Rules
The goal of Tsuro is to have the last piece on the board. To begin, each player chooses a pawn and places it on one of the tan hash marks around the outside of the board. The 35 game tiles are shuffled and 3 are dealt face down to each player. The oldest player starts the game.
On a player's turn, he will place one of the tiles from his hand onto the space adjacent to his pawn. He will then move his pawn along the newly created path until it stops. Any other pawns that also have a path will move to the end as well. If a pawn goes off the board it is eliminated. If two pawns meet head-on, both are eliminated. If the active player is still in the game, he draws tiles to bring his hand up to 3. Play passes to the left.
As you can see, this is a very simple ruleset. There is nowhere for a player to get confused because the rules are simple and laid out very well.
Components
As far as pretty games are concerned, Tsuro must be near the top of the list. Every component has been artistically detailed to deliver the best presentation possible.
For starters, the box is absolutely gorgeous and is adorned with beautiful drawings of dragons done in rich reds and golds. The stock is quite sturdy and should hold up very well. There is a simple insert which holds the tiles right in the middle of the box.
The rulebook is more of a single page that has been folded to resemble an envelope. The outside is dark red with gold writing and artwork and the inside is white with very easy to read instructions.
The player pawns come in 8 different colors that are different enough to be distinguishable. Each pawn has a carving of a dragon on the front which is very nicely detailed for being so small. The pawns are made of a dense plastic which feels heavier than it looks. The only thing that could make these better would be making them out of stone, but that would be far too expensive and labor intensive. Still, it would make the game look absolutely gorgeous.
The path tiles feature numerous paths on each. The background has the appearance of marble while the paths actually look as though they've been carved into the stone face. Its a truly beautiful representation. The backs of the tiles are adorned with gorgeous gold writing and ink. In addition to being visually stunning, the tiles are printed on a very thick stock. The stock is on par with the thickness of the box, but is a bit more rigid. The tiles are coated with a semi-gloss finish that helps them stay in place on the board.
There is also the Dragon tile which is given to the first player who can't draw a tile. It doesn't mean much in terms of gameplay, but it does look rather nice. The tile features the head of the dragon that is displayed on the front of the box. This pretty piece is made of the same stock as the path tiles.
The board is one of the most beautiful board in all of gaming. Its a standard quad-fold board that is made of very sturdy stock with good binding. The artwork that adorns the board is that of a peacock rendered in rich reds and golds with earthtones for accent. The illustration looks exactly like some sort of painting from the Far East which is what its meant to represent. Quite honestly, the board is nice enough to frame and hang on the wall. The artwork is stunning and its almost a shame that it gets covered up during gameplay.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Tsuro is overwhelmingly simple. On your turn, you need to place a tile next to your pawn so that its path is continued. You don't have any choice over where you play the tile so your only real choices are which tile you play and the orientation of that tile on the board.
Players have a hand of 3 tiles which helps to mitigate the luck. This gives players several options as to where to move their pawns and allows them to think ahead slightly. Although the extremely tight nature of the board makes planning tough, its certainly doable to a small degree. If players were forced to draw a tile and play it, the game would be completely random and devoid of any strategy.
Early in the game, players will have no problem keeping their pawn safe. But after just a couple of turns, the board will start to fill up and the options will decrease rapidly. Therefore the early game is essential as players should strive to maintain isolation. Confrontation is inevitable, but you'd be wise to put it off as long as possible.
Despite the planning that is available, the game feels highly random. You have absolutely no control over what the other players are doing and you don't really have that much control over yourself. You'll often feel like you have very little say in the outcome and I think thats true. I don't believe there can possibly be "good" or "bad" players in this game. There's no way to know what tiles you will draw or what tiles others may have unlike games like Carcassonne. You can't possibly memorize the tiles in this game and even if you could I don't think it would help that much. Tsuro is not so much a game as it is an experience. There really aren't many choices to make and the ones that exist are incredibly limiting.
All of the negatives of the above paragraph are negated by one key factor: Time. It only takes about 10 minutes to play a game of Tsuro. So if you get eliminated early, you won't have to wait long to get another chance. While the game is very random, the super fast playtime makes the game feel light enough that you don't really care about the luck factor. Its a highly enjoyable game that warrants several replays.
One of the most important things about Tsuro is that it plays from 2-8 players and it does all those levels rather well. The 2-player game will seem a bit boring and the 7 or 8-player version will seem a bit chaotic. The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle between 3-6 players. While you can play more or less, thats where the gameplay will be the best.
As a family game, Tsuro would really shine. Its simple enough that young children can play it. Its fast enough to hold their attention. And its quite pretty to look at so it should really entice them. Please note that the pawns are small so keep them away from the really little ones.
Tsuro is also a great choice for a gateway game. The ruleset is overwhelmingly easy to teach and should be easy to grasp for almost anyone. The game is fast and there is very little downtime. The visual presentation is terrific. All of these factors make this a great game to introduce new players to the wonderful world of boardgaming. It would be highly unlikely that nobody would request a second or third game.
Theme
There's no theme here because this is an abstract strategy game.
Compare it to
I've never played it, but it looks very similar to Metro. I'm amazed that they're not from the same designer. If you have Metro, I don't think you need Tsuro, and vice versa.
Overall
Tsuro is by no means a game of deep strategy or tough choices. It doesn't pretend to be. Tsuro is a fast moving game filled with fun and a healthy dose of randomness. The game has a really quick playtime that will almost guarantee several replays at each session. This is an ideal game to start or end a game night with and also makes a great game for those evenings when you want a quick light game that doesn't make your brain hurt.
Overall, I rate Tsuro 7/10. I like it enough that I will play it anytime I'm asked and I might even suggest it on occassion. Its a fun simple game that can be played really quickly by a wide number of players.
The next time I have an opportunity to show someone my hobby, I'll probably start with Tsuro. Its got everything I need to hook a new gamer and also has enough to keep me entertained. This is a game that deserves a home on the shelves of most gamers and also non-gamers. If you buy it and don't like it, you can always frame the board.
Last edited on 2008-02-28 09:58:22 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Posted Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:11 pm
