Jcarpe

My wife and I have enjoyed playing this with close friends and neighbors mainly because it just doesn’t really get old. The initial random nature of the tiles and how the overall landscape changes based on the how the group plays can create new challenges and a unique experience over and over. The learning curve is short and quiet gentle which makes this some really accessible fun. This is one that we keep coming back to.

Our regular group has had a lot of fun with this game. It seems to have the ideal combination of game length (time), instant replay value, and light competitive strategy. We found it very easy to play over and over for a few hours. It can be both as light and fun or as cut-throat competitive as you want to make it (typically the later for us, even with the best intentions).

The first few games played were mainly learning the general rules and getting accustomed to play, as is typical. Things got very interesting after this as we started learning the intricacies of using the panda and farmer to sabotage one another in addition to fulfilling our own goals. It is this aspect that generated our most competitive sessions.

The quality of the set is decent. The little character figures (panda and farmer) are fun and the cards are of good stock. The hexagonal tiles are nice heavy stock, however the set I purchased had poor scoring in the cardboard punch-out cards, which resulted in some little tears on some of the tiles. The set is obviously still very much playable. We also discovered that there is a need for a good amount of space. Our living room coffee table quickly filled with tiles and we found ourselves keeping our player cards on the floor as the hex tiles nearly filled the play surface.

Our group has had a lot of fun with this game for the past several days. It is a great casual game that doesn’t take a long time to complete, but is still a relatively deep strategic game. We found ourselves having a good understanding of play after the first game or two, but after five or six games, still discovering new ways to gain the advantage over an opponent. The fact that the play space is so fluid dramatically adds to the replay value of the game. The galaxy is essentially completely different each time you play.

The quality of the game is a little bit lacking. I really wish that the game tiles and player boards had rounded corners and were of a bit higher quality stamp/punch. I noticed that some of the cardboard corners were bent/frayed right out of the box before we ever played once (an example of high quality cardboard pieces being Tokaido or Takenoko).

So, nostalgia plays a huge part in the appeal of this game. As a group of late 20 to early 30 somethings, we have had a lot of fun playing this and joking about the retro illustrations. That said, it is a fun game, but the achilles heel is in the replay value, particularly for two people.

The learning cure for this game is a little steep. This is not so much from complicated mechanics, but rather just having a lot of steps to keep track of and remember. It took a full play through or two in order to really internalize the flow of gameplay. Once we’d gotten a couple games under our belt, we found this to be a fantastic way to spend and hour after work or on the weekend.

The ding to replay value comes from the fact that the gameplay really does not hold up so well with only two players. The game flows more like a continuous cycle with only two people. With three or four players, things become a little more dynamic. Spells feel more disruptive, treasure counts are more spread out, and level up abilities have more diverse impact.

At the end of the day, if you’re looking for something that is fun for a group of friends to play something with pretty quick gameplay where you might get through two or three play throughs, then this is a nice option that won’t break the bank.

This game is very addictive and the expansion truly adds a new dimension to the base rules.

One of the most delightful discoveries over the course of playing the first few games of Tokaido is that the game reveals it self as more complex and more strategic than it appears at first. At the same time, there is not such complexity that the game is pushed out of the reasonable realm of play for families and kids.

While not terribly difficult to learn, it is billed as a “family” game and could stand to be confusing to younger folks.