eruption, that islanders must sacrifice themselves to the God by jumping into the volcano. This is a playful theme and appropriate for most ages. For those who find the sacrifice inappropriate, there is an alternate game ending "story" you can play.

Materials: 2/5
While the graphics themselves are very well done, there are a number of finer points that I found quite lacking for something so visually rich. In particular, the player tokens (islanders) are the typical dense cardboard stock (good quality) but the stands on which they sit are a small cross-piece of the same card stock that fits in a groove. The tokens stand up alright but are a bit top heavy and will likely wear out quickly as the groove wears out. An extra bottom piece comes with each token. Secondly, the printed cards felt, to me, a bit thin. I may be used to the typical quality of Days of Wonder and other great manufacturers but they still felt excessively thin. Lastly, each player is give 3 different colored stones that sit on the players player card. Oddly enough, each stone was a dramatically different size (e.g. green was half the size of red). None of the above materially impacted my gameplay but it was a noteable disappointment for me. The game board, character cards and obstacle markers were all of good quality.

Gameplay: 3/5
I was excited to play the game because I believed the crazy theme would carry through to fun gameplay. This proved to be true but only in part. I'll walk through the basics. The game is about running your character up a path (multiple paths to get there) to the top of the volcano and, you guessed it, jump in. So...the game is a race of sorts with the ability to micheviously set traps in front of others to foil their progress. The tools of the game include: character card, tiki cards, god cards, obstacle markers, totems (represented by a totem marker), and a spinner.

Character cards - enable you to hold/wear up to 3 items (2 hand slots, 1 foot slot) and is also used to mark how many magic (known as totem) points you have across three types - fire, earth, and water.
Tiki cards - typically 7 cards are held in a players hand, each representing available moves. The card types are: movement (e.g. move 3 spaces), movement bonus (e.g. add 1 to your movement card), magic, and items (e.g. shoe item, hand item - providing some form of bonus to gameplay). The cards are a bit dense reading for a young reader. My 10 year old was fine - my 7 year old found it complicated and required help to understand.
God cards - one played after each person has played a turn. The card, at best, has no affect on players but, at worst, wreaks havoc on your climb up the mountain (e.g. move back 4 spaces). This felt a bit like the black cards in Shadows over Camelot but on a much lower frequency.
Obstacle markers - markers indicating mudslides, lavaflow, rockfalls and some form of gurgling steam that are placed on the board by players throughout the game. Each has a special negative impact that I won't get into here other than to say they are each different and have to be understood how to interact with them throughout the game.
Totems - this is your form of currency used in combination with Tiki cards to set obstacles, perform devilish acts (such as swap positions with another player), negate God cards, negate traps, and more.
Spinner - used at the end of a player's turn to recouperate spent totems. Some options include: gain 1 earth totem, gain 1 of any totem type you chose, gain 1 of each totem type.

Okay, onto taking turns. The game is turn based and a typical player's turn involves the following:

* dumping Tiki cards you don't want.
* Replenishing back up to 7 cards your hand of cards. Note there is a special hand item card that, if worn, enables you to draw an extra card into your hand.
* From there, the player is allowed to move once and do as many other actions from his/her hand of cards that his currency (totems) allows. All of these can be done in the order of the player's choice. This can result in a bit of a long turn for those that require some time to think of the best combination of moves (or don't understand the cards and have to re-read them frequently). Other players, during the person taking their turn, can stop some of the players actions with the use of cards in their hands and with spending totems. These are cards that would read - negate other characters special magic-type cards. You can't negate a player's movement or movement bonuses during their turn. Suffice it to say that there are a lot of special magic cards and I'm not going to describe them all that make the game rich (or the flip side of the coin -- a bit complicated).
* A character completes his/her turn by spinning the wheel and replenishing the totems granted based on the spin.

Rinse and repeat until someone makes it to the top of the volcano and passes a test by drawing a God card and having to typically negate the action to prove worth to die.

My Conclusion:
While I found the game fun, at first, after the theme wore off I found the game a bit of a simplistic in its mechanics. Laying obstacles against competitors is fun but you can also really lay out a terrible sequence of cards that force you to backtrack and go another path. It is a bit of a 3 steps forward and 2 steps back type game. I had to help the younger players a lot to help them optimize their moves. This was a bit disappointing because I bought the game more as a bridge between myself and them to play. I wouldn't pull it out for adults. Too much reading and tedious movement for a gateway game. Overall, I rate this game a 5 out of 10.