Tuned: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Abstract, Two Player.
Player Age: 14+Player Count: 2 PlayersTime to Play: 30 Minutes
Player Age: 14+
Introduction:
Four animals; a rooster, a donkey, a dog and a cat close to the end of their farm life. They packed up their belongings and headed to Bremen to start a band in an old tale by the Brothers Grimm (that I personally have never heard of before). In this tale, they all stacked on top of each other and startled a robber away.
ThunderGryph games have maintained the essence of this tale and created an abstract game of evolved tic tac toe. In it, the band practise their music with the rooster as the lead. The twist is, following the story, the cat can sit on top of the dog, and the dog can sit on top of the donkey. If any player has three of the same animal in a row from a bird’s eye view perspective then they are victorious.
Setup:
- Place the barn board at the centre of the table.
- Give each player two animals per type.
- Each player's rooster goes onto the centre action area (the move icon).
How to Play:
The objective is simply to gain three animals in a row but the tricky part is the 3D aspect. A rooster can have a dog stand on them and the cat can stand on a dog. The cat however cannot stand on the donkey. At the start of every turn, the active player will move the rooster onto one of the revealed actions, covering that action for the next turn.
There are two instances of placing an animal and one instance of moving an animal which means a player can never move twice in a row. Placing allows the player to place one animal in a valid position on the board; either an empty spot or standing on the correct animal. Once an animal is placed it becomes available to the other player to either move or use as a part of their three-in-a-row connection. If a player has placed all their pieces they may only perform the move action. Moving allows you to move a piece, stack or partial stack that is already on the board into any valid spot to try and create three of the same animal in a row. This movement doesn’t have to be adjacent to where the animal is, in fact, it can move to any valid location as long as it doesn't undo the previous action.
Once a row of three, either vertical or horizontal, of the same animal is completed on a turn, that player becomes the winner. This is a fast game so I recommend playing first to three victories.
Final Thoughts:
- Constantly clear board state, with the potential moves of the other player are always visible.
- Moving is a powerful action that needs to be considered carefully.
- Shared game pieces
- Great components.
- Oversized game box
Tuned is an elegantly easy abstract game. At any point the board state is obvious to all players, you know what pieces your opponent has available, and you know if they can move on their next turn. In knowing these elements you can deduce what moves the opponents are considering. This is crucial as there are three different animals you constantly have to keep an eye on so you can set up the board for your own victory. The pieces on the board don't have loyalty to any one player so it is simply whoever can connect three on a turn. With great components, a unique theme and tense turns this abstract game is definitely staying in my collection for days i'm looking for a fast but tense game.
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