Game: Ta Yü

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

ivegotagreattoy — 2008-10-28T02:25:46+00:00

New Tayu Game is available at www.goliathgames.us. Cost $29.99

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HandEyeProtege — 2008-10-11T20:21:44+00:00

The provided bag for the tiles

Thread: Re: Rivers to the Sea: A Review of Ta Yü

Jim Cobb — 2008-10-08T12:02:37+00:00

I always think of this as a four-player game, as that's the way I've played it the most. The four-player game is interesting, because you can't talk to your partner about where to place the tiles.

There are also solitaire rules available here on the Geek, created by Stven Carlberg.

Thread: Re: Rivers to the Sea: A Review of Ta Yü

Barticus88 — 2008-10-07T23:22:29+00:00

HandEyeProtege wrote:
The theme of the game comes from Chinese folklore, in which Ta Yü was a hero who saved the land from a flood by diverting it through channels to the sea.
Unfortunately, the bio in the rules leaves out the rather important detail that the emperor made him heir to the empire.

HandEyeProtege wrote:
My biggest gripe with Ta Yü is the cost. At present it appears that this edition is going for over $100--at that price tag, it's hard to say you're getting the value for your money, even if the components are fantastic.
That is a lot for this game.

HandEyeProtege wrote:
I understand there's a cheaper edition available that probably doesn't have the superior aesthetics, but would certainly still deliver the gameplay.

Be aware that the new version is different.

Thread: Rivers to the Sea: A Review of Ta Yü

HandEyeProtege — 2008-10-07T20:42:15+00:00

I bought Ta Yü almost on a whim; the concept looked intriguing, it was a two player game--I'm always in the market for two player games that I can play with my wife--and, most of all, the game simply looked gorgeous! It is very much an abstract game, unlike most of the Euros that I prefer. The theme of the game comes from Chinese folklore, in which Ta Yü was a hero who saved the land from a flood by diverting it through channels to the sea. In the game you lay tiles to create channels of water from one side of the board to the other.

Components

I cannot commend the components of this game highly enough. I bought the Kosmos edition of the game, and in it everything is artfully produced. The tiles are thick and heavy, feeling almost like porcelain instead of plastic, with blue grooves inset to represent the water channel; they are both tactilely and visually pleasing, and evoke the sense of a marble or ceramic aqueduct. The board is of good board stock, colored in muted tones of blue and gold and decorated with an oriental motif. Even the box is of high caliber, sturdy and solid, with simple artwork that matches the board. My edition came with German rules, and the reseller--I can't recall who I bought it from--provided a photocopy of an English translation. Not a big deal; the rules are just a single large sheet and simple enough that I've never needed to refer to them after the first play.

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Gameplay

A typical game of Ta Yü has two players; they alternate turns, drawing a tile and playing it, until tiles run out or, more commonly, there is no available move. Each Ta Yü tile contains a forked water channel, so that there are three places where the channel meets the edge. Tiles fit a 3x1 rectangle on the board, so there are 28 different types of tiles, four of each. The first tile must be placed over a spring in the center of the board, and subsequent tiles must be placed so that at least one of its water channels matches with a channel on an adjacent tiles. Of course, anywhere to tiles touch they must either have a matching channel outlets or an empty edge; a channel cannot end by running into the blank edge of another tile.

Once a player cannot find a spot for his tile--the opponent can point out a play, if he wishes--then the game is over and scores are tallied. I find the scoring in Ta Yü particularly elegant: you earn points by running channels to the edge of the game board--one player aiming for the north-south edges, and the other for the east-west edges--and your score is the product of your connections on the two sides. For instance, if I made three connections on one side and five on another, I'd have fifteen points; my opponent might have eight connections on one side but only one on the other, so he'd only have eight points. There are three special spaces on each edge which count as two connections for that side, if you have a channel reach that point.

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There are three and four player variants for Ta Yü, but I haven't tried them and can't very well comment on them. It just seems like such a two player game, and the variants seem a bit tacked on. For three, the third player acts as the "flood", an antagonist to the primary two players, and he can win by preventing them both from scoring a number of points determined by bidding at the start of the game. The four player version is a partnership game, where players work together to route their channels across the board.

My Impressions

Ta Yü's non-square tiles make for an atypical tile laying game; combined with the restricted playing area of the board, the gameplay is both more chaotic and more interesting. There are bound to be gaps amongst the tiles on the board, but it is surprising just how many you can squeeze in, even when a hole looks unplayable.

Any tile-laying game is going to come down to luck at some point--something that bugs me to no end when it happens--but in Ta Yü the luck is well mitigated. The fact is, there aren't really that many different tiles, and unless you need to match all three channel outlets there will be several tiles that could work for you, so the chances of finding a useful one are pretty good. What marks a good player is knowing what to do with that tile that looks completely useless.

And you will have things to do. Ta Yü is one of those games that is simple to learn but tough to master, and that's because there are always numerous objectives that you will be working towards. You'll be directing channels towards your sides of the board, taking scoring opportunities, and trying to keep options open by redirecting water towards areas that have not seen it yet. Conversely, you will want to hinder your opponent from doing these same things. Because of the clever scoring mechanism you always need to be attentive to both sides of the board; even if you do great on one half, your opponent can shut you out of the other half to undermine your score. Much of the tension comes from the fact that any time you're in a position to score, your opponent is also in a position to block your board edge; you need to capitalize on those opportunities before they are snatched away.

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There's one other rule that I didn't mention above. The rules state that you should arrange the tiles in a block (as shown below) before the game, and as you play you draw your tiles from the front of it. This makes a difference because some tiles have a circular symbol on the back; this symbol means that channels on the tile exit on three different sides, while the tiles without a symbol have channel exits on one or two sides. (E.g. one of the long sides has two exit channels). This does add another element of strategy--if, say, you are looking for a particular configuration of tile--but I've found that assembling the tile block is too tedious and time consuming, and always just draw tiles from the provided bag.

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Conclusion

My biggest gripe with Ta Yü is the cost. At present it appears that this edition is going for over $100--at that price tag, it's hard to say you're getting the value for your money, even if the components are fantastic. I understand there's a cheaper edition available that probably doesn't have the superior aesthetics, but would certainly still deliver the gameplay. Outside of the cost, I would wholeheartedly recommend this game for anyone who enjoys abstract strategy or is looking for an engaging two player game.

(Thanks to Gollum and Verkisto for some borrowed images.)

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HandEyeProtege — 2008-10-03T17:15:47+00:00

A great scoring play - three points from one tile

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HandEyeProtege — 2008-10-03T17:13:06+00:00

A closeup of some Ta Yu tiles.

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HandEyeProtege — 2008-10-03T06:27:34+00:00

Back cover of the Kosmos version

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HandEyeProtege — 2008-10-03T04:02:09+00:00

A particularly tough blocking move takes away four possible points for this side with one tile placement.

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HandEyeProtege — 2008-10-03T03:59:38+00:00

The rules tell you to set up the tiles in a block like this before playing, but pulling them from the bag is so much easier.

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Barad_the_dwarf — 2008-09-28T20:18:59+00:00

The name of the game...

Thread: Funagain Games has a $109 German version.

longagoigo — 2008-09-20T07:46:03+00:00

After reading about this on a Geeklist, I checked its entry and read that it was out of print. There was also a discussion that a newer version in an ugly red had 18 rather than 19 grids. Hoping to do a bit more research, I went to Funagain Games, which usually has info on out of print versions, and found that it is listed in Back in Stock on the main page. How coincidental is that? Anyway, its a German edition in blue with a 19 grid. Bad news, for such a simple game, it's $108.95. They also have the Preorder red one for $26.99.

Thread: Re: Old version sold out?

Barticus88 — 2008-09-12T17:28:16+00:00

The sad thing here is it's not just the hideous colors, they actualy changed the game is a small yet significant way. The old game is 19x19 with double on the 4th, 10th, and 16th spots. The new one is 18x18 with double on the 4th, 9th, 10th, and 15th spots. Not that one is particularly better than the other, but it's different.

Having the two doubles side by side was probably not well play-tested.

Thread: Re: Old version sold out?

muzzynyc — 2008-09-12T14:08:42+00:00

Curses!

"Iwillnotchaseagrailgame Iwillnotchaseagrailgame..."

Thread: Re: Old version sold out?

Barticus88 — 2008-09-11T22:07:58+00:00

I can't even find it on eBay. You may need to hunt for this one.

Thread: Re: Old version sold out?

Angry Duck — 2008-09-11T21:06:04+00:00

Long gone buddy. Good luck finding one ... ... it is a great looking game with fantastic game play.

Thread: Old version sold out?

muzzynyc — 2008-09-11T19:26:29+00:00

Is the Kosmos version available anywhere that people know of, or is it long gone?

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Carrotteer — 2008-06-29T12:47:20+00:00

a pile of Ta Yü tiles

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Carrotteer — 2008-06-29T12:43:29+00:00

A look inside the bag.

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Carrotteer — 2008-06-28T19:48:37+00:00

close-up of game in progress

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

jmilum — 2008-04-04T02:36:00+00:00

Barticus88 wrote:
I was disappointed in the original piece
i never had a problem w/ sliding or lining up, and the original pieces just FEEL so very nice. like the bakelite hive ones. they make nice sounds when stacking too.

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

starspangledgirl — 2008-04-04T01:40:32+00:00

It looks like Trax.

Thread: Re: Some serious weirdness going on in Ta Yu!

heli — 2008-03-09T23:34:20+00:00

We usually play choosing from two tiles. Only a little bit more choice, true, but it seems more fun for us.

Thread: Re: Ta Yu - a beautiful game

lifepawn — 2007-12-12T15:03:33+00:00

Other times, that piece of information isn't very helpful as you could use either type of piece depending on how the river flows on it.

I tend to view the marked pieces as defensive and the unmarked pieces as offensive. The marked ones are better for blocking off rivers headed towards your opponents edge and redirecting them to yours. The unmarked ones are better for splitting rivers into branches so they're harder to block off and easier to continue.

Thread: Re: Ta Yu - a beautiful game

DaviddesJ — 2007-12-12T08:16:29+00:00

kpetzing wrote:
The only thing you know about the pieces is if the rivers go off two sides or only one side

That's not right. The difference is between those pieces that have rivers on three of the four sides (12 types) and those that have rivers on one or two sides (16 types).

Thread: Re: Ta Yu - a beautiful game

volnon — 2007-12-12T03:29:08+00:00

A very nice game- relaxing and tranquil, the river flowing serenely along until it SLAMS INTO YOUR OPPONENT!

But yes, a pretty game that instills a sense of calm. At least to me.

Thread: Re: Ta Yu - a beautiful game

carthaginian — 2007-12-11T22:52:05+00:00

are you aware that an alternate version exists, made by goliath, that has very few lovers? : ]]>

Thread: Ta Yu - a beautiful game

kpetzing — 2007-12-11T16:31:50+00:00

Components:

Let me start with saying how nicely made this game is. The pieces are made of bakelite (or some similar substance) and look and feel great. The board is of normal construction but the designs on it are quite pretty and go well with the theme and the tiles. When I bring it out with new people, they always comment on how beautiful it is.

The instructions are also clear and concise.

Goal:

In this game, you are trying to get multiple rivers to connect to the two opposite sides of the board that are assigned to you. So you may have the top and bottom of the board while your opponent has the two sides.

Your score is the number of rivers you have connecting the one side times the number that connect to the other side (providing they are all connected to each other). So it is best to get several rivers to each side of the board - and it is not good to have one river on one side and many on the other; for example, having three rivers on both sides gets the same score as nine rivers on one side and one on the other. To further enhance the game there are particular places on each side of the board where the value of having a river reach there doubles the points of the river, so those places are the most desirable to reach (also meaning that your opponent is trying to block you from getting to those).

Game play:

At the beginning of the game all the tiles are stacked in two rows forming a block of pieces from which to chose. However on your turn you may only chose the top piece on the first column of either of two rows. So you only have two pieces to chose from each turn. No pieces are ever held in your hand. The only thing you know about the pieces is if the rivers go off two sides or only one side - there is a subtle mark on the back of each piece indicating this. Other than that small bit of information, the pieces you pick are random. And as one could expect, often both pieces you have access to are marked, or not marked. Other times, that piece of information isn't very helpful as you could use either type of piece depending on how the river flows on it.

The board is a grid and each piece takes up three spaces on it. The pieces can be put down any way that the rivers are contiguous. Spaces can be left unfilled, and rivers can just abruptly end into these unfilled spaces.

On your turn, you chose from the two tiles available to you and then place your piece on the board in an attempt to get multiple river endings on your two assigned sides of teh board, or attempt to block your opponent from getting rivers on their sides of the board. Early in the game, usually the piece you get can be placed several places (with good effects) but towards the end, you often find yourself just putting the piece anywhere you can get it to fit because there are so many river ends that you must match up with. If you can't place your piece, the game is over. It can take a while to find the few (or one) places your piece can go at times. And sometimes you may have to chose the lesser of the two bad options (e.g., the piece you have may only be able to go in two places, one that hurts you and one that benefits your opponent).

Summary:

Each time I've taken this game out, people have enjoyed playing with it and ask for it again, so I have to rate it highly. It's not only attractive, but also enjoyable and easy to explain (even to non-gamers). Apart from some occassional AP near the end when either chosing a piece or where to place it, the game usually moves pretty quickly. The only detraction to this game is the cost (which I'm sure disuades many from buying it), but given the quality of the components, the cost is understandable.

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

rossum — 2007-11-05T16:24:11+00:00

For those of you subscribing to this thread, I found another picture of the new edition over at Boardgame news.

Original story here, larger image here.

I do like the way the tiles appear to fit into the board, but I recently traded for a Kosmos copy. I like blue more than red.

Mischa

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

Barticus88 — 2007-10-21T06:07:42+00:00

Akke wrote:
At least the tiles line up properly. The original version was a big disappointment to me.

vandemonium wrote:
I've never had a problem with tiles lining up on mine, I was surprised to hear that...

Like Akke, I was disappointed in the original pieces. The board is just a printed piece of cardboard; the pieces can go anywhere. With this new edition, the board and pieces are molded plastic, so the pieces don't slide around. I find this edition vastly superior to the original, except for the hideous colors, and reducing the size by one is tres dumb.

Thread: Three player version

Barticus88 — 2007-10-21T05:46:26+00:00

Has anyone played the three player version? I would like to, but I have never had three experienced players in one place to give it a try.

Thread: Re: Tie breaker?

Barticus88 — 2007-10-21T05:11:11+00:00

jmilum wrote:
My wife and I both ended up with the same score (4X5=20), is there a tie breaker?

No.

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

Barticus88 — 2007-10-21T05:09:00+00:00

qswanger wrote:
Uh, I'm afraid there's an even worse problem then how this new version looks. Has anyone bothered to count the dimensions of the game board? I scrutinized the enlarged picture and it appears to be 18x18 instead of 19x19! What gives? Is this some huge mistake in manufacturing, or has the original game been intentionally modified (with new rules?)

You are correct, it's 18x18. Obviously they wanted it symmetrical, for eas of manufacturing. They turned the middle bonus spot into two bonus spots, which will make reaching the middle more important. So sad. I always felt the Ta Yu board was too large. I would have liked a 15x15 board with half the pieces (two of each). But reducing the board by only one isn't making a smaller game, it's just being cheap.

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

qswanger — 2007-10-04T00:46:29+00:00

Uh, I'm afraid there's an even worse problem then how this new version looks. Has anyone bothered to count the dimensions of the game board? I scrutinized the enlarged picture and it appears to be 18x18 instead of 19x19! What gives? Is this some huge mistake in manufacturing, or has the original game been intentionally modified (with new rules?)

Thread: Re: Ta Yu - A beautiful and enjoyable tile placement game fo

ssmooth — 2007-08-15T08:30:52+00:00

An hour is what I figure for a normally paced game.

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

fanaka66 — 2007-07-07T02:28:06+00:00

Anyone know what happened with this? I know it's not pretty, but I love the game and want a copy.

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

ipgyst — 2007-05-31T12:09:32+00:00

"That's the worst looking boardgame I ever saw! I'll bet you buy a game like that and it comes with a free bowl of soup!"

Nice to know that my beefy Kosmos edition will retain its value.

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

teg2 — 2007-05-11T04:11:05+00:00

Agree with all here ... what were they thinking ?? Glad too I have my Kosmos copy, and no problems lining up the tiles. Great game.

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

vandemonium — 2007-03-27T18:29:46+00:00

Boy, that picture is very unflattering - to say the least. I am very glad to have the Kosmos version already. I've never had a problem with tiles lining up on mine, I was surprised to hear that... This has been played many many times at my place and we have enjoyed it every time.
Cheers,
Van

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

rawlic — 2007-03-27T17:18:02+00:00

I just bought the Kosmos edition and am I glad I did! I don't understand the choice of lava red. It would have to be a lot cheaper for me to choose it over the edition I have.

-Chuck

Thread: Re: Review by SOS

Larry Welborn — 2007-03-06T16:04:36+00:00

Excellent review of one of my all-time favorite games.

Thread: Review by SOS

sos1 — 2007-03-06T00:22:25+00:00

Ta Yü is a beautiful game, both to look and to play. Although a theme is mentioned in the rules (draining a flood in the center of the board by creating rivers to the edges), it is only weakly implemented - this is very much an abstract game, but an excellent one. While primarily aimed at two players, it works very well with four in a partnership game. In fact, I think I like the partnership game better than the two-player. There are also rules included for a three-player variant which sound interesting, but I haven't tried yet. I'm not sure why the designer didn't include a six-player variant also - the three-player version with partners. I think this would be an excellent game, and am looking forward to trying it. It may be too long between turns, but I'll find out on my own.

Components

The game uses a board, attractively decorated with Chinese dragons, consisting of 19x19 small squares. The center square is marked, and three of the spaces along each edge are also marked as special. While the board is attractive, the real beauty is in the 112 tiles - they are both visually and tactilely appealing. From the back they resemble slightly elongated dominoes. On the front, they have blue lines ("rivers") in various patterns which are very attractive against the ivory-colored background. The feel of them is elegant, cool, and soothing - the game is a joy to play.

The Basics

It's a game of the "connect one side of the board with the other side of the board" type. This one is slightly different from other games of this ilk, however. Each piece covers, in a straight line, three squares on the board. Each piece has exactly three places where the single, connected river on it comes the edge of the tile. These can be in any center of any of the thirds of the piece, so there are a few different types of pieces - 28, to be exact. Of those 28 different types of pieces, 12 have a river that touches three different edges, 15 have a river that touches two different edges, and 1 has a river that touches only one edge (but in three places along that edge). The 28 tiles are duplicated four times in the set to make up the 112 tiles.

Since each piece (after the first, which is played in the middle of the board) must connect a river with an existing river end already placed, there is the potential to have two new river ends coming out of the maze with each tile placement. The reality is, of course, that some tiles will connect two or even three rivers as they are placed, so they actually reduce the number of river ends available to play on.

Thus the number of river ends available to play on can grow or shrink each turn, and cannot, in fact, remain the same after a tile play unless playing one river to a board edge. This is because it's illegal to place a tile so that a river touches a blank tile side - rivers must either connect to each other, to blank spaces, or to the edge of the board.

Scoring

The edge of the board - yes, that's important. One player (or team) is playing North-South, and the other East-West. Your final score is the number of river ends running off one of your edges times the number of river ends running off the opposite edge. So if you get lucky and get ten rivers off one edge, they don't do you any good at all if you never connect to the other edge! The three special edge spaces on each side, by the way, grant two points each if you can get a river to drain into them.

To Begin ...

The game begins with the tiles stacked in two rows, seven tiles high. Each turn you may choose one of the front two tiles. The backs of the 48 tiles with rivers running to three edges are faintly marked with a circle, so you can tell whether you are getting one of those or one that runs to only two or one edge. (By the way, the only flaw in the production of the game is in these circles. They're very hard to see, as they're not inked. Quite an eyestrain. I've found that rubbing a crayon or grease pencil over them, then rubbing off the excess wax fills in the circles just enough to see them without ruining the tiles. If they get stained from this procedure, you can wipe it off with one of those sheets of dryer fabric softener.)

Each turn you draw one tile, then place it. (There is a variant where you always have a choice between two tiles, but I haven't felt compelled to try it yet.) It's true that there's some luck involved in drawing only one tile and having to live with that one, but so far luck has played a minor part in our games. There's always something you can do with almost any draw - either to help yourself or hinder your opponents, or both at the same time. Having to find a best spot for one tile as opposed to two also reduces the time for each move - you have less options to consider.

... and End

The game ends when someone draws a tile that can't be played. This is a very satisfying sudden-death ending - you never know exactly when the game will end, because there may still be a number of potentially playable spaces left when a tile is drawn that doesn't fit any of them. This creates some endgame tension: do I take advantage of a good draw to get a last scoring chance, or use it to block a potentially strong score for the opponents?

The Three-Player Game

The three-player game requires players already familiar with the two- or four-player game. Each player bids for the right to play the flood - someone who ultimately wants no rivers to exit the board! A bid states that you think neither of the other players will score that high. Players take turns bidding until two of them drop out - low bid takes it. Keep track of players' running scores - if someone reaches the bid level, the third player has lost and must drop out. The game is then won by the player scoring the highest. But if neither player scores as high as the third player bid, he/she wins. As I wrote above, I'd love to try this with six people playing two-player teams.

The game then plays very well, but I haven't played with a very deliberate player. I imagine this could slow the game down considerably. The solution, aside from not playing with deliberate players, is to use a timer if this becomes a problem.

Summary

All in all, a satisfying game, both from the intellectual and aesthetic perspectives. The ebb and flow of the flood usually allows for multiple connections to each of the four edges, making for some close games. One of my best purchases so far this year.

Note added February 11, 2002: I'm not changing anything in the rest of this review - I'll leave it as it was first posted some years ago. This is just an update to say two things:

1. This game has withstood the test of time far better than I had even hoped. I play it regularly with hardcore gamers, and also have played it with many non-gamers. It has been extremely well-received by all who have tried it with me. A superb game for introducing new people to German games!

2. We now don't bother to stack the tiles. We just spread them facedown around the board on the table. This actually increases the skill slightly, in that you always have the choice between a tile with or without a circle. It has another advantage over the rules as written: set-up time is greatly reduced!

The rest of this article was written in June of 1999.

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

Akke — 2007-02-27T19:15:14+00:00

At least the tiles line up properly. The original version was a big disappointment to me.

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

Flix — 2007-02-27T19:00:31+00:00

It looks REALLY cheap. Even printed on cardboard they could have make it prettier...

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

minordemon — 2007-02-02T08:55:55+00:00

I have seen it at Spel 2006 in antwerp and I can say that this picture doesn't do it justice. It's definately not as refined as the original, but it looks quite OK.

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

BradyLS — 2007-02-02T08:24:06+00:00

Yeah, lava red doesn't do it for me, either. But... who knows? Tayu is a great game. I hope they at least didn't tinker with the rules...

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

jmglidden — 2007-02-02T00:35:51+00:00

My eyes...

Thread: Re: New, cheaper edition

sos1 — 2007-02-02T00:10:54+00:00

Oh Lord, that's hideous! Glad I have my copy!

Thread: New, cheaper edition

rossum — 2007-02-01T19:35:16+00:00

According to:
http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comment...

A new, cheaper, edition of Ta Yu will be available from I Love to Play Games.

Larger picture:
http://www.boardgamenews.com/articles/2007torontotoyfair/tay...

MDK

Edited to fix/add image and link.

Thread: Alchemy of a Board Game- Ta Yu

lastalchemist — 2007-01-08T04:01:03+00:00

In perusing The Geek I have noticed that most reviews give general game information, and what I really wanted was what exactly goes into the gameplay. Is there area control? Blind bidding? Resource production? Or maybe some good old-fashioned luck? On top of that I really wanted to know was how these elements meshed together to form the gameplay. Like was it a strategy vs. luck game? How about tough choice resource management? Or maybe something like a concealed element blind bidding game. I believe this is the alchemy of the game, the part the makes each game unique. In each review I will go over the usual elements (Theme, Components, & Gameplay), but I will also give the Alchemy of each game, and also a Philosopher's Stone (my own feelings/thoughts) score for each game. Enjoy!

The Alchemy of a Board Game- Ta Yu

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The Usual:

Theme: Ta Yu, a Chinese hero, saved the land from a flood by creating canals to divert the waters into the ocean. Players are trying to reenact this heroic act by skillfully placing tiles to divert the waters from the land.

Components: The board has beautiful Asian-themed art, and the tiles are ceramic with simple canal etchings.

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Starting the Game: Each player chooses whether they want to go North and South, or East and West. The first player pulls one tile from the the reserve and places it so that at least the starting square of the board is covered.

Goal of the Game: The goal of the game is get as many canals to exit on your two sides of the board as possible.

Gameplay:
At the beginning of a turn the player pulls one tile from the tile reserve. They then must play the tile on any tile previously played so that the canals make logical sense for any other tile the played tile is touching.

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(In the example above, the "m" shaped canal piece can not logically be placed on any of the other tiles already played onto the board. The game is over.)

A canal "exit" is an opening in a tile touching one of the sides of the play area. Endgame score is determined by the number of canal "exits" on one side of the board multiplied by the number of "exits" on the opposite side of the board.

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(In the example above, if the last tile has been played, the E-W player would have a score of 12 (W-6*E-2=12). The N-S player would have a score of 0 (N-3*S-0=0).)

The Game ends when a tile can by played onto the board in a logical position.

Ingredients:

Beauty: I think everyone partially judges game on the actual look of the game. This game is always one that I take a moment at the end of the game to admire. This simple canal tiles, with the beautiful art combine to make a memorable gaming experience.

Long Term Planning Vs. Complete Luck of the Draw: A major strategy in this game is to make sure you plan for any tile possibility. You never want to leave yourself painted into a corner because you didn't plan on pulling a particular tile. There are variants that allow for a less luck-inspired game.

Simplicity of Play: Another, I think, key component for some players of boardgames. Especially for games we want to play with SOs. Most non-gamers want to be up and running in less than 10 minutes. This simple and beautiful game fits many key components of "Gateway Game."

Use of Negative Spaces: This is a key to defensive play in the game. A number of games I have played have this aspect to them, and I always enjoy seeing how "negative space play" affects overall play.

Philosopher's Stone Score:

This game was actually my first introduction into the world of Eurogames. I picked this up on a whim from a small FLGS in Vermont. I was intrigued by the look of the game, and the gameplay did not let me down either. This has become a staple game with any of my SOs. Easy to learn, complex enough to allow for many replays, this will always be a game I am ready to pull out when a friend and I are wondering what to play.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

Thread: Re: Ta Yu - A beautiful and enjoyable tile placement game fo

Ogma — 2006-11-06T01:41:07+00:00

I've played a few times and the games have NEVER gone longer than 45 minutes (tops).

Thread: Review for Two Players

Verkisto — 2006-08-23T17:43:31+00:00

I'm always on the search for a new game that my wife will enjoy with me, so when I had the opportunity to trade for a copy of Ta Yü, I jumped on it. She likes dominoes, and I figured the heft of the pieces, and the simplicity of the game play, would appeal to her. I was right; over the last couple of months, we've played the game 9 times.

Ta Yü is a connections game, where you're trying to use the tiles to connect two sides of the board. One player tries to connect the north and south edges, while the other tries to connect the east and west sides. Each tile in the game covers three squares on the board, in a straight line, and each tile has three tributaries leaving that tile. Some tiles have tributaries leaving on three sides, others on two; those tiles that have tributaries leaving on three sides are marked on the back with an embossed bulls-eye so you have some idea of what tiles are to come. The game comes with a large bag to store the tiles, but players don't use it to draw them; instead, the tiles are stacked in a large cube comprised of two rows of tiles stacked 8 deep, and players take turns drawing from one of the two stacks closest to the board. This allows the players to see the bulls-eyes on the tiles, and for competitive players, I recommend using this setup; for games with my wife, we just draw the tiles from the bag for the sake of convenience.

The game ends when a player draws a piece that cannot be played to the board, and scores are tallied by the number of tributaries that you connect from one side of the board to the other. You count up the number of connections on one edge of the board and multiply that number with the number of connections on the opposite side. In this way, simply making the connections isn't enough; you have to balance the number of connections on each side so that you can maximize your score. Adding to this element are special spaces on each side of the board. If you are able to connect a tributary to one of these special spaces, the connections are worth two points apiece, instead of one.

I've played the game against my wife, and I've played the game against a fellow gamer, and I see that there are two different ways to play the game: cutthroat, or semi-cooperatively. It's important to have enough outlets in as many areas of the board as possible, so that you're not cut off from completing more connections, but you also want to prevent the other player from having too many. Unfortunately, cutting off an opponent may also cut off tributaries for you, and it will take a lot of work to get a connection out of a dead spot, so there is some strategy to cooperative placement. Other than that, though, cutting off your opponent from completing a connection is a valid -- and necessary -- tactic. When my wife and I play, though, we don't cut each other off unless the piece won't work any other way. There's just too much risk of someone getting his or her feelings hurt over it.

I think Ta Yü is a nice, elegant game, but it seems to take longer to play than what I get out of it. In my experience, games average out to a little over an hour, and my wife and I have called one game because we grew so bored with it by the end. Still, if two players play competitively and quickly, without distractions (we tend to play while watching TV), I think the games could end within 30 minutes.

Also, after a number of back-to-back games, I can see that the games become a bit repetitive. The tactical strategy is in keeping your options open through possible connections, making sure that you don't create a space to complete a connection where a tile won't fit (e.g., having four tributaries that need to connect to one piece), and keeping the number of connections about even on both sides. Other than that, though, the game comes down to drawing a tile and hoping that it's THE ONE to make that perfect connection. This problem might be addressed with more competitive gamers playing, as they would be less likely to let an obvious potential connection lie there for very long, but that might make the game even more random from the tile draw.

Ta Yü started as a 7 game with me, and had the potential to jump up to an 8, but the length of the games, paired with the repetitive nature of the game, dropped it to a 6. I'll still play it upon request, but there are other games that I would prefer to play instead.

Thread: Re: Ta Yu - A beautiful and enjoyable tile placement game for 2

Sheylon — 2006-08-18T00:37:49+00:00

I'm also positively stunned to hear it would take that long. This is a nice, quick game for my wife and me. Yep - 30 minutes, tops.

Thread: Re: Ta Yu - A beautiful and enjoyable tile placement game fo

Larry Welborn — 2006-08-18T00:02:57+00:00

Toxidyne wrote:
Ta Yu is a great game. I was surpised at how long it takes to play with two or four people. The first time I played, we had two teams of two and the game took two hours where the two hours were, at least for me, quite fun.

Wow. Most of our games generally take around 20-30 minutes. Did you really slow down during the endgame?

Thread: Re: Ta Yu - A beautiful and enjoyable tile placement game for 2

Toxidyne — 2006-08-17T17:39:17+00:00

Ta Yu is a great game. I was surpised at how long it takes to play with two or four people. The first time I played, we had two teams of two and the game took two hours where the two hours were, at least for me, quite fun.

Thread: Ta Yu - A beautiful and enjoyable tile placement game for 2

Sheylon — 2006-08-17T05:29:29+00:00

Ta Yu, named after a Chinese hero who saved the Middle Kingdom from floods by opening rivulets to the sea, is a delight. In this game by designer Niek Neuwahl, two to four players get to do the same thing as Ta Yu, building tributaries from the center of the board out to the edges, either to the North and South or the East and West. You do this by placing three-square long tiles on the map grid board which have paths for the river in a variety of patterns. The tiles are drawn from a large monolith of them the rules instruct you to build (mostly for show, in my reckoning). Tiles are drawn face-down but some of them are marked with a spiral that means that three tributaries are on the other side (the rest are two). Your score is dependent on the number of edge grid spaces you link to the center tributary on both of your sides – so blocking your opponent is worth as much as actually making a connection. Three of the grid spots are worth double points, too. You figure your final score by multiplying the number of points for each side so you need to focus on both. If you get a ton to the North, say, and none of the South you get no points. Zero times anything is still zero, of course.

I can’t believe I’ve gotten this far in without mentioning the gorgeous pieces. The tiles are lovely, heavy Mah-Jongg-like tiles that feel good in the hand. The board is also quite pretty, too, and the simple rules make it quick to learn. I found Ta Yu to be an enjoyable game that is meaty enough to pass filler status but short enough to not overstay its welcome. Ta Yu is a winner for two, no question. Three players change it slightly with one person playing the flood trying to stop the other players from scoring. With four, you do team play, but you are not supposed to talk and reveal your wishes. I find this kind of play less than appealing so we’ll probably stick to the 2 player version – although the three player variant does sound interesting.

Thread: Re: Some serious weirdness going on in Ta Yu!

ensor — 2005-09-07T18:19:39+00:00

That's weird indeed! The rules translation I have say when this happens "If neither player has scored, players may decide to discard the stone and draw again;" but I think you made the right choice by stopping, it's a much better memory.

Thread: Some serious weirdness going on in Ta Yu!

Metaphora — 2005-09-06T15:41:44+00:00

Ta Yu is the only game that Darcy truly enjoys, so we pulled it out. The first game was fairly normal, and the second game was highly unusual.

The first game of Ta Yu was going fine until Darcy played a tile trying to cut me off from a corner. In doing so, she inadvertently cut herself off from the same corner as well, highlighting how important it is to keep an eye on all the number of available connection points and ensure that you have enough choices open to you.

Darcy ended up only scoring twice on that badly planned corner, making her final score 18. I had 'diversified' a little better and won the game with 36 points.

Afterwards, Darcy wanted a rematch. We set up the board and started another game. The third tile I drew was one of those evil, triple u-turn tiles which connects all three sides of the same edge. Normally this is a great tile to draw, as it can be played both defensively and offensively. However, in this game, it just so happened that the board was laid out such that there was no possible way for me to place the tile. This effectively ended the game on my third turn!

I have played easily over 50 games of Ta Yu and never come close to this scenario. It was exciting to have something so unusual happen, so the next 15 mins was spent trying to get a decent picture of the tiles. Lighting was poor, the flash washed everything out, and I have yet to figure out the macro function on my Canon Powershot. I mention all this because it underscores just how badly a Canon Digital Rebel is needed in my life. Finally a decent picture was taken and I uploaded it to the geek for everyone's edification and viewing pleasure.

Excuse me while I go dust off my tip jar

Thread: Tie breaker?

jmilum — 2005-08-31T02:06:37+00:00

My wife and I both ended up with the same score (4X5=20), is there a tie breaker?

Thread: Re: Stones with rings engraved on their backs?

twixter — 2005-08-27T20:54:15+00:00

Ah, thank you! I see the markings now. I misinterpreted the word "side" to mean one of the eight exits, not one of the four sides of the tile.