Tsuro?

Tsuro!

What the heck is Tsuro?

I’m the one in the family who is usually most ‘up’ on games, so how come I never heard of Tsuro?

My son came in one day and told me he’d bought this game. I was VERY curious, as I’d never heard of it. Eight markers, a bunch of tiles, a gameboard, and a rulebook…wow. I wasn’t impressed. This was an abstract strategy tile-laying game that can be played by anywhere from two to eight players? I had to play it myself to believe it. Within three minutes, he’d verbally told me all the rules and we began playing. It didn’t take me long to change my tune. OK, I’m now impressed.

The components are very simple indeed, but that doesn’t mean that they’re cheaply made. The eight markers are made of sturdy plastic, and engraved with a serpent figure. They are polished and shaped to resemble a smooth stone. The board is a 6x6 grid atop a beige/tan background, and printed over a large phoenix which takes up a good portion of the middle of the board. There are 36 tiles, 35 of which contain straight, curved, and ‘squiggly’ paths that enter and exit at eight points on the tile (2 per side), so all tiles can fit together in some way, shape or form. The last tile contains a drawing of a dragon. The tiles are a little larger than Carcassonne’s, and a bit thinner. All of this makes this game aesthetically pleasing.
The game play is simplicity personified. Place your marker on one of the 48 hash marks that border the 6x6 grid. Everyone is dealt three tiles which make up their hand. On your turn, place one of the tiles in your hand on the square directly in front of your marker, and move the marker along the path in front of your marker as far as you can. Early in the game, your move is usually only to another edge of the tile, but as the grid fills up and paths cross, you’ll be swerving back and forth, doing loop-de-loops, and going in every single direction.

The object of the game is to be the last person whose marker is on the board. This can be a bit tricky. As the grid fills up, more and more paths eventually lead right off the board. There are times that you will lay a tile down that affects not only you, but other players. In such cases, each marker must be moved to its’ new end. If you’re good, you can hopefully find a tile that keeps you on the board while carrying your opponent off the edge. If two players collide on a path, they are both knocked out of the game. If you are knocked out, any tiles remaining in your hand should be placed in a small discard pile.

The game plays amazingly fast – lasting about 10-15 minutes. I’ve played with two to eight players, and the game plays well, but differently, at both ends of the spectrum. The two-player game is very calculating and tactical as each player builds his own path, seeking to avoid (or initiate, depending on your style of play) conflict with the other player. As the number of players increases, you have less control of your own destiny, but the chance for affecting others in your turn also increases, so it’s a double-edged sword. Even if you’re knocked out of a game, the game is quick enough and simple enough that the disappointment is minimal and short-lived. It won’t be long before the next game starts.

You can play this game in a reactionary fashion just by putting down a tile that keeps you on the board, but once you’re familiar with the game, it’s possible to ‘visualize’ which areas of the board will be troublesome. Then, depending on the tiles you have in your hand, you can try to affect your opponent’s pawn towards that area and/or keep your pawn a safe distance away from it. In this way, people that are familiar with the game tend to win more often.

All in all, it’s a pretty neat little filler. I’m not one who’s overly fond of abstract strategy games, much less tile laying games (Carcassonne being an exception). Tsuro overcomes my prejudice against both of those genres. Although I wouldn’t want to play this for hours on end, it’s a fun game to take out now and then. In the time it takes to read this review, you could probably learn the rules and play the game. So what are you waiting for?