Tsuro – the game of the path

What is Tsuro

Tsuro was game number two for my household.

I chose this game after discovering the awesome Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop series on YouTube. If you aren’t familiar with this show, you probably should be. So click here and take a look.

Tsuro looks great, the game design is just stunning, and the pieces are very well manufactured if you’re into that sort of thing.

So much care has been taken over the creation of this game, from the box and packaging to the playing tiles and dragon tokens. You just know it will last years.

Gameplay

This is such an easy game to play. I’ve played with adults and children, in two player and four player games and it’s really good for all ages and group sizes.

Players pick a coloured token which represents a dragon. Your dragon is placed on one of many starting points around the edge of the board.

Each player draws three tiles, which are covered in lines representing flight paths through the sky for your dragon. Some of these lines are straight, some curve, but all will line up with either the edge of the board, or the edge of any adjacent cards.

Once your tile has been placed, your dragon moves along this new flightpath until it reaches the edge of a card or falls of the board.

Any players whose dragon leaves the board are out. The last dragon standing wins.

Despite it being easy, there’s still great opportunities to plan strategies. You have three tiles in your hand at any one time, so can plan a few moves in advance.

Do you stay at the edge of the board, or fly for the centre which in theory should be safer – although you’re more likely to be affected by the cards played by your opponent?

But is it good for two players?

Yes it is. Very much so. It’s a great time-killer, and only takes around ten minutes, so it’s great for a quick game when you don’t have much time. It is fairly expensive but the quality of the construction is worth it. I can see myself playing this game with my daughter in many years’ time.

Further information

See the official game page here.

Check out Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop playing through a game here.