‘Tiki Mountain’ a hilarious race to destruction

By MICHAEL ERB
Staff Writer
The Parkerburg News and Sentinel
www.newsandsentinel.com

PARKERSBURG — The great Volcano God is angry and ready to explode. The only thing that will satisfy the Volcano God’s appetite and save the everyone from destruction is the sacrifice of the island’s bravest and most fleet-footed Tiki.

That’d be you. If you get there first.

In “Tiki Mountain” by Slugfest Games players race their Tikis, little guys with large tribal masks, up the side of the mountain, using magic, items and lucky breaks to avoid obstacles and slow opponents. The goal is to be the first Tiki to reach the lip of the volcano and hurl yourself in, thereby appeasing the great Volcano God and saving the island.

Players use Climb cards to move up the mountain, and can add Climb Better cards to gain extra distance. Item and Tiki Magic cards can be played to increase movement, circumvent obstacles or throw mudslides and lava flows in the paths of the other Tikis.

Each round players also randomly receive Tiki Totems, which represent the three elements of the island: Fire (red), Water (blue) and Earth (green). Tiki Totems are used to fuel some cards and are used to make sacrifices when trying to prove a Tiki worthy of the Volcano God.

There also is an Angry Volcano God deck of cards, and one is drawn each round, affecting all players’ characters. Sometimes the God is still and nothing happens. Other times there are earthquakes that send all of the Tikis sliding back down the mountain. The cards also contain an “Are you worthy?” task for any Tiki who reaches the lip of the volcano. If the Tiki cannot perform the task, usually a sacrifice of Tiki Totems and items, then they are not worthy and must wait until the next turn to try again. A Tiki who is found worthy leaps into the volcano and wins the game. Yay!

The entire game has a wonderful tongue-in-cheek tone, and the artwork and subtext carries the feel through the different cards and tokens. For example, instead of Tikis having feet, they have Feets, and many of the cards play off the double plural, such as “Feets Don’t Fail Me Now!” which can be played to avoid certain obstacles and dangers.

The game is bright and colorful and very evocative of the tropical setting. Though some might consider the subject matter a little dark for such a light-hearted game (after all, you are racing to kill yourself to save everyone else), the rules do contain suggestions on how to make the subject matter a little more kid-friendly by having the Tikis only sacrificing Totems and items to appease the Volcano God and win the game.

One of the things I really enjoy about all Slugfest games is the very short and simple rules. In the case of “Tiki Mountain,” the rules take up only two pages (the front and back of a box-sized piece of paper). This makes learning how to play the game fairly simple, and allows a group to sit down and start playing without having to leaf through page after page of rules to find answers to their questions. In “Tiki Mountain” the rules are light and simple, the gameplay fast and fun.

This is a an excellent game and one I will bring to the table many times in the future. The fast gameplay keeps everyone involved and it moves quickly enough to play multiple games in an evening. Though there is a bit of a “screw the other player” element to the game, the light tone and numerous choices keep it on a very friendly level, and even losing players will find themselves quickly wanting to set up the board for another game.

For more information on “Tiki Mountain” and other Slugfest Games products, visit www.slugfestgames.com. For more game reviews and discussion, visit my blog at http://merb101.livejournal.com.

Contact Michael at merb101@gmail.com.

Edit: A review copy of the game was provided for this article.