Review - Tsuro: The Game Of The Path

Players: 2-8
Playing Time: 10 - 20 Minutes
Age: 8+
Suggested Retail: $29.99

Create your own journey with Tsuro, the Game of the Path.  Prevent your opponents from steering you in the wrong direction—or off the board! Tsuro is the quick-playing game in which directions can change as easily as the game plays.

The rules are simple: You place your stones, select your tiles, and attempt to build a safe Path for your journey. The Paths of other players cross and connect, so the choices you make affect all the journeys across the board. Stay on the right Path -- your journey begins here.

The Goal:

Be the last player with a marker on the board.

The Setup:

Each player chooses a marker stone, shuffle the tiles, and deal three tiles to each player.  Place remaining tiles in a draw pile.

The Play:

The game board is made up of a 6x6 grid where the game tiles are played.

First, each player chooses a starting point along the outside of the playing area on the board.  Each turn involes three steps:

1. Play A Tile - The player chooses a tile from his hand and plays it in the vacant space next to their marker
2. Move Markers - All players whose marker touches the newly played tiles moves their marker along the new path segment.
3. Draw a New Tile - Player draws a new tile from the draw pile.

As the game progresses the markers will move all over the board.  You are trying to place tiles that will force your opponent's markers off the board while keeping you marker on the board.  You are not allowed to play a tile that forces your own marker off the board, unless there is no other choice.

Game End:

When only one marker is left on the board, that player wins!


Review:

Tsuro is another fun, short game to play.  I think this is a very good filler game and I really like that it supports up to 8 players.  I tried a 2 player game and it went a little long before it got interesting towards the end of the game.  We also tried making the play area smaller (3x3 and 4x4) which was an interesting variation...the game is better with 4 or more players.

Considering this is the first published game from Calliope Games, it is a very pretty game.  I was surprised at the small touches that made opening the game fun.  The rules booklet is a tri-fold booklet that looks more like an invitation than a rules booklet. 

Overall, I give it a 8 out of 10...it will still be just a filler game, but it is a very good one.

You can buy Tsuro in our eBay store (www.howlingfungames.com) or Our Amazon Store or by contacting us directly.

Review - Zombie Dice

 

Players: 2+
Playing Time: 10 - 20 Minutes
Age: 10+
Suggested Retail: $13.13

Eat brains. Don't get shotgunned.

You are a zombie. You want braaains. More brains than any of your zombie buddies.

Zombie Dice is fast and easy for any zombie fan (or the whole zombie family). The 13 custom dice are your victims. Push your luck to eat their brains, but stop rolling before the shotgun blasts end your turn!


The Goal:

Eat more brains than your opponents!

The Setup:

Put the 13 dice in the cup and get paper to keep track of scores.

The Play:

The first player shakes the cup and then randomly takes 3 dice and rolls them.  Any die with a brain is kept to one side, shotgun blasts are kept to the other side.  If you decide to keep going, any die with footprints are keep to be rolled again.  When you decide to roll again, you randomly take more dice from the cup so you always roll 3 dice.  Once you take dice from the cup, you MUST roll them.

Brains are good, shotgun blasts are bad.  You want to get as many brains as you can while pressing your luck and avoid the shotgun blast...if you get 3 blasts, then your turn is over and you score NO points.  If you decide to stop, you score 1 point for each brain in front of you.

The dice come in 3 colors and they are not created equal.  Red dice are shotgun blast heavy...3 blasts, 2 footprints, and only 1 brain.  Yellow dice have 2 of each symbol.  Green dice are brain heavy...3 brains, 2 footprints, and only 1 blast.  But, remember you have to decide if you will press your luck before you know what dice you will have to roll.

Game End:

When 1 player has scored 13 or more brains, then the round is finished and the player with the most brains wins...it might not be the 1st one to 13 brains.


Review:

I like this game better than the Cthulhu Dice that I reviewed last time.  There is a bit of strategy needed for the press your luck aspect of the game.  I played with 3 players and the games took 10 minutes.

One negative, the dice cup is a cardboard tube with a label stuck on it and plastic end stuck in the tube.  If you have a vigorous shaker, the bottom will fall out.  Easily fixed with some glue.  The label also takes a beating fairly quickly.

Overall, it was quite fun, but it is still just a filler game...which is really what it is intended to be.  Overall, I give it a 7 out of 10. 

You can buy Zombie Dice in our eBay store (www.howlingfungames.com) or in our Amazon Store or by contacting us directly.