Raymond Schalk
United States
Orlando
Florida
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What happened,Where are all my boats!?!? I mean, I had about 7 of them out there when my turn was over, now I have none.
What the Heck do I do? and Does it even Matter what I do? It doesn't matter, does it?!?!
I'm liking this game....but why?
If these questions look familiar to you then you have probably been playing the game Tongiaki. The game where it is ok, to sail off to your doom, as long as you do it with a lot of other people.
I'm not going to go over the rules which I am sure has been done many times already. This will just be a cross between a review and a session. Hope it helps a bit and you enjoy.
The Not So Tonga
1) Directions: I thought they bounced around a bit with telling you things they should have explained in earlier areas. I found myself rereading things a few times. Not the worst, but could have been better.
2) Confusing placement and movement: I kept getting confused when it came time to place my boats. The amount required, putting them on the same beaches, not putting them on the same beaches, doubling up (you can....ummm, but now you can't), leave a space...now you don't. Maybe it was just me, but it seemed awkward at first and took some time to get the hang of. (Got it now, if anybody is worried out there. Probably pushed a few Arkham Horror rules out of my head though).
3) Helplessness: Do you like the idea of sailing away to exotic islands? How bout if it involves being pushed into the water, forced out to sea by groups of crazy people and possibly never being seen or heard from again? Of couse you can get the same results by doing this to yourself, but watching your opponent taking control of sooo many of your boats gets to be frustrating.
In a game with more people, by the time it is your turn again, you may not have any boats left on the board or a ton of islands/water tiles have already been placed. In the end it sort of works because you are fighting to be on those islands and if there were boats everywhere the games would all be tied. It is just sad for players to watch and takes away from much of having any strategy.
4) There are game flaws listed at the end of the directions. I'm mixed about this being a poor point. At least they tell you what they are and what you should do if one of the flaws happens to arise.
5) Turns: (this is probably the worst area) Some turns you totally run the game, placing boats, several islands or sea tiles and taking a lot of time and thought. Other turns take 3 seconds to place your boats and you are done.
The Tonga
1) - I loved sending my wife's boats to their doom. (it's only a poor point when it happens to you). She has a boat and you add your boat forcing them launch out into horrible death filled waters. Mu haha. Her boat is gone, yours is gone. It is very useful if you still have a boat somewhere else on the island and she no longer does or if it gets rid of multiples of her boats. Did I mention....mu haha.
2) Nice amount of Randomness and Strategy. I think the Randomness outweighs the strategy, but there is excitment to pulling tiles and seeing if you discover a new island or if you float out to sea and have to eat your comrades to survive.
3) Visually cool. I seem to like these games that construct the board as you play. It has cool music and sound effects when the people push off to sea in their canoes. Ok, that is me saying things like wooosh!.... pffft!, into the water! and Let's go surfing now, everybody's learning how la la la. Ocean Man take my by the hand, lead me to the land, that you understand...Weenheads?
Anyway, I still like this game. Fun to watch, fun to play. It plays more like a party game, so just go with the flow, don't think to much and you will enjoy it. There is a bit of laughing when we play it. All that sailing with your buddies leading you right back to the island you started at. Haha.
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Randall Bart
United States
Granada Hills
California
Red October
Earth is one of my favorite planets
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As cat herders say, it's like playing Tongiaki.
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greg r
United States
troy
MI
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mutilatedlips wrote: Visually cool. I seem to like these games that construct the board as you play. It has cool music and sound effects when the people push off to sea in their canoes. Ok, that is me saying things like wooosh!.... pffft!, into the water! and Let's go surfing now, everybody's learning how la la la. Ocean Man take my by the hand, lead me to the land, that you understand...Weenheads?
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Betty Dingus
United States
Austin
Texas
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Good warnings! Wish I'd read this before I played the first time (when I just felt, um, defeated).
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