Thoughts on… Tsuro: The Game of the Path
Legend has it that the Dragon and the Phoenix maintain the balance between choice and destiny, yin and yang. They oversee the many paths of life and guide those journeying along them towards divine wisdom. Tsuro: the Game of the Path invites you to take this journey.
In Tsuro, you play as flying dragons. Man, I already feel good! Do you need more? Oh, ok then.
In Tsuro, you play as flying dragons, peacefully soaring through the skies. Your only aim is to stay on the board as you lay tiles to choose your path. Peacefully. Its time to relax, just take a load off and lay some tiles. Isn’t it beautiful?
Just enjoy the view. Lay your lovely glossy tiles on the beautiful phoenix board and swoosh! Move your little dragon marker to the end of the path. And draw a new tile. Take some time to decide where you’ll go next.
Just lovely. It’s like you’re floating above the clouds, or soaking in a warm bath, or… NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME DAMN YOU! I WILL DESTROY YOU!
You see, the thing is, the path to enlightenment is never smooth. Indeed, its quite often curved, twisted and involves pushing your fellows off the edge. Or forcing them to collide. Or at the very least making things as difficult as possible. Because the other thing about enlightenment: there can be only one!
The winner will be the last dragon standing, and as the board steadily fills up with tiles the game will get tighter and tighter until inevitably you’re placing a tile that not only moves you, but also your opponent. You could be nice and keep them alive, or you just might have no choice but to send them flying off the edge of the board. No enlightenment for them today!
And that’s the game. Simple, beautiful and despite the inevitable end, the most peaceful game I’ve ever played. It’s a rare thing to get a sense of zen from a board game, but Tsuro manages it!
It really needs 4 or more players to work properly. Otherwise it’s just not tight enough, though you could decrease the playing area for fewer players. It does involve knocking players out, but the game plays so fast that you can just reset and play again and again.
And the components! The player markers have elegant little dragons carved on them. The board is beautiful! Its almost a shame to cover it with those lusciously solid tiles. And the rulebook! Having the rulebook fold out from the centre like some ancient chinese manuscript was such a lovely inclusion. It adds nothing to the function of the game, but so much to the feel of it. I absolutely love it.
Tsuro is one of those elegantly simple games that just works perfectly for any group, and such an innocuous theme that no one is going to be put off by it. Definitely one of the world’s best gateway games.
Now if you’ll excuse me, its time for my meditation session. Swoosh…
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