Tikal

I have managed to play my way through 3/5 of a game of Tikal by e-mail and I've got to say I'm not impressed. Perhaps the fact that I was tied for last place clouded my judgement (I was tied at 24-24-29-35). Well not really because the game wasn't over yet. Well maybe just slightly. Anyway. To briefly describe the game; Tikal is a game of exploration within the Central American jungles in search of lost temples and the treasures within. Players (up to 4 each game) send their team of explorers into the jungle (the board), uncovering more and more of the terrain as the game progresses. Along the way you find temples which require further uncovering and treasures. Players attempt to score points by occupying temples and holding onto treasure.

Sounds simple. But how does the game play? Let's start with the board; I don't know how big it is exactly in life, but from what I see on the geek the board is beautifully detailed with tons of nicely coloured bits and when completed can be somewhat pleasing to the eye. Each player gets standard wooden markers in their own colour comprising explorers, leaders and camps. And as they track about exploring, the wooden pieces are easy to keep track of and stands out from the background without being drowned by all the intricate details of the board.

Each round players choose to perform actions:
1. Bring Workers To Camp (1AP)
2. Move Workers (1-6AP depending on terrain)
3. Explore Temples (2AP)
4. Uncover or Trade Treasures (3AP)
5. Build Camp (5AP)
6. Guard a Temple (5AP)

Players can choose one action repeatedly or a combination of actions. Once a player uses up his action points [(AP) 10 each turn] his turn is over and the next player goes. The game continues until the whole terrain has been uncovered and a final scoring takes place.

So how is the board explored? Each round before a player decides on his actions, a tile is drawn from a stack randomly and placed on the board. Problem 1. Ouch - Random Tile Placements. It isn't hard to imagine one player consistently coming up with good tiles, while someone else draws crap ones all the time. I for one do not want to be the latter. Granted you can put the crap tiles near you opponent's camp to mess with their plans, but having said that you're not exactly doing something to directly help yourself.

Among the stack of tiles are 3 volcano tiles that if drawn would initiate scoring. It would follow that scoring is random, and they can be as closed to one another or as far apart as the total number of tiles in the stack. And you have absolutely no way of knowing. Minor problem 2.

Problem 3 would be the manner scoring is conducted. Players score points for the temple they are on if they have the largest expedition force around it. In our game this lead to a build up of forces (along the lines of an arms race - up to 9 explorers each around one high scoring temple) between 2 players leaving the other 2 to roam freely around the board racking up majorities with a single explorer. In a game where players own only 15 explorers, that doesn't leave you with very much to do elsewhere on the board, except to look on in horror at what your competitors are unearthing while you struggle to build up a majority around your temples. Although to be absolutely fair, I could possibly see this one diminishing with experience, once you're able to balance beforehand the number of explorers worthy of a temple and the total number of points you could acquire from it. Know when you're outnumbered early and get out so you're still in a position to dispute the majority of the other temples.

Currently Tikal is in 52nd spot on the geek, with an average rating of 7.50. It has been rated by 2726 users with a standard deviation of 1.18.

My comments: Tikal is a solid 2nd-tier Eurogame. It plays fast (an average game last between 40-60 minutes) and is fun with really beautiful bits, but randomness and flawed scoring drag it down immensely. This is a game I would not buy, and would not ask for it to be brought to the table, but wouldn't refuse either if someone else wants to play. Oh and before I forget, Problem 4 is Analysis Paralysis (AP). Many of you who play games with me know what that means, and we all know who tends to do it. AP happens when players try their best to optimise his/her position each turn, and because there are so many means for them to achieve that (particularly in a game with tons of choices, and nobody could tell what the best move is so they probably can't either, but everyone just moves anyway with what could possibly be their 2nd/3rd best move), they get paralysed running every single option through their head and calculating down to the penny the benefits/detriments of each route to themselves and the other players and in doing so bring the entire game to a standstill for everyone. No its not fun. And its hard to tell AP-ers they are AP-ing because they just don't like it (stop interfering with how I play my game). And Tikal with its 10AP (Action Points) to spend as you will each round may just tip it over for susceptible players.

Final Verdict: 6.5/10 and way out of my Top 10.

************************UPDATE*****************************

I have just completed my earlier game of Tikal, and I'm glad to announce I managed to claw my back and finished 2nd, 7 points behind the leader and 3 points ahead of 3rd place (106-99-96-66). Unfortunately this does not change my opinion of the game, and my comments and rating remains. Below is a link to the finished game though I've no idea how long it'll be there. I will remove the link when the game is removed. Remember the page may take a while to load :)

http://www.spielbyweb.com/game.php?games_id=13920&action=auth