Game: Tonga Bonga

Thread: Re: One sailor on a ship...?

Tygo — 2008-10-06T02:33:32+00:00

I had the exact same question.

No idea.

Thread: One sailor on a ship...?

Ajax — 2008-02-09T21:49:59+00:00

What does this rule mean to you, regarding "raking in the profits"...?

If there is only one sailor on a ship, who is the captain (or maybe no sailors at all), the shipowner is given back the sailors' wages.
I read it as if you only get 1 die placed on your ship, you get all of the wages back.

If the apostrophe was placed differently and made sailor's instead of sailors', then I'd say that the shipowner only gets the "wheel" money back.

Thoughts?

Thread: Re: Tonga Bonga... The lowdown

Ajax — 2008-02-09T21:42:45+00:00

Got mine at Essen for about $18. It was used, but the rules are mulilingual, so I was able to tell very quickly that the game is complete.

Thread: Re: Tonga Bonga Rules

Ajax — 2008-02-09T21:38:44+00:00

I'll be posting a quick reference shortly that contains all of the rules. But no examples, as in the ruleset.

Cheers!

Thread: Re: Tonga Bonga Rules

locusshifter — 2008-01-30T17:57:00+00:00

Here's a link to a very in depth description, which covers all the rules you need to get started:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/26638

Thread: Re: Tonga Bonga... The lowdown

locusshifter — 2008-01-30T17:54:09+00:00

Game conventions are a great way to get games cheaper too.

I got my Tonga Bonga for $35 at Prezcon 2007.

Thanks to Kevin Wood for pointing it out!!

Thread: Tonga Bonga Rules

intheclear — 2008-01-30T10:34:41+00:00

Can someone help me get a copy of the rules in English, as they are missing in the box? thx anyone.

Thread: Re: To find the rules in English....

intheclear — 2008-01-30T10:31:12+00:00

bought the game from a op-shop didn' have the rules in the box can someone help me? -Desperate

Thread: Re: Tonga Bonga... The lowdown

Eric Brosius — 2008-01-22T03:25:03+00:00

I like Tonga Bonga too. It is the highest-ranked game on BGG for which I am #1 in recorded number of games played!

I got my copy on German eBay. It cost about $31 including shipping. That was when the Euro was a little cheaper in dollars, but even so this may be a less expensive way to obtain it.

Thread: Re: Tonga Bonga... The lowdown

Wrevilo — 2008-01-22T01:21:58+00:00

Too funny, I bought my copy from Nello too! It seems he has a Tonga Bonga racket set up in England.

Thread: Re: Tonga Bonga... The lowdown

volnon — 2008-01-22T00:38:02+00:00

Thanks for reviewing this game- I really like it, and yes, I paid too much for it from Nello in England- not his fault, it was because of the weak dollar. But it was worth it!

You are right, it has GREAT parts in the too-big box. It is colorful and you get a feeling you are in the tropics sailing around. And the pukeboy dice is a real winner!

Kudos on a nice review of a seldom mentioned game!

Here is my wife grabbing for money!
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Thread: Tonga Bonga... The lowdown

Wrevilo — 2008-01-21T16:32:06+00:00

For some reason, I really enjoy Stefan Dorra's designs. I'm not sure why, but they just seem to work for me. Tonga Bonga is a racing game of bribery that in my opinion, hasn't really gotten the attention it deserves. So... why do I like it so much? Read on.

My reviews all (will) cover several things: an overview of the game, the components and their quality, the ruleset and its clarity, the fun factor, value for the buck, and the lowdown.

Overview

Tonga Bonga is a game of boat racing to various islands in the South Pacific. Everyone is trying to make the most money by delivering goods to 4 of the 6 islands on the board and then racing back to Tonga Bonga for a bonus. To do this, you must bribe your opponents by offering up cash for them to place their workers (dice) on your boat. You then need to roll the dice well... or poorly, depending on your objectives. By rolling well, you can claim the money that your opponent's are bribing you with. However, if you roll poorly, they don't go very far. So really, both options are good for you.

Favre4MVP has outlined the rules very well here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/26638.

Components

In the box, you'll find a large board, 4 sets of dice and wooden cubes in different colors, 4 boats, and some really great molded plastic money. Oh, and lots and lots of air. As one of the pics for the game shows, the box is a standard Ravensburger size box, but it could have been about half the size, were the board a quad-fold. Ah well, at least they didn't skimp on the bits. The boats are awesome with your sail representing your color. The dice are great too, with the pips going from 1-5 and the sickboy. Yup, it shows a guy puking over the side of the boat. Possibly one of the best ideas for dice ever. The money is close to the highest quality I have in any of my games. Manila's might be slightly better, but Tonga Bonga's is much more visible from a distance.

Components: 9 out of 10

Ruleset

The rules are short, well written and clear. Except for the fact that I always forget to rotate the starting player, they're great.

Ruleset: 9 out of 10

Fun Factor

Tonga Bonga isn't a heavy game, by any stretch of the imagination. That's possibly why I like it so much. The great fun in this game is in bribing your opponents. Offer up a bunch of money for each of your sailors and you'll likely get some high valued dice from your opponents. However, you can offer practically nothing if you just want to annoy them. This is equally fun... and even better if everyone rolls high. Then they are forced to give you high dice with practically no reward, which always plasters a big stupid grin on my face. Of course, my opponents don't seem to like it much. Heh.

Fun Factor: 9 out of 10

Value for the Buck

Here's where Tonga Bonga falls down a bit. As far as I know, it's out of print. That doesn't mean it's hard to find, but you likely won't find it on the shelves of your FLGS in North America. Here on BGG there's always a few up for grabs as well as on ebay.co.uk or ebay.de. However, you're likely going to have to fork out around $50USD for it, including shipping... which I'll admit is pretty steep. Nonetheless, if your group enjoys light, quick games with a dash of luck, a smidgen of backstabbery with a sprinkling of tough decisions, you could do far worse than Tonga Bonga.

Value for the Buck: 6 out of 10

The Lowdown

Tonga Bonga likely won't be remembered as Stefan Dorra's best game. However, it fills the niche for a light racing game with a good amount of player interaction with resource management and backstabbery. Good family fun.

The Lowdown: 9 out of 10 (not an average)

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volnon — 2007-10-13T22:29:51+00:00

Money and dice action!

Thread: Re: Tonga Bonga - 2 Players???

volnon — 2007-07-19T03:55:39+00:00

Whew.

Thanks, for a second there I thought I had picked up a real dog!

Thread: Re: Tonga Bonga - 2 Players???

earache — 2007-07-19T03:42:58+00:00

I didn't say it was bad. In fact, it's a family favorite... with four.

Thread: Re: Tonga Bonga - 2 Players???

volnon — 2007-07-19T00:30:48+00:00

Wow- is the game THAT bad??? I mean, I know every game has its lovers and haters, but so far I am not getting good vibes.

C'mon out there, can't SOMEONE give me some love for this game?

Hellooooooooooo?

Is anybody out there?

Thread: Re: Tonga Bonga - 2 Players???

earache — 2007-07-18T22:42:42+00:00

It's not even a 3 player game really, much less 2.

I concur. Only worth playing with four IMHO.

Thread: Re: Tonga Bonga - 2 Players???

travistdale — 2007-07-18T21:16:00+00:00

It's not even a 3 player game really, much less 2.

Thread: Tonga Bonga - 2 Players???

volnon — 2007-07-18T20:39:16+00:00

Has anyone ever tried to play this with just 2 players?

If so, did you use any special house rules to make it work?

I just bought this game and hope to have it delivered in the near future, and maybe figure out how to play it with less than 3 players.

Any help would be appreciated.

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Thread: To find the rules in English....

ssmooth — 2007-05-26T15:16:17+00:00

More than one person has asked where to find the rules in English.

They are actually included in the booklet with the German rules. Just keep turning the pages....

Thread: Tonga Bonga - Session Report

gschloesser — 2007-05-23T00:03:07+00:00

Tonga Bonga by Steffan Dorra is one of those games that didn’t impress me on my first playing, but further playings dramatically improved my opinion. Since then, I have thoroughly enjoyed the game, and find it to be fun and challenging. Deciding how much money to place in order to attract sailors is always a tough choice, and I find this money management aspect of the game to be quite good.

Early in the game, everyone was committing huge amounts of money in order to attract sailors. I seemed to be getting the scrubs, however, and fell significantly behind in the race around the islands. So, I switched strategies and became much more miserly in my monetary allotments. This did allow me to close the gap, but it wasn’t enough to catch Rhonda.

Gail seemed to be in control for much of the game, but her exorbitant spending proved her downfall.

Finals: Rhonda 137, Ben 128, Greg 121, Gail 114

Ratings: Ben 8, Gail 7.5, Rhonda 7.5, Greg 7.5

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Capitaine Grappin — 2007-03-31T12:35:51+00:00

Yellow ship

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Capitaine Grappin — 2007-03-31T12:35:32+00:00

Money

Thread: Re: Introducing Tonga Bonga to Casual gamers

nextinline — 2007-01-08T01:40:08+00:00

I can't imagine how hard it must be to be colorblind. One of the things that makes me want this game is that it's so colorful. Do you keep around unique tokens from other games to help out? I've used the tokens from Dragonland before in another game because we had to play in dim light.

Thread: Introducing Tonga Bonga to Casual gamers

ebailey — 2007-01-07T16:14:08+00:00

We had a game night with friends who don't play a lot of board games last night. Michelle and Earl (me) joined Tad and Deb at their house. Tad is color blind, which definitely presents some challenge when selecting games to play. This time we took over Tonga Bonga.

This was a first play for both Tad and Deb. We went through the rules pretty easily, but the game play proved somewhat difficult for them. The decisions on where to put the dice seemed especially troublesome and took them more time than I had expected. After a couple of turns the lights came on and they both realized they had not made good choices. This, combined with some color/order confusion, led us to restart the game.

It took some time even the second play for them to start playing the dice defensively. Tad was able to plant colonies first on three islands because of this -- a factor that would have led to his victory except for some strange dice rolls at the end.

My previous plays of this game were quick and not prone to over analysis. It is definitely a game based on players hurting the leader to even things out. This dynamic did not work really well with dillitant board game players - at least not these players. If I had played it first in that environment I might not like the game as much as I do.

Despite this, the game was actually pretty close. The dice at the end were strange - in the final turn 2 people rolled two fives and a seasick. This made it possible for 3 people to finish in the final turn. In future teachings I am going to emphasize the use of the dice defensively!

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chiputti — 2006-09-17T20:37:41+00:00

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chiputti — 2006-09-17T20:37:23+00:00

Thread: Re: Question: Is there enough money for a 4 player game?

Eric Brosius — 2006-09-17T01:05:47+00:00

jaywowzer wrote:
But that doesn't explain the 09/01/01 session report with a total score of 519, but with only 3 of the 4 ships receiving the endgame bonus. by my math, only $510 should have entered the economy...then how does one get to 519?

You're right; the total of all the scores must be divisible by 5. Presumably people made math errors.

We don't usually run out of money, but if we do, we just have everyone pay $5 or $10 back to the bank to fix the shortage.

Thread: Question: Is there enough money for a 4 player game?

jaywowzer — 2006-09-16T19:03:08+00:00

Question:Is there enough money in Tonga Bonga for a 4 player game?
Unless we are playing incorrectly, I don't think there is.

Checking the rules I see there are 80 coins included (10 $25, 35 $5, and 35 $1 coins, totaling $460)
Given that Money only enters the game in specific instances, as starting cash, as settlement bonuses, and as end of game bonuses, it seems that the maximum sum of money required for a 4 player game is a known quantity. Players start wtih $20 each (3 $5 coins and 5 $1 coins). $25 in Bonus money is distributed to players whenever a player establishes a trading post on an island. In a 4 player game this potentially occurs 16 times for a potential gamewide income of $400. Finally there is the $10 bonus given to all boats that successfully return to Tonga Bonga on the last turn. The potential total funds required in the game are thus the starting combined base funds of $80, plus the $400 of potential income, plus $40 for end game bonuses, for a total of $520. Problem is, my game only came with $460 worth of coins. Granted the chance that one game would completely max out the income opportunities is probably pretty slim, but in our game the total cash required from the 'bank' was $490.

Have I interpreted the rules wrong or is the game short on change?

Looking through the session reports I noticed an indicator that we might be playing something wrong. While the total scores are all in the range of ours (474, 490, 491, 496, 500 and 519) some of them are not a divisible by the rate at which income comes into the game. Shouldn't the total score be divisible by 5 ($20x per player start + $25x per cube + $10x end bonus = something divisible by 5)? The only explanation I can think of is that money must somehow be leaving the system in these reported games. Does money offered for sailors that doesn't receive a die go back to the offering player or does it go to the bank? I thought (and we played) that it goes back to the player, keeping the money a closed system. If the money went back to the bank, then that would explain the non-divisible score totals and would drive endgame scores down.

But that doesn't explain the 09/01/01 session report with a total score of 519, but with only 3 of the 4 ships receiving the endgame bonus. by my math, only $510 should have entered the economy...then how does one get to 519?

Thread: Re: Rules question.

Snappatoon — 2006-04-28T19:59:32+00:00

Yes, ten doubloons each does seem the easiest and best way to go. Thanks for clearing it up.

Thread: Re: Rules question.

HuckmanT — 2006-04-17T21:06:20+00:00

I agree with the above poster and that's the way we've always played it. Works out well with the available coins as well. Which, by the way, my copy came with 28 extra doubloons if you do the math and work out the maximum possible score x 4 players. Hope that helps.

Thread: Re: Rules question.

Ryan Wheeler — 2006-04-17T20:59:50+00:00

We've always played that everyone who gets back to Tonga Bonga Bay gets the 10 doubloons.

I can see what your question is asking but I think 'an equal amount' is just that and not an equal amount from the original 10 doubloons. Otherwise the rules would then also have to deal with what direction you'd round the remainders which they don't.

Hope this helps!

Thread: Rules question.

Snappatoon — 2006-04-17T18:31:21+00:00

The rule for ending the game states that the owner of the first ship back to Tonga Bonga Bay earns ten doubloons, and that if more that one ship reaches Tonga Bonga Bay in the same turn then all earn 'an equal amount'. Does this mean they all earn ten doubloons, or all earn an equal share of ten doubloons?

Thread: Re: User Review

booned — 2006-03-03T17:11:32+00:00

keel wrote:
I noticed in one of the photos that this game contains the deck for Meuterer. Are they one and the same game or does Tonga Bonga allow Meuterer to be played on its board? Do you know anything about this?
Dave
keel131@comcast.net
Hi Dave,

Meuterer has no connection to Tonga Bonga. The photographer was demonstrating how roomy the game's box is, that it can store other things besides the base game. And I've noticed some people here like to save space by putting their smaller games into the particularly spacious boxes of other games.

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godongi — 2006-03-03T14:29:35+00:00

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godongi — 2006-03-03T14:26:04+00:00

Thread: Re: question about game

keel — 2006-02-21T08:40:16+00:00

I noticed in one of the photos that this game contains the deck for Meuterer. Are they one and the same game or does Tonga Bonga allow Meuterer to be played on its board? Do you know anything about this?
Dave
keel131@comcast.net

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otaku — 2005-12-07T20:34:50+00:00

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GeoMan — 2005-11-22T14:45:47+00:00

Close up

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GeoMan — 2005-11-22T14:45:47+00:00

Thread: Session Report

RPardoe — 2004-12-31T15:26:21+00:00

For selecting our main game of the evening, quite a few recent acquisitions came up for vote, and the initial winner was actually the oldest of the games suggested: Tomga Bonga. Each player is a ship-owner hoping to maximize their profits by sending one's ships to visit 4 of the 5 other islands located around Tonga Bonga. The game ends when the first ship to visit the 4 other islands returns to Tonga Bonga, the winner is not the fastest ship, but the richest player.

Each turn consists of 4 phases. In the first phase, each player offer wages to hire a captain and a first-mate for their ship. They will also provide room and board (but no wages) for a cabin boy. In the second phase, each player allocates their seamen to the other ships as one cannot staff one's own ship. The seamen are dice that are rolled. Each player having 3 dice and the pips showing on the die contribute to the movement points for the ship that die is assigned to. As a result, the maximum possible movement for a ship would be 5 pips for the captain, 5 pips for the first-mate, and 5 pips for the cabin boy for a total of 15. One would usually want to provide the high pips to the ship paying the highest wages. As a wrinkle, the face that should contain 6 pips actually contains a sea-sick sailor who doesn't get assigned to any ship, so a ship might have a very small movement also. So in order to get somewhere quickly, one has to pay more wages, but don't forget that it is money (not speed) that determines the winner. The dice are assigned to the ship in rank order. After the initial die is placed on the captain's space, an equal or higher die will replace the previous captain (moving it down to first mate). Ideally each player gets 3 dice (with a new captain or mate forcing the lowest dice into the cabin boy slot) to gain movement points equal to the sum of the crew (dice).

The third phase is actually moving the ships. Movement orthagonal over a simple rectilinear grid with each square costing 1 point to enter. While 2 ships can't end a turn in the same square, it is possible to move through another ship for a cost of 3 points. If during movement, a ship enters the bay of one of the other 5 islands, the ship's owner can place a camp on the island (gaining 25 ducats in return). However, for every other camp already on the island, the ship's owner must play the other player's 5 ducats. So the first person to settle an island makes more money than the subsequent visitors.

The final phase is to collect the die (and wages assigned to the die). The start player shifts one turn around the table the process repeated until a ship returns to Tonga Bonga after establishing 4 camps on the other islands. Any player doing this gets 10 additional ducats as a reward.

With the rules explained, the 4 ship's set sail. Rich's first 2 turns saw hardly any movement as Rich got a 4 on the first turn and only 2 dice on the second turn to barely creep close to the nearest island: Cocoa. Lawrence has raced out of port to get close to Cocoa on his first turn, and then set up camps on both Cocoa and Samboa on his second turn. Dave managed to get to Bigboa by his second turn while Sterling followed Lawrence to Samboa. Rich's rickety ship continued in the 3rd turn as again only 2 dice were offered up for Rich's wages while the other ship's managed to get good staff's and decent moves. Rich responded by increasing his wages on offer to attract better crews. The delay at the start had one advantage as Rich's ship sailed practically alone through the islands. The other three players all found themselves adjacent to each other trying to reach Mamboa.

In a bit of creative play, Dave offered a higher salary for his first mate than for the captain. His strategy worked as he did have a 5 for the captain's slot, and could attract a 4 that would normally have been placed on another ship for a decent movement allowance. However continuing the strategy for a second turn wasn't as fruitful as a 3 was placed on the captain's spot (hoping to be moved down by higher rolls from other players). Instead, the other players had 1's and 2's that could be nicely placed on the first mate (as they did not outrank the 3) on Dave's ship for decent wages.

Sterling had the fastest ship as the result of paying handsome rewards to get the fastest crews. There was some attempt by Rich and Lawrence to slow Sterling down by giving him low pips in an effort to buy more time to place more camps. After Sterling had placed his last camp, he offered 10 ducats for captain and 5 ducats for first mate to get sufficient points to return to Tonga Bonga. Rich still had 1 camp to place. Lawrence's fast start had slowed down as he had only placed one additional camp after his rapid 2 camp deployment. Dave also had only 3 of his camps in place. Dave knew he couldn't place the final camp and return to Tonga Bonga in time, so offered only minimum wage for his ships - 1 ducat each for captain and first mate. Sterling sailed into Tonga Bonga to gain his 10 ducat advantage. Rich did place his 4th camp, but had to pay 5 ducats to each of the other 3 players for a net gain of only 5 ducats relative to all the other players. (Rich gained 10, but the other players gained 5.) When the final wages were collected....Rich had 104 ducats, Lawrence had 109 ducats, Sterling had 124 ducats, and Dave had 129 ducats.

It was not only the difference in salaries offered (2 vs 15) but Dave actually got wages from Sterling for one of the dice Sterling used to return to Tonga Bonga. So while Sterling was fastest, it was Dave that picks up the win by conserving cash right at the end. With all the other players still needing to play a fourth camp, Sterling probably didn't need to rush back to Tonga Bonga and could have conserved cash to take a turn or two to get back. But then again, if Dave had planted his fourth camp, that would have been and additional 10~15 ducats to Dave (depending on whether there were 2 or 3 other camps already on that island).

Comments around the table after the game indicated that most enjoyed the game. It is a bit of a light dicefest, but does offer some interesting balancing mechanisms. Certainly income is gained from camps, so getting camps established is necessary to win, but as our game has shown, one does not need to be the fastest to accomplish this task. The other factor that probably impacts the players standings is how much salary to offer up. For the initial turns we all were guessing a bit, but as the game progressed we could see (I believe) the relative values of the offers and decide how much to offer. All in all, I am glad I could have the opportunity to acquire this older game and that we did get a chance to play it.

Thread: Re:Variant Translation?

Bill Martinson — 2004-12-27T20:11:00+00:00

My pleasure Richard, and thanks for your generosity. I'm flattered you found the translation worthy of reward.

Thread: Re:Variant Translation?

RPardoe — 2004-12-27T00:39:33+00:00

Many thanks - have sent some geek gold your way in appreciation.

Now that I know what it is supposed to say, the online translations make more sense

Thread: Re:Variant Translation?

Bill Martinson — 2004-12-27T00:23:07+00:00

I've just uploaded an English translation of Dorra's "Rum Variant". In a nutshell, if you offer more wages than anyone else and get a lower movement total than anyone else (ties don't count), you double your movement total.

Thread: Rum Rules Variant Translation?

RPardoe — 2004-12-26T04:33:50+00:00

At Stefan Dorra's webiste, there is the following variant for Tonga Bonga: http://people.freenet.de/dorra/variante_tonga_bonga.html

Using various online translators, I get a sense of the variant. It is meant to balance for players who roll high dice (allow their opponents to move) while receiving only low (seasick) dice in return. I also get the sense that a 5th action is added, but am curious if someone with better knowledge of German fill in the details.

The normal turn action sequence is:

1. Hire Crew
2. Roll and Distribute Crew (dice)
3. Move Ships
4. Collect Pay

The modified sequence appears to be:

0. Roll Crew (dice)
1. Hire Crew
2. Distribute Crew
3. Move Ships (w/ Rum Rule)
4. Collect Pay

So one now can see what sort of crews one is bidding for. I was actually thinking of this as a variant to allow for a bit more control in the game myself, but I digress.

It is the Rum Rule that the machine translators seem to be stumbling over. It appears to be some doubling for a player who pays the most and gets the worst. Any help on this would be appreciated.

Thread: User Review

Favre4MVP — 2004-09-21T14:10:29+00:00

I first ran across the game Tonga Bonga in various GeekLists. Most of them were about Underrated games, or the best games you’ve never heard of, or things of that nature. The picture of the boats looked pretty cool so I clicked on it. I read some of the reviews and session reports and I was intrigued. Not enough to actively pursue the game though, since there wasn’t a whole lot of information about it available, but enough to put it on my want list. Well, someone offered it to me in a trade and I took it. My verdict after playing it? This IS one of the best games I’d never heard of and it IS underrated.

Tonga Bonga is a game by Stefan Dorra for 3-4 players. You are trying to become the wealthiest ship owner. In order to do this, you must hire crew for your ship and race around the seas against your opponents. As you reach various islands you will receive payments; the faster you get to the islands, the better your payment will be.

Including the island of Tonga Bonga, there are 6 islands on the board. All players’ ships will leave from the island of Tonga Bonga. They must then reach four different islands and then race back to Tonga Bonga. When a player returns to Tonga Bonga the current round is finished and then the game ends. The player with the most money wins.

For such a light and simple game, the mechanics are really quite unique. Dice are used to determine the movement of the ships, but this isn’t your basic “roll and move” game. The dice that you roll don’t move your own ship, but are instead distributed to the ships of your opponents. These dice become the crew for the ships; the better the crew, the farther the ships move. How do you decide where to put the dice? Before the rolling of the dice, each player offers up wages to attract a crew. Money is placed on 2 different spaces on your ship. One is for the Captain and one is the First Mate. Usually, the higher dice will get placed where the most money is, but this is not always the case. Although you’re trying to make money, and therefore you want to place your crew where the best payment is, you also don’t want to give a player who’s too far in the lead too good of a crew. Also, your crew members can be bumped down into lower ranks if other players place higher ranking crew members into the same ship you were in. So, you need to be aware of several different factors when placing your crew as well as when you are making your money offers to attract crew for your own ship. Also, there’s vomit! That’s right, one side of the dice shows a seasick sailor. If you roll a seasick sailor, this sailor does not go to sea and the die is not placed.

So, while there is definitely a ‘luck of the dice’ factor in Tonga Bonga, there certainly is a lot of room for strategy no matter what you roll. If you roll high numbers you’ll probably make a lot of money, but you’ll also be moving your opponents’ ships farther. If you roll lower numbers, you might not make as much money (although it’s still possible), but you’ll be able to hold your opponents ships back.

And that brings us to the race for the islands. When you reach an islands bay, you’ll receive a $25 payment. Quite a hefty sum. You’ll also leave behind a camp (a cube in your color). This shows which islands you’ve been to so that you can reap the benefits of later visitors. You see, when you reach an island you receive $25, but you also must pay $5 to every other player that has already been to that island. So, while the goal is to have the most money, the race is certainly important.

I have not had a chance to play Tonga Bonga with only 3 players yet, but from what I’ve read, it’s not very good. Just judging from how the game is played, I can see that that might be the case. I’m working on a 3 player variant to make the game more interesting and I’ll post it here on BGG when I get it worked out.

While Tonga Bonga won’t set the gaming world on fire, it ranks right up there with Ticket to Ride as my favorite light to middleweight game that can be used to introduce people to the world of German boardgames. With beautiful artwork, cool components, simple rules and a fairly quick playing time, this is a game I’ll be playing for years to come.

Thread: Re:Session Report

mlvanbie — 2004-08-07T10:08:27+00:00

Here's the multi-day session report:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/~westbankgamers/viewarticle.php...

Thread: Session Report

Andrew Tweddle — 2004-07-09T20:15:56+00:00

Or: "How we created our own South Sea investors' bubble"!

Claire and I visited my cousin Pamela and her husband, Johan. Pamela chose Tonga Bonga, which she and Johan had not played before.

I was a littled disappointed, as Claire and I have played this game many times before. But this proved to be our closest and most exciting game of Tonga Bonga ever!

Order of play in the first round: Claire, Johan, Pamela, Andrew.

Pamela had a dream start to the game, managing to receive the perfect number of movement points to sneak into 3 different islands ahead of the others.

By contrast, Claire and I had both struggled (despite spending generously).

Despite establishing 2 camps, I only had a paltry 27 ducats. One starts with 20 ducats, and each camp earns 25 ducats (but one pays 5 ducats to each previous person to establish a camp on the island). So this was abysmal! I remember commenting that this was the worst I had ever fared.

And Claire had not even established her first camp. At one stage she had only 11 ducats to her name!

But the tides were about to turn!

Over those first few rounds, we had all been bidding successively higher as we attempted to outdo one another. We had created our own South Sea Islands investors' bubble!

But on the 5th round I was bidding last again. The bids had been astronomical. The highest bid was about 17 ducats for captain, and 8 for helmsman. So I bid 1 ducat for each position. I only moved 2 spaces that turn, but I received an income of 42 ducats for my sailors and was back in the game!

I continued bidding low for a few turns, as my strategy was to crawl into my last 2 islands as Pamela raced back to the finish line.

On the 8th and final round, Pamela was 4 spaces away from Tonga Bonga bay. I was 5 spaces away from my final island (Mamboa), which Johan and Pamela had both visited previously. I was bidding first. By reaching Mamboa, I would score a net gain of 10 ducats versus Pamela, which I thought would be enough for a win. But what to bid, to make sure I reached Mamboa? I knew this bid was crucial.

I considered bidding 3 and 2. But eventually settled on a bid of 4 and 2, reasoning that even if Pamela received my 4 ducats, I would still have broken even (relative to her). Given the magnitude of people's bids in previous rounds, I felt forced to bid higher than I would normally have liked.

But Johan and Pamela then changed character and bid low on the final round. Pamela bid 1 and 1 only. A good decision - she ended up beating me by a single point!

Claire had also put in a massive late surge to reach her final island and narrowly missed getting back to Tonga Bonga bay as well. Afterwards she confessed that, like me, she had been convinced that she could pull off a win. Unfortunately Pamela and I both had camps on that final
island, and the 5 ducats she had to pay each of us proved decisive.

Another unusual aspect of this game was that all 4 players managed to establish their full quota of 4 camps (yet only 1 player managed to get back to Tonga Bonga bay on the final round.)

Final scores: Pamela - 130, Andrew - 129, Claire - 124, Johan - 107.

Thread: Session Report

Andrew Tweddle — 2004-06-20T15:13:57+00:00

Players: Jennifer, Elizabeth and Andrew (me).

Andrew started out bidding high, in order to establish the first camps on a number of islands.

Instead of following the pack, and having to pass them early, he chose a longish route via BigBoa, Mamboa and Palmoa, arriving at Palmoa first (according to plan).

Having spent a lot to reach Palmoa first, he then cut back to bidding one ducat apiece for the 2 ship's positions, hoping that his investment in early camps would now pay off.

Mistake! This allowed Elizabeth to narrowly sneak into Cocoa before Andrew. In the end, the extra money she earned from Andrew turned out to be crucial.

All players got back to Tonga Bonga on the same turn.

Elizabeth narrowly beat Andrew. But Jennifer had played excellently to score a walk-over win.

I asked Jennifer what strategy she had followed, but she had no tips to offer. Perhaps if I bid higher she'll share her secret!

Final scores: Jennifer - 163, Elizabeth - 115, Andrew - 111.

Tonga Bonga is a great little game and very cute too. It isn't really a pirate game, but it looks and feels like one.

Strangely enough, it's not very highly rated on BGG. Yet it is one of our all-time favourites. It's a simple game that I've introduced to grannies, nephews and nieces, and friends, and it's invariably gone down well.

Now I just have to work out how to win it! Bidding low is a sure-fire way to lose. But bidding high can also be dangerous as this game showed.

Thread: Reoes anyone have the rules for this?

sisteray — 2004-04-19T01:33:11+00:00

npetry (#25429),

Well, I bought and love the game (with the rules).

Thread: Reoes anyone have the rules for this?

npetry — 2004-01-10T16:42:56+00:00

sisteray (#25422),

Unfortunately (for you ;-), this game was published in an international edition that included English rules. Therefore, probably no one has bothered to create a downloadable version. It's possible though that Ravensburger may have rules available on their website. I'd suggest poking around at http://www.ravensburger.de/ -- you might get lucky.

Thread: Does anyone have the rules for this?

sisteray — 2004-01-10T13:34:30+00:00

I would love to know more about this game, is there anyone that would like to upload the rules here?

Thread: Session Report

EYE of NiGHT — 2003-10-21T13:04:56+00:00

Following Richard's requests to play more normal games instead of the weird stuff lurking in my collection, Tonga Bonga filled the bill, good with 3 or 4 players. I bumbled through the rules and things got nasty. Richard and Ian were fed up with me telling them I'm going to Essen next week, so they arranged to make me lose.

Okay, I could have put more money down in the early rounds, but Richard just gave Ian all the high dice and he raced off along the top islands, getting 75 ducats in 4 rounds. And Richard cut me up and beat me to my first island too. So I just trailed around and let them play for the win. I suppose putting only 2 copper pieces each round was a bit cheap, but even after shouting at Richard, he wouldn't change his mind. They finished together, I think Ian won but only by a few coins. He could have spent less in the final rounds and secured a better win. Tonga Bonga is a fun game, plastic bits, quite cut-throat but it is dependent on the dice rolls. You put your money down to attract the sailors, but if the other players roll low, you're stuffed anyway. A family game, and worth getting, but don't spend a lot on it.

Thread: Session Report

sbwilson — 2003-02-07T16:55:40+00:00

At our monthly family gathering we were excited to share some of our new aquisitions with the extended family. However, the game playing was fairly minimal and, as it turned out, somewhat annoying to the Wilson branch of the family.

The first game out was Tonga Bonga. As this was the first time for anyone to play this, it went a bit slow at first while everyone figured out the rules and the nuances of the game. The bidding seemed a bit high to Mom and Dad Wilson who had run through solo games just to see how it would play. Mom set herself up for a good run on the islands while Uncle Waylon (adult) and Uncle Nate (age 8) fought hard for second place. Dad, due to some apparently poor bidding rounds, came in a very distant last place.

Overall it is a good game, but both Mom and Dad agree that we need to try it out with more people before we judge it too much.

Mom - 143
Waylon - 127
Nate - 124
Dad - 102

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2002-11-22T12:51:14+00:00

Strangely similar to Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix in a few ways. It's a race game, but most money wins. Secondly, how you fare is very dependent on what the other players provide you.

On a turn each player places prize money for the other players to provide them with high dice rolls. These dice rolls are then used for movement. Bid high and you will likely move well. Bid low and you've saved money, but won't move far. There are four south Pacific islands to get to and the prize money at each island diminishes rapidly for each subsequent player at each island.

Inevitably, unless you offer exorbitant pay (which is a losing strategy, so you won't), the perceived leader will get given low die rolls by the other players regardless of what's he offering. So the game devolves into deflecting leader perception and offering comparable money to be able to move. And then pray that the dice come your way.

In our game, Rob sailed to an early lead but paid consistently highly for it. Warwick looked good for a while. I was pus'd from the start. Anita quietly rode through the storm and emerged from the clouds with a comprehensive keel-hauling for the lads.

Scores: Anita 161, Pat 117, Rob 115, Warwick 113

A rating of 6 after 3 plays; ok game for the occasional fun. It's a game, like Rette Sich Wer Kann, which the gaming hardnuts will typically lose to the gaming innocents as the former bash themselves up. Optimal with 4 players, poorer with 3, and that's all it plays with - a limiting factor for replayability. 45 mins.

Thread: Session Report

MarkEJohnson — 2002-11-10T18:58:02+00:00

Ah, so this was a theme night--Games That Get No Respect (Dangerfield games?). Tonga Bonga was an anticipated release from designer Stefan Dorra a couple years ago. Dorra has designed a number of games that are right on the cusp of being popular favorites, games like Streetcar/Linie 1, Marracash, and Zum Kuckuck. Most recently he designed Medina, and his most respected game is probably the filler For Sale (which we need to play!). Anyway, initially Tonga Bonga got some bad word-of-mouth. Though I wanted the game, and thought I might enjoy it despite the lukewarm reaction, it was enough to keep me away for more than a year. I wanted to try someone else's copy first, or possibly trade for it. The opportunity never arose, though, until finally I nabbed a copy for a good price from German ebay. Sending cash and then waiting forever for the surface-shipped packages to arrive is a little nerve-wracking, but so far, so good. The game arrived in super shape, and I had the chance to try it once with the group at work. That was a four-player game, while our game in Santa Clarita was with three. I think Tonga Bonga works better with the larger number, so add it to the pile of games that want exactly four players. Seems like I've got a lot of those.

I do like the game. Yeah, there's randomness in the movement via die-rolling, but since you "buy & sell" the results of your dice (keeping none for yourself), it's not as bad as it sounds. It's also allows for some self-balancing. If someone is winning the game, they'll start finding themselves receiving poor die rolls from the other players...unless they shell out big money, which drags on their winning position (the game is a race, but won by your money onhand--speedier boats get monetary bonuses for reaching destinations early). The components are fun, and the game looks great. The gameplay itself is fun, too--there's something exciting and engaging about rolling dice, cheering or booing the outcome.

This game ended much like the game at work, where the boat out in front (Greg, in this case) still received some decent die rolls because its owner was offering to pay dearly for them. Not so dear, though, that it cost him the game. Greg won by a comfortable but not huge margin over Ryan, and I was a distant third. I seemed to have the opposite efficiency going on--paying out big bucks for dice, but not getting much in return. I can sort of feel that there are some good tactical plays in here, based on board position and perceived leader status, but I always seem to zig when I should zag. I'll enjoy trying this some more.

Thread: Session Report

hinj — 2002-10-04T23:40:38+00:00

Next I played TONGA BONGA with Rowan, Matt (the younger), and Rob. I've had this one for quite a while as well, so it was great to finally play it. The reason I bought this one was the pieces. Those little ships just attracted
the hell out of me. The game isn't bad either!

In Tonga Bonga, you use money to attract the best dice. Money is how you win the game, though....but you get more money through movement with the best dice. It's one of those funky toric things.

Somewhere along the line, I must have fallen asleep. I confused Tonga Bonga with the mule game, and proudly came in last place. Then I discovered that in Tonga Bonga, you need to come in FIRST.

Thread: Session Report

hinj — 2002-10-04T23:40:38+00:00

Thread: Session Report

Deleted User 1 — 2002-01-31T23:37:47+00:00

While the rest of us were busy with Mississippi Queen, Dan, Joe, Sheri and Wes played another new arrival courtesy of Dan – Tonga Bonga (with a name like Tonga Bonga, you know it’s gotta be good).

Coincidentally enough, Tonga Bonga is another boat race game (I guess it was boat race game night at the Terminal City Gamers). During the game Sheri and Wes battled for first place in the boat race. Dan was puttering along and Joe was in last place, but going slowly but surely. However, your ranking in the race is only part of the game – it seems whoever has the most money is the winner. In the end, Joe had the most cash.

Score:

*Joe* - 133
Sheri – 124
Dan – 122
Wes – 111

Ratings:

Joe - 8
Sheri – 9
Dan – 7
Wes – 7

It seems Sheri loved the game. The rest liked it, they thought it was a fun game with lots of strategy, yet it was quite simple.

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2002-01-19T21:25:12+00:00

It’s a money management race between the lovely islands of the South Pacific. It’s also a game of much righteous indignation. Although your ship moves by dice, you can never use the dice you roll. You must donate them to the other players. Each player first posts rewards for the highest 2 die rolls donated to them. Put up a low reward, expect low dice to be passed your way. And vice versa. Except if you happen to be in a close race to the next island and they’re hoping to get there before you for the race waystation reward. And then it’s “What!!! I offer 16 silver and I get two lousy 1’s on the dice!!!”. Which means it’s a pretty funny 30 minute game if you have no cares for the result. If you care for the result, prepare to be pus’d! A rare race game where rolling low is actually better than rolling high.

Scores (from memory): Dave K 175, Rick 129, Pat 119

A rating of 5 after 2 plays; average game, take it or leave it. Fluffers should like it though. I liked it for the indignation laughs, but there’s not too much more to it.