Trails of Tucana Board Game Review
Roll and Write, or Flip and Write games are a huge hit in the Roffel household, and for good reason. They are easy to transport, can be played almost anywhere, and are generally pretty quick while offering a great experience. Trails of Tucana ticks all of these boxes so it’s one that won’t be leaving our collection anytime soon. However, just because it works for us doesn’t mean it will work for you! Let’s take a look at Trails of Tucana!
In Trails of Tucana, players are attempting to create trails through the jungle, connecting huts and more. On a turn, one player will flip over two cards from the deck, and those cards will depict two biomes that appear on the game sheet. These could be deserts, mountains, forests, etc. When the two cards are flipped, every player must find a location where those two biomes connect on the board, and create a line between the two that begins at the centre of one biome and ends at the centre of another biome. This is a single trail section, and ultimately you will try to connect these all together as the game goes on.
Certain biomes are more likely to be flipped than others, so there are a ton of decision making moments throughout as you decide where to best put these trail sections. At times, the cards just don’t flip the way you want them to, and this will either become a frustration for some, or an opportunity for others to try something new. One thing is for certain – you can never plan much ahead in this game as the card draws are completely random. If you love games that CAN work out perfectly, this probably isn’t it. While it can happen, there are no guarantees, and I’d argue it’s more likely that cards will come up that force you to rethink your strategy time and time again.
I like the process of trying to connect icons on the maps to villages to earn bonus points. I also like attempting to complete the bonus objectives as well. There is a lot going on in a sense, but you won’t be able to do everything. I found that if one thing wasn’t working out – perhaps I couldn’t find a way to score the bonus points for connecting villages – I could focus instead on scoring points by connecting icons to villages.
This is a fantastic and easy to play Flip and Write experience, one that I can enjoy with my wife, or in a larger gaming group with a variety of age groups present. I like games like this because of their ease of play and accessibility – this is easy to pull out during board game nights, and is a great filler game or end-of-the-night experience. Bang for buck, there are a ton of games here for a decently inexpensive investment!