Trails and Tails: Review
Basics:
I have always enjoyed when current games bring back a mechanism from childhood. Mancala games or the games that do a twist on chess are easy examples. Trails and Tails takes the premise of snakes and ladders into modern gaming. More importantly Trails and Tails takes roll and move and really opens the decision space on the standard not often used mechanism.
Trails and Tails has players moving up, well, a snakes and ladders board. This time there are no ladders but only falls (or animals eating).
To move players have a set amount of dice each round that they can add or minus two dice together each turn and move that amount. This counts for even negative values allowing the player to move backwards.
With two to four dice this can actually create a lot of decisions for spacial movement. Anytime a treasure or item token is landed on, as an end of movement the player will gain the respective card and the token will slide down 10 spaces on the board (directly underneath). If a player ends their movement on another player, that other player will move back one space. With careful planning this can force the player down a fall sliding them to a lower location.
Players are moving on the board to gain treasures (mostly points), and gain items to use to alter other players standings (shown below).
The first player to exit the map will gain four gold and a bonus two if the exact movement is used. This is a game where the winning player isn't guaranteed to be the first player to leave instead it is the player with the highest total value of treasure.
Uniqueness:
What makes Trails and Tails unique within the roll and move genre is how players use the dice. On a turn a player can add or minus two of their dice values to create how far they will move. This could even be backwards movement. Once a player reaches a certain number on the board (even if they fall) they will unlock another dice for the rest of the game. This will happen for each player twice during the game. These four dice at the start of the round can create a lot of agency for the player. As they plan a movement to gain an item/treasure, knock another player back or simply accelerate to the end of the board. There is a lot of control.
Further more each character has a unique dispersement of dice value and unlock levels.
Creating reasons for specific characters being favourites. This combined with a unique power that activates when the player is in last place. Can create a small tweak in strategy per character creating a good level of replayability.
An example of this is how Luna can fly up white lines (acting like a ladder) when she is in last place.
Zig Zag:
At first glance Trails and Tails may look like a race but really it's about the journey, players may want to lag behind to keep their power in effect, keep control of where the treasures are landing or even go for the race. Truly the winner isn't decided until the game ends; everyone stands a chance. Furthermore there is a different amount of points spread across the treasures. This range is from one to three points.
Some treasures will also work like items and contain one-off effects that are locked to certain players activating these abilities. These treasures can be played or kept aside as one point for the end of the game.
A Soufflè works differently and has to be played immediately.
Zone:
Trails and Tails isn't on crowdfunding to later this year, everything seen here is still in the prototype phase. There is still work to be done mainly on streamlining the rulebook, but that has already been noted to the designer. I'm more focused on the gameplay. This is an interesting take on roll and move, allowing for an assymetrical assortment of dice per players. This is balanced by the different special powers (activated at last place) and the dice that are unlocked as players reach higher levels. With the dynamic of adding or subtracting two dice to determine movement there is a lot of control and interesting movement on players turns. This fits nicely in a family zone of game. If your looking for a game to add for young gamers that will keep you engaged as well, I think this will be great for your collection. The game will aid the young players in maths and tactile decisions while giving the adults a decision space that will hold their attention as well.
Comments
Post a Comment