Game: Steam Tunnel

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aquarian — 2008-06-14T08:55:28+00:00

Four example cards of my own version "Orange tunnel"

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aquarian — 2008-06-14T08:52:29+00:00

Four example cards of my own version of Steam tunnel

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aquarian — 2008-06-14T08:43:00+00:00

Four example cards of my own version "Moon tunnel"

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kidsplinter — 2008-02-19T15:06:45+00:00

Cards and glass markers

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kidsplinter — 2008-02-19T15:05:03+00:00

Close up of the cards and glass markers

Thread: McSteamy Tunnels

booned — 2007-11-11T07:52:20+00:00

Steam Tunnel is one of a line of zip-lock games called Hip Pocket Games (a tiny little division of Cheapass Games). Games in this line usually have little more than a small deck of cards -- but they indeed can fit in your hip pocket, and are some of the cheapest of the cheap Cheapass games. Liking the idea (and the price) I bought a number of them a few years ago, before I got into the gaming hobby in any big way. Lately I've had a desire to revisit them, and for this game, at least, I will post a review.

The game comes with fold-out instructions and a deck of (business card style) cards; you will need to provide a dozen or so markers per player. Each card depicts multiple tunnels connecting different sides. 32 of these cards are placed face-down along with 4 face-up cards featuring tunnel ends worth various numbers of points. These are set up in a 6 x 6 pattern.

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On a player's turn, he must flip over one of the face-down cards and reveal the tunnels underneath. He cannot choose the orientation of the card. He is then allowed to place a marker on any unoccupied segment of incomplete tunnel on any face-up card. Alternatively, he may place a marker on a face-down card to "bury" it and keep it from being flipped; tunnels are assumed to go straight through them.

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When a player flips over the last face-down card (that is not buried), the game immediately ends. For each complete tunnel, the player with the most markers in it scores points equal to the number of face-up segments (buried cards won't score) multiplied by the sum of the values at the ends. The ends depicted on the 4 face-up cards at the start are valued 2 through 4, while some black ends on the face-down cards are worth zero. So, if a tunnel doesn't have at least one end worth points, it doesn't matter how long the tunnel is, it will be worth zero points.

As you may guess from the above description, the game requires a great deal of luck to win. If you place markers on a tunnel that later becomes quite long, it will either be worth a ridiculously high number of points, or none at all. There is no strategy you can effect so that particular tunnels will become longer, and no real ability to tactically decide which tunnels you should compete for ownership.

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If a tunnel becomes ridiculously long due to forks, as one does in the preceding photo, then the score from this one tunnel could be much higher than all the other tunnels combined. Forks not only make tunnels longer, but the multiplier may be larger as well since there are more endpoints. Once it is clear that a tunnel may become so long, it is in players' best interests to compete for ownership in just this one tunnel; players may just go back and forth, tit-for-tat until the tunnel is closed and a winner of the tunnel (and then, possibly, the game) can be determined. This focus on a single tunnel detracts from the rest of the game.

To address this, I would recommend that you remove tunnel forks from the deck, a variant included in the game rules. Though long tunnels are certainly still possible, their scores tend not to become ridiculous.

There are few decisions to make in Steam Tunnel. You choose which card to flip face-up, but the possible results are so varied that it's impossible to know whether flipping a particular card will be a good decision. You choose which tunnels to place markers on, but this decision is usually either a shot in the dark or plainly obvious.

I do still enjoy the game somewhat. It is quick and the rules are very simple. It is perhaps best to approach it as a betting game, placing markers on tunnels while they are short and just hope for the best. The game is very random; ideally multiple rounds would be played to even out the luck, but the game would then be prohibitively long. As-is, it is fairly short (and, of course, cheap), so there may be room for this in your collection as a game to play with children or as a filler.

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booned — 2007-11-10T21:42:16+00:00

End of a two-player game. (3 of 3) A four-fork tunnel resulted in a ridiculously high 364 point score.

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booned — 2007-11-10T21:38:27+00:00

Half-way through a two-player game. (2 of 3)

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booned — 2007-11-10T21:37:44+00:00

Starting layout. (1 of 3)

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amwiles — 2007-10-16T21:58:37+00:00

Mid-game. Green buries a card to lock in 24 points.

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amwiles — 2007-10-15T21:27:21+00:00

Steam Tunnel Cards

Thread: User Review

zombiemonkey — 2004-03-18T23:44:50+00:00

Steam Tunnel is another clever little Hip Pocket game from James Ernest, with the main difference to the other pipe/tunnel/system laying games in the Hip Pocket series being that players do not construct the map themselves; rather, the grid is predetermined due to the fact that a grid of 36 cards are laid out to start (four of which are face up point cards). On each turn, players turn a card over and then either claim a piece of tunnel anywhere on the system (providing it hasn't already been closed off) or use their counter to bury a card (this involves placing a counter on a card that is still face down, and once buried a card cannot be turned over). If a card is buried, all tunnels leading into it are assumed to go straight through it.

To score the game, once all cards are turned over and all systems closed (closed systems are tunnels that lead to dead ends or a scoring end with no open tunnels), systems are scored by multiplying the number of tunnel segments by the scores they lead to. If, for instance, a tunnel of five segments leads at one end to a '3' end, and at the other is a '2', the score is 5x(2x3)=25. The player who owns the most segments of this tunnel claims the points - if ownership is tied the points are divided between owning players.

The play is extremely fast moving and surprisingly tactical - obviously luck plays a part (the tunnels are influenced by players only by the luck of the draw, as they must be laid exactly in the position that they are flipped) but it is nevertheless an involving and fun game.

Easily on a par with the best of the Hip Pocket series (Agora, Light Speed, Safari Jack Remix, The Very Clever Pipe Game), Steam Tunnel also stands out by having decidedly unique mechanics from other similar tunnel/pipe based games. Scoring can sometimes be quite complex due to the twisty-turny nature of the tunnel systems, but still remains an engaging and tense part of the playing experience.

Recommended for those players that don't mind a little luck or mathematics intruding into their tunnelling fun. Another great value Hip Pocket game.

Thread: User Review

db3000 — 2003-08-04T12:42:17+00:00

Steam Tunnel is another fun card laying game that reminds me abit of another game by the same company called Nexus. In this game, a grid of cards is established, and one by one players flip over face down cards in order to develop completed lines. Get majority on a completed line and you score varying amounts of points( note: the numbers at the beginning and end of your completed routes are important). Anyway, Steam Tunnel is a pleasant diversion and if you enjoyed Nexus and The Very Clever Pipe game you likely will enjoy this one as well. Two interesting points in this game that struck me are: the wrap around board rule and the fact that you don't have to commit a colour maker to the card that you just flipped( you can play a marker on any vacant card you wish). Interesting. I'd rate Steam Tunnel as a 7/10 as far as light fillers go.