Game: TATATA!

Thread: TATATA! German review on Hall9000

WarAngelo — 2006-10-29T21:57:15+00:00

>Hello!
Please find enclosed the review of the following game:
Name of game: TATATA!
Day of publishing: 29.10.2006
Link: http://www.hall9000.de/rezi.pl?spiel=tatata
We hope that you like our work!
Thank you for the good cooperation!
Best Regards
Frank Gartner

Thank you Frank and thank to Manfred Rohmkopf who realized the review, wonderfully illustrated and "animated": he explained it at my Essen06 booth and he really caught the spirit of the game.
He wrote it for his magazine SpieleRei and told me he would have published on Hall9000 too, where he already published his review of PeaceBowl.
I did'n know Hall9000, Manfred and Jost of Spielepizza.de explained me what it is at Essen 06.
I do not know german language but hope it is useful for german users of BGG: reviews have plenty of illustrations, great works: wunderbar
Ciao
Angelo

Thread: TATATA! Kother German Rules

WarAngelo — 2006-06-07T21:39:55+00:00

TATATA! Kother German Rules
Ferdinand Kother is a german luding journalist of magazine Spielerei.
He met me at my booth at Essen 2005 and knew my games together with
Manfred Rohmkopf.
Manfred wrote a nice review on PeaceBowl on their mag and Ferdinand was
kind enough to produce a translation of TATATA! rules for german gamers.
Who is interested to receive the file feel free to contact me: I will be
pleased to know him and send him these rules.
Ciao
Angelo Porazzi

Thread: Re: initial impression

Friendless — 2006-03-14T05:32:10+00:00

I got the feeling it was maybe going to be better with the advanced rules :-(.

Thread: initial impression

ermd — 2006-03-13T19:18:26+00:00

Based upon 2 playings, it appears that the game can be lively and fairly fun using the basic rules,but it seemed to be horribly slow and bogged down using the complete rules.
Does anyone else get this feeling?

Thread: Quick Comments

camuc — 2006-03-13T13:36:16+00:00

The first time i played TATATA! I was on a ferry heading to Sardinia (Italy).
I must admit that the Sylvester and Tweety driven airplane hanging from the ceiling has probably added some atmosphere to the game but TATATA! itself has entertained me and my friends for a good two hours.
The game's rules are very easy to learn and in 10 minutes we were already playng our first game.
The "memory" part of the game comes out only after the first round of each player, in fact it was quite funny to fall in every trap along the sky circuit.

I've played this game a lot of times after that and it is always different thanks to the random disposition of the sky.

A very nice game i'll never get enough of!

Thread: Re: TATATA! English Rules

WarAngelo — 2006-02-05T22:50:11+00:00

Pedro Borges: Thanks for these rules!!!

Thanks Pedro and thanks to Gamers who appreciates all this co-work with BGGers who are so kind to help me in translations!

Charles: I thought you could only Tatata before
or after Flying, not in between.

Right, not in between a single Fly Card, but possible between two
Fly Cards.
As you quoted, the rules state:
You can play Tatata before or after each Fly Card has been resolved,
not in between

Charles: The Looping card has a white number. What does
that mean?

It is the Red TATATA! number, printed on the red spot of Japanese aircrafts. I liked to put numbers on classic colours of airplanes nations symbols in the game.

Charles: Why are some of the Action card numbers higher than four?

As you can read on rules, in TATATA! you are allowed to keep in your hand 4 Deck Card and 3 Sky Cards.
To play all of them you need more Actions, that's why.

Thanks to all gamers that contact me directly for questions on these home-made games. I do my best answering in my bad english to all friendly people who ask gently and show interst.
On website find several new pictures and photo examples of TATATA! and other my games.
Ciao!
Angelo
www.warangel.it

Thread: Re: TATATA! English Rules

Greybear — 2006-01-21T22:35:33+00:00

After one play with advanced rules, I HATE having to use a black action card. It is very frustrating to have only Black 1s and 2s for more than one turn. And no way to discard bad cards. Very unfun.

I'm going to try allowing the play of all cards from one's hand using the four corner choices of the advanced rules. I think the Action cards waste cards in a play deck that is already small.

Thread: Re: TATATA! English Rules

Greybear — 2006-01-21T21:06:27+00:00

Two more questions. The Looping card has a white number. What does that mean? Is a white number equivolent to nothing?

At the end of your turn, tne rules state that a player restores a hand to four cards. Why are some of the Action card numbers higher than four?

The rules state that the first card is an action number that dictates the number of cards you will play in sequence. So with four cards in your hand, the most cards you could play as an action would be three (For example, Action 3, Fly, Fly, Fly).

I think the rules are quite vague here. Or is this wrong and you can use two numbers on the first card played: the black number and also the blue, green, or red? That seems inelegant to me.

I'm going to play with five card hands, with one card chosen only as an action card at the beginning of a turn, the remaining for Red, Blue, Green responses. A card with a number higher than four would allow a player to use a Sky card that allows for an action.

Thread: Re: TATATA! English Rules

Greybear — 2006-01-21T20:49:35+00:00

At your turn you can play up to 4 Cards, in the order you choose, you may also discard.
Example: Fly, Tatata, Fly, Move
Isn't this is an illegal play? I thought you could only Tatata before or after Flying, not in between.

The rules state:
You can play Tatata before or after each Fly Card has been resolved, not in between: to shoot you need an accurate aim!
So is the example above incorrect. Shouldn't it be

Fly Fly Tatata Move
or
Tatata Fly Fly Move

Thread: Re: TATATA! English Rules

Petroni — 2005-11-04T14:39:05+00:00

Thanks for these rules!!!

Thread: TATATA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sargon — 2005-11-01T07:32:09+00:00

This is a quite unique game, starting from number of players 2-8 that allows a great playability. Let's proceeds with the game.
Each player choses a pilot and a colour, place own base on table, connecting them with the Sky Cards, forming an always new circuit.
The nice ting is you can choose a short or longer race by placing few or
many Sky Cards among the bases.
Game ends when first player ends 3 laps.
The Basic Rules are made by 3 simple actions: Fly, Move and Shoot. Fly is easy, just move forward on the circuit, Move is useful to: enter a base, dodging hits like a pidgeon and to regain control of your plane if you are hit down.
Shoot is ... TATATA!
Each player has 4 Deck Cards and may use also all of them, but watch out, to rest without Cards to defend is not a good tactic. I believe Shooting is the best part in this game, Shoot, shoot, shoot, screaming TATATA! the sound of gunmachines, nice sound... If you hit target and this cannot dodge, that pilot will loose control of its plane... and if you or someone other shoot it again, it is forced back in first empty base...
Sky Cards are placed covered: when you stop you reveal what you find... You will not find always Open Sky or friendly Clouds... Storms are just round the corner...
You can say: I' am a pilot, who cares of some rain???? I answer, not only water: if a "Krauten Storm" hits you what do you do???? TELL ME!!!!!
Or you can find a "Smart Missle" or many other things, that's not over.
These were Basic Rules, with Complete Rules you use all 4 values on each
Deck Card. In Basic rules you only use the number placed in the upper left number of each card. In Complete rules you may choose ONE number per card and each color is an action: Blue is Fly forward, Green is Move-maneuvre, Red is TATATA! and Black (new entry) maximum nuber of cards you may play in that turn. So if you wish to play many action in a turn, you need a high black number or your plan will fail... I will not say you that best values are in same cards with also other numbers high. Ah, hard is life of a pilot, expecially if Angelo Porazzi is mastering you, a furious mad out of his head that hits your plane with a Krauten Storm... This man needs URGENT cures!!!!
Better a TATATA!!!!
You'll see the game is simply but not banal. It hides with Complete Rules clever mechanisms that rise it over simply racegames. It also is enriched by illustrations that are worthy of author's name, with impacting pictures, really well done and full of details (the smoke out of hit planes is really evocative). The sights of pilots between stoned and allucinated plus Special Cards have a dose of humor really enjoiable.
The game is funny, a self-production (honour and glory to the work of a man never doomed) and good Porazzi, as always, puts in the game all his passion that upgrades the game. It is compact and cheap. Sole malus (but is a personal view) is cards' size, that for my my big hands is not so easy like other formats.
But who cares, what counts here is just ... TATATA!

Image

Myszka — 2005-10-27T16:10:32+00:00

Playing Tatata! with the youngest of the players at Sulle Ali del Gioco (Vigna di Valle, Italy)

Image

Mariov — 2005-10-24T04:46:12+00:00

Image

Mariov — 2005-10-24T04:44:24+00:00

TATATA! Playtest

Image

WarAngelo — 2005-10-18T20:19:10+00:00

Essen 2005: Tom of Boards and Bits, WarAngelo and Friedemann Friese picking up its signed copy of TATATA! See the complete Photo Report on www.warangel.it

Thread: Re: Essen 05: Hall 9, Booth 9-28

WarAngelo — 2005-10-18T12:24:57+00:00

Hi everyone who came and meet me at Essen 2005.
Here my personal Photo Report
http://warangel.it/ES05Eng.htm
where you can see
Andreas Seyfarth and Friedemann Friese taking my games, Tom of Boards and Bits, Alan How of Counter, Rohmkopf of Spielerei, the IGA at Nexus Friends, my new japanese distributor Kanako Wakui, my face after 600 copies of TATATA! sold out, and many, many othre friends who was so kind to meet me and my games at booth 9-28: it was a great experience to meet you all... only a word: WUNDERBAR!

Thread: Re: How much memory?

shawn_low — 2005-08-25T00:30:28+00:00

Hi Sonja,

Not that much memory needed. Planes fly into sky cards which are then flipped over. Each card has an effect (some good, some bad). The sky cards are then flipped back once a place flies off.

Players might want to remember what effects the sky cards have so they can decide whether they want to stop there or not.

Thread: How much memory?

Sonja — 2005-08-19T09:30:35+00:00

I'm told this game has a memory element to it. I usually suck at memory games. Can anybody explain to me how much memory it requires or explain how the memory part of the game works?

Sonja

Thread: Essen 05: Hall 9, Booth 9-28

WarAngelo — 2005-07-28T14:26:46+00:00

ANGELO PORAZZI GAMES
created, illustrated and produced by Angelo Porazzi
www.warangel.it
EssenSpiel 2005

Hall 9, booth number 9-28

WARANGEL
Best Italian Game LuccaGames 2000

WARANGEL CARD GAME
picked up for national distribution by Hasbro Italy 2002

PEACEBOWL
premiered at EssenSpiel 2004 with german rules

TATATA!
2005 novelty: a funny dogfighting race for crazy pilots
Complete, miniaturized card game for 2-8 players age 6 and up.

Thread: Angelo Porazzi Games available at FairPlayGames

WarAngelo — 2005-06-17T09:23:31+00:00

Warangel, PeaceBowl e TATATA!
are all three available at FairPlayGames

Angelo Porazzi Games available at FairPlayGames
www.fairplaygames.com
Most Popular Latest Additions 17 june 05
(Last 30 Days)
1Shadows Over Camelot
2Warangel
3Call Of Cthulhu: Arkham Horror Board Game
4TATATA!
5Killer Bunnies-Quest for Magic Carrot
6PeaceBowl
7Citadels: The Dark City Expansion
8Robo Ralley
9Conquest of the Empire
10World in War

Thanks
Angelo
www.warangel.it

Thread: TATATA! English Rules

WarAngelo — 2005-06-04T09:23:03+00:00

Thanks to hints of first "out of italy Gamers" who ordered TATATA!, I re-write rules adding also some example (there is also a photo example on website). Thanks a lot to Shawn Low and all BGG gamers who friendly help me in this.
All gamers feedback is always precious and welcome to improve these selfproductions I love to create and illustrate.
Thanks, Angelo

TATATA!
Complete Card Game for 2-8 Players

CONTENTS
84 Cards comprising:
8 Plane Cards
8 Base Cards
30 Sky Cards
36 Deck Cards
2 Advertisement Cards
1 Rules sheet

Setup
Each player chooses a Plane Card and the Base Card of the same colour.
All Base Cards are placed with the "0" toward the center of game field.
Shuffle the Sky Cards and place 3-7 of them covered between each Base to
form a complete circuit (see examples).

The more Sky Cards you place between Bases, the longer will be your race.
Now place your Plane on your own Base and get ready to start clockwise.
Shuffle the Deck Cards and give 4 to each player.

Switch on your engines...Ready... GO!

The first Plane that returns to its Base after 3 laps is the winner!

BASIC RULES
With Basic Rules, use only the upper left number of each deck Card.

DECK CARDS
Are split into:
6 FLY! Cards, colour Blue
6 TATATA! Cards, colour Red
6 MOVE! Cards, colour Green
6 JOKER! Cards, colour Yellow
6 ACTION! Cards, colour Gray
6 LOOPING! Cards, colour Pink
all numbered from 1 to 6

At your turn you can play up to 4 Cards, in the order you choose, you may
also discard.
Example: Fly, Tatata, Fly, Move.
Or: Tatata, Tatata, Fly and discard.

With Basic Rules use the ACTION Cards (colour Gray) and LOOPING Cards
(colour Pink), exactly as JOKER Cards!

Game starts from younger players and proceeds clockwise.

Card Explanations

FLY Card!
Background and number BLUE.
Allows to move forward your Plane, a number of Sky Cards equal or lower the
Blue number on Card you play.
Example: in my turn I play a 2 Fly Card and a 3 Fly Card. I can move my
Plane forward up to 5 Sky Cards in total.

To enter or fly over a Base (own or foe) 1 MOVE Point is required also.

Example, I start from a Base of the figure for 4 players:
I have 6 Fly, 5 Fly and 2 Move points. I play all the Cards in a single turn
so I move forward 11 Sky Cards, flying over 2 Bases thanks to the 2 Move
Points I played.

A Plane may fly over but NOT STOP on the same Card occupied by another
plane.

TATATA! Card
Background and number RED.
It's a friendly machine gun shot you can play when enemy is adjacent in the
Sky Card in front of your Plane. Target player may immediately play a MOVE!
Card to avoid bullets.
If Move Card has its green number equal or higher to red number of Tatata
Card, dodging works.

If target cannot dodge, it is hit: turn the card on the FREE FALL side that
show the smoking Plane, and rest in that Sky Card. On its turn the shot
player may continue the race by spending 1 Move Point to control the Plane,
replacing it on the side without smoke.

You can play Tatata before or after each Fly Card has been resolved, not in
between: to shoot you need an accurate aim!

Example:
-You can play example a Fly Card of 4, move 4, Tatata, then play a Fly Card
of 6 and move 6.
-You cannot play a Fly Card of 4, Tatata an opponent in the middle of the 4
movement.
The only weapon that allows you to hit while moving over target is Flying
Bomb.
You turn and see the Sky Card where you END movement for that turn.
So, in previous example, you only turn and see the Sky Card at the end of
move 6.

MOVE! Card
Background and number GREEN.
As explained before, it is a maneuver to DODGE attacks, not only Tatata but
all Cards that damages like Tatata: Lasers, Missiles, Lightings... In these
cases play it JUST AFTER the attack and green number must be equal or higher
the attack value or dodge maneuver is unsuccessful. Player hit must flip
card to FREE FALL side.

As you read before
1 MOVE! point is needed to:

- to stop in or to fly over a Base
- to regain control of your Plane after a Free Fall and return it on the
side without smoke.

Remember:
When a Plane is on a Base, own or foe, it can't be attacked in any way!

JOKER! Card
Background YELLOW.
May be played as a Fly, Tatata or Move Card of equal value.
Example:
My Plane is attacked with a 3 Tatata! I have a 2 Move Card, not enough to
avoid this attack but I also have a 3 Joker. I declare and play it as a 3
Move so I can dodge bullets. I play the card just after enemy attack, so my
Plane is not turned on the side with the smoke.

ATTENTION!
If a Plane is hit during a Free Fall (when showing the smoking side),
it FALLS BACK in the first free Base behind it, remaining in that unhappy
situation!

SKY CARDS
Each time a Plane STOPS on a Sky Card, the pilot turns that Sky Card and
reads the text to other players. Some Sky Card represents weather
conditions, these have pictures with white border: play the effect and turn
it back to its sky side under your plane.

If the border on a Sky Card picture is yellow, it means the pilot must take
that Card: he may play it immediately or keep it for another turn. After the
yellow bordered Card is played it is re-placed on the circuit in a space
between two Sky Cards, chosen by that pilot.

Note: if you fly over an EMPTY space left by a Sky Card that has been taken
by a player, do NOT count that space: it is a "time warp" and the circuit is
really shorter!

CLOUDS!
If a Plane stops on a Clouds Card, it is invisible to other players.
It may be hit only by Hurricane, It rains Cats and Dogs, Smart Missile.

SMOKE CANNON!
If you smoke this, the smoke you leave behind, as a matter of fact hides you
for that turn. You can be hit only by Hurricane, It rains Cats and Dogs,
Smart Missile or Krauten Storm if this is played by pilot in front of you!

KRAUTEN STORM!
Too many maneuvers in the sky after a heavy lunch is risky. But it may be
useful in this race: you can "release" your Krauten Storm on your follower
if it is right in the Sky Card behind you!

LASER BEAM!
Allows you to hit the Plane in front of you even if it opposing player is
not in the adjacent Sky Card (as normal Tatata requires). Laser Beam may hit
in distance, up to next Base, (cool!) but it cannot "turn" like the.

SMART MISSLE!
Hi Tech weapon that hits the Plane in front of you also in distance and also
turning around Bases! (extracool)! Think it as a homing missile.

FLYING BOMB!
Low Tech weapon still powerful nonetheless: it is dropped when you fly over
an enemy and hurts like a TATATA!! Bummer.

BEER CLOUD!
Draw a new Deck Card and chose if: play it now, discard it now, or keep it
for a next turn! Burp!

ODIN'S FURY!
Divine Lighting that hits you with the force of 4 TATATA! and also hits all
cowards hidden in the CLOUDS! with the force of 2 TATATA! Sbraaaam!

IT RAINS CATS AND DOGS!
Anglosaxon term that means "Very Rainy Weather".
It hits ALL Airplanes in race, except Planes on Bases. Often, the player who
plays this unlucky card is "put under a rain of friendly bad words" by other
pilots.

HURRICANE
You lead Nature's Forces! You have 6 points to move forward or backward one
or more Planes on race, maximum 3 Sky Cards each. Each Plane moved by the
Hurricane turns the Sky Card where is now on, as usual.

A player may have a maximum of 4 Deck Cards and 3 Sky Cards and play as many
of them they wish and in the order they prefer.

At the beginning of each turn, the player takes a number of Deck Cards so
that the total he keeps is 4.

When you fly over your Base after each lap, rotate the Base Card so that the
number toward the table center indicates the number of laps you did: 0...
1... 2... 3, Victory !

You Design a Card!
These Cards allow you to free your fantasy! Come on, create!

COMPLETE RULES
With Basic Rules you can also discard cards voluntarily; with Complete Rules
this is NOT allowed: now you must be use all the cards you have in hand in
order to draw new ones.

Now, for each Deck Card you play, you have to CHOOSE and DECLARE the number
on it that you want to use. Each Deck Card has 4 numbers of 4 colours, each
one representing one action (determined by the colour of the number): choose
ONE number per Card and declare which one you're using.

Up here in the sky there's no time to think! So PLAY QUICKLY, always
remember the meaning of numbers' colour.

ACTION! Card
Background gray, number BLACK
Now, with Complete Rules, the BLACK number on the first Card you play in a
turn, represents the maximum number of Cards you may play in that turn
(including Deck and Sky Cards, not including that Card).

Now you know the complete meaning of numbers' colour:

BLUE = fly forward
RED = fire TATATA!
GREEN = move-maneuvre
BLACK = number of cards per turn.

Jokers may be used also as ACTION Cards but never as LOOPING Cards!

LOOPING!
With Complete Rules, it may be played as a normal Joker OR to Loop. This
allows to hit a plane behind you with weapons you have that normally hits in
front of you (like Tatata, Laser or Missle). At the end of this meneuver
your plane returns in normal forward position and may go on its crazy fly!

TATATA!®
Angelo Porazzi © 2005

WWW.WARANGEL.IT
To find Warangel, PeaceBowl, TATATA! and all other self-productions of
ANGELO PORAZZI GAMES

Created, illustrated and produced by Angelo Porazzi

English Rules edited by Shawn Low (whooping.cough@gmail.com)

Image

WarAngelo — 2005-05-23T12:46:45+00:00

Organization of LudicaMente awards Angelo Porazzi for TATATA! tournament where entire families and Gamers enjoy the game together

Image

WarAngelo — 2005-05-23T12:46:45+00:00

First TATATA! NAtional Tournament at LudicaMente 05 Mantova. The 5 finalists in the ultimate flight

Thread: TATATA! available in US

WarAngelo — 2005-05-09T23:23:46+00:00

Gamesinabox has in distribution three games of my selfproductions:
-Warangel, (Gamesinabox sold it out in a week),
-PeaceBowl and
-TATATA!
http://www.gamesinabox.com/php/search.php?phrase=tatata

You are free to order there or through my website, I'm shipping my home made games to every interested gamers who contact me through my website
with no problem at all: Paypal and credit card available
you choose.
Thanks for your interest
Angelo Porazzi
www.warangel.it

Thread: User Review

TomVasel — 2005-04-21T21:06:11+00:00

When Angelo Porazzi told me that he was sending me a copy of his latest game, TaTaTa! (Angelo Porazzi Games, 2005 - Angelo Porazzi) in a shipment to me, I was quite pleased. I really enjoyed Angelo’s other two games: Peacebowl (a fun, light football-type game), and Warangel (one of the best fantasy light war games I’ve ever played). When I got the package, which had some more Warangel armies and other games in it, I was a little confused. Where was TaTaTa? Finally, when I opened a game, I found it - it was in a very small box, and I almost missed it (along with Angelo’s message to me - “To-To-Tom”. In fact, as I type this review, I notice that I have to quickly scour my desk to find the game. TaTaTa is one of the smallest game packages I have, yet spreads out to be a fairly good-sized game.

Make no mistake, the small package doesn’t mean the game isn’t good. I found TaTaTa! to be an interesting mix of mechanics, but in a pleasing way. The theme was that of an airplane race, where the planes can shoot each other down and generally be a nuisance. Those expecting an experience like Wings of War will be surprised, though, as TaTaTa! combines memory elements with card management, while maintaining a bit of “take that” element. It’s fun, tactical, and allows players to interact with each other. Turns are fast, and players have a lot of choices to make when playing the game. It’s a nice light game that can easily be carried around - something that fits the bill often in my case.

There are two versions of the rules: Basic and Advanced. I’m just going to briefly review the advanced rules, as I prefer them to the rather simplistic basic rules. Each player takes an airplane and matching base card of their color. The base cards are placed on the board in a circle type formation, with three to seven “sky” cards (depending on how long of a race you want) placed face down between each - to form a race track. Each player places their plane on the non-smoking side onto their base. A pile of thirty-six “deck” cards are shuffled, and each player is given four of them for their starting hand. One player is chosen to go first, and then play proceeds clockwise.

On a player’s turn, they may play the cards from their hands to do take actions. Each card has four numbers, often different, in the four corners of the cards. Each number has a different color and allows the player to do a different action.
- Black - Action! The first card a player plays must use the black number, which is the action number. This number determines the total amount of cards that player may use this round.
- Blue - Fly! Blue numbers allow a player to move their plane a number of cards up to the sum of all the Fly! cards used. Planes may not land on spaces that are occupied by other planes.
- Red - Tatata! If an opponent’s plane is directly in front of them, a player may use a Tatata! card to fire at that plane. A plane in a base is safe from attack.
- Green - Move! When being attacked by a Tatata! card, a player must play a move card(s) with a total number higher than that on the Tatata! card, to dodge the attack.
- Pink - Loop! These cards allow a plane to use a Tatata! or other cards to attack a plane directly behind them.

When a player moves their plane, the sky card they end up on is revealed. Some of these cards have no effect, but most do something crazy or unusual. Some of the sky cards have yellow borders, meaning that they are picked up and added to the player’s hand, who can use them later. These yellow-bordered cards allow special attacks, smoke screens, and other odd effects. After a player uses one of these sky cards, they insert it back into the track wherever they want. Other sky cards, which cannot be picked up, include ones that give the player extra cards, damage the plane, or allow the plane to hide from others who are shooting at it.

Whenever a plane cannot avoid damage from a Tatata! card or a sky card, they are flipped over to the “smoking” side. If a plane is hit while on the “smoking” side, they are returned to the previous base and must spend one movement point to turn their plane back to the non-smoking side, so they can continue the race.

As planes pass their starting base, the base is rotated to show what lap they are on. The first plane to successfully complete three laps is the winner!

Some comments on the game...

1.) Components: I really love the artwork on Angelo’s game; he may be a clever designer, but I think he’s an artist first and foremost. All of the cartoonish, crazy artwork on the cards is from one large picture, but Angelo maneuvers it so that each card feels differently - and no two cards look alike. Speaking of the cards, they are quite small about the size of the cards of the original Ticket to Ride. While this means that they may be too small for some, I thought the small information contained on each card allowed this compact design. The very small box that holds all the cards is very easy to carry around, although it may not be as sturdy as it could be. The cards are of good quality and take a lot of wear easily. Several blank cards are included, so that players can design their own planes, sky cards, or action cards.

2.) Rules: The rules for the game that I initially read were a little confusing, but Angelo has worked to make them more easily readable - I was pleased with the latest version; they were easy enough for me to understand. The game is extremely easy to teach, even to young children. However, I do think that the basic rules might be better for most people to learn, as players ignore the four numbers in the corners of the card, and only use the top left number, which matches the background and words on the card. After one lap or game of the Basic rules, I would move on; as the advanced game is so much better!

3.) Memory: Memory, while not the determining factor of the game, still plays an important role, as it really behooves players to remember which sky cards are where. If a sky card deals four damage to a plane, you best remember not to land there! And conversely, if a card keeps your plane safe from attacks, and you have a trigger-happy player on your tail; it’s nice to know where the safe haven is. The fact that several of the cards can be placed in different locations shakes things up a bit and helps keep the memory element a little off balance. If you don’t like memory games, I still don’t think this one will bother you, as you can survive without taking undue time to memorize which cards are where. But it helps.

4.) Interaction: What better interaction can you ask for than shooting at each other in planes? Getting shot down is not game-breaking, as you only go back one base. But it can cost a player valuable time, and therefore is best avoided. Shooting at each other is a little more difficult than it seems, as a player has to get right behind another player, and what if the sky card directly behind them is a dangerous one? The key to the game, I think, is knowing how to use the looping cards correctly. Knowing how to shoot someone down who is coming after you is a good maneuver and fun to pull off.

5.) Luck: At first, some of the players I gamed with complained about how getting / landing on the right cards gave some players a big break. But since the game is three laps, and players know many of the cards going around the second time, the luck does even out. And even a card that seems like it is bad has some kind of use. Usually a card has good numbers in two of the corners, and so using a “4” for my action card means that I’m not using it for my fly card. Players who manage their hand well and save cards for when they are attacked by others will do better. Yes, there’s luck, but it evens out over the race.

6.) Fun Factor: After several dryer Eurogames, I was pleased to play a game brimming with theme once again. Players were laughing and making shooting noises as they shot at each other, and other special sound effects were made to accompany the fun everyone was having. It was a race, which allowed players to take pot shots at each other. How could that not be fun?

7.) Time and Players: The game supports six players; but since the game provides two extra customizable airplane cards, I suppose you could go up to eight. However, I played a game with seven players; and while it worked okay, we had to shuffle the action deck a little too much. I think the game flows most smoothly with about five; but it does accommodate up to eight, which is something nice to have. Either way, the game time wasn’t that long, lasting forty-five minutes in our longest game, making this an easy game to pull out and play.

I enjoyed TaTaTa! quite a bit. It’s not a game I want to play all the time, but it’s one I’ll play often, if only for it’s diminutive size and the fact that it accommodates large groups. The cards are hilarious and well illustrated, and game play is funny and fast. Small elements of memory (knowing where the cards are), “take-that” (shooting at other planes), and a race game combine to make a unique experience. Angelo packed a lot of fun in this small box!

Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games.”

Image

shawn_low — 2005-04-07T11:56:52+00:00

The designer Angelo was nice enough to sign the box for me!

Image

shawn_low — 2005-04-07T11:56:52+00:00

The cards are small compared to a Magic card.

Image

shawn_low — 2005-04-07T11:56:52+00:00

What's in the box? Colourful cards and an english rules sheet.

Image

shawn_low — 2005-04-07T11:56:51+00:00

TATATA! next to RioGrande's edition of Mu. It's TINY!

Thread: User Review

sortilege — 2005-03-18T17:17:46+00:00

“Dog-fighting for Crazy Pilots” Card Game
Playing time: 20 to 40 minutes
Players: 2 to 8
Ages: 6+

This is a game by Angelo Porazzi, the creator of WarAngel (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/490), a great fantasy light wargame with tons of races, that won the “Best of Show” prize at Lucca Games 2000 - the biggest boardgames fair in Italy. Among the other boardgames that won the same prize you can see Bang! in 2002 and War of the Ring in 2004, currently number 5 in BGG ranking list.
In 2002 he created WarAngel Card Game and in 2003 PeaceBowl, a very well-designed and fun football match between fantasy races.

All his games always give me the same great “Porazzi” art-feeling: you are in front of a “labour of love”, wonderfully illustrated, playtested for about a year by a lot of gamers and by his own family (he is the lucky father of three girls), handmade and packed by Porazzi himself.

I have never met him but I like his style a lot: he self-produces all the material and the graphics of his creations, quickly and kindly answers to all my emails and you can get the feeling of the passion, the love, the enthusiasm he puts in all his works and human contacts.

THE CONCEPT
You are a crazy pilot of a crazy airplane, that runs for victory in a dog-fighting race with other “Red Barons”. The race track is always different in every match and you don't know what can happen in the sky!
You try to do your race but you must also try to hit the other racers with your machine-gun (TATATA!) and other funny deadly weapons like the Krauten Storm, the Flying Bomb, the Smart Missile... You must also avoid the bad weather of Odin's Fury, a real heartbreaker storm, or your airplane could be knocked-out by the lightnings!

Above all, I expecially love two things:

1 - The race track is always different and YOU CAN DECIDE THE DURATION OF THE GAME deploying 3 to 7 “sky-cards” in every track segment. I love this idea: when I have little time and my kids are shouting to play again, I can set up a little track so I'm sure the game will last no more than 15 minutes!

2 – I hate games where if I'm out of luck I can't do anything good, just sitting and playing like a zombie, waiting the game to be finished. This is not a game like that! The luck-factor is really little (unless you're playing with “basic rules”) and even if you are in the last race position you can always try to knock down the first one and reopen the match! Everyone, till the very last moment, can play protagonist!

GAME PLAY, FUN FACTOR AND STRATEGY
This is a funny card game with a great interaction among players. The winner is the one who first make three complete rounds on the “sky race track”. At the beginning, we make the race track connecting every player's air-base with a certain number of “sky cards”. On the back of every sky card is painted a different item: clouds, storms, weapons...

On his turn, each player draw some deck cards and then play them, making his airplane do some basic actions: fly, move (veer), or shoot with TATATA! (machine gun).

After a fly, the player turn the sky card where his airplane has stopped and look at the item painted on the back of the card. He can collect a weapon, or shoot it, or he must try to move quickly to avoid a storm or he can even hide behind the clouds avoiding enemy bullets!

If he shoots (TATATA!) an enemy plane, this can try to avoid the bullets doing a quick veer by playing a “MOVE!” deck card if he has any. If the enemy is hit, his airplane card is turned over and it begins to fall down with smoke: another shooting and he must go back to the first free airbase, losing his position in the race!

Well, it's really really fun when you are the in last race position and someone or even yourself flies behind him, shoots him two times shouting “TATATA!”, pushes him back, then does a complete loop, shoot a “Smart missile” and push him even further back, making him losing his haughtiness all of a sudden!

Not only the playing time, but also the amount of strategy needed to win this game can be controlled.
1.The BASIC RULES give you the chance to play with the whole set of cards and with the essential mechanics of the game, and they are a rich set of actions: draw cards, choose cards to play, seek for the best track place to go with your plane, fly, move, surpass other planes, avoid bad weather “sky cards”, collect funny weapons, shoot to an enemy plane, discard some of your cards...
With basic rules, all my family, wife and childs included, are having very good time!
It is so challenging that I have to think for good strategies or else I can be beaten by my wife: she and my childs (6 and 4 years old) often group together against me and shoot TATATA! TATATA! one after the other against my airplane, and believe me, it gets soon very hot above in the sky!
2.The COMPLETE RULES add more strategy, fun and choice elements. The luck factor becomes very low because you can choose which of the three basic actions to play for every deck card you own. Some cards have better “fly” power than “shoot” or “veer” power, but it's always my choice what to do: for example, if I choose for a longer fly I must shoot with less power... so it's always a trade-off between one power and the other. The number of cards you can play are also limited, while in basic rules you can play to the very last card you own. Last, if you have the “looping” card you can do a complete loop and shoot the plane behind with “smart missile”, “laser beam” or with TATATA!

COMPONENTS
This is a really pocket card game: a tiny box with tiny cards that occupies a tiny little space in your bag or in your pocket or game-box at home. The cards are of professional quality and really strong: Porazzi has done the right choice 'cause I'm playing this game every day since it arrived and they are still perfect!
Every time I play with new friends, they are amazed of how much fun experience can pop up from such a tiny box!

Every single card is funny and well pictured, but that didn't surprise me: Porazzi is a fanciful illustrator.

Only the box itself could be much strong, and the rules sheet is printed in economy, but how more can I ask to such a beautiful and inexpensive game?

THEME
TATATA! gives you a very funny and deep experience. The theme is a dog-fighting race of airplanes: they have a machine-gun but they can collect smart missiles, flying bombs, and other strange and “deadly” weapons. The pilots and the airplanes have also funny names, and I have two blank airplanes cards ready to be customized as I will. The airplanes can fly, can veer, can shoot, can be hit and can lose altitude but they can always regain quota by spending veering points, so everyone can fly till the end of the game while trying to stop the first racer, by means of...TATATA!

AGE
I’m impressed with how well the game is suited for kids of 6 year old to hard-gamers. You can decide to go for the “basic rules” if you play with unexperienced people or kids, but you can easely switch to the more strategic “complete rules” if it suits well for your fellows: the gaming experience is always funny! It's a game for families!

OVERALL
One of the great games for families, TATATA! is a must-buy, a real success every time I play with kids or with other gamers. A smart and well-balanced combination of humour, racing, great player interaction, strategy, a little bit of memory matching (very little, don't worry!), and the real funny cards make this game a MUST for families. With the help of the “complete rules” also hard-gamers can choose this one as a great filler!

Now I choose TATATA! to play with occasional players, because it's very easy and fast to explain and we soon have lot of fun together.

Sortilege
“Playing melts barriers”