Pyramid Review
Tsuro: The Game of the Path
Published by WizKids, Inc.
Designed by Tom McMurchie
Illustrated by Shane Small
9-inch Square Full Color Fold Out Board, 35 2½-inch squares Tiles, One 2½-inch square Dragon Tile, Eight Colored Markers, 9-by-18-inch Full color card Rules Sheet, & One 5-by-7-inch 16-Page B&W Foreign Language saddlestitched Rules Booklet; $24.99
Better known for their collectible miniatures games such as MechWarrior: Dark Age and Heroclix and their constructable strategy games like Pirates of the Caribbean and Rocketmen: Axis of Evil, WizKids step away from all that to give us something both complete and self-contained. Tsuro: The Game of the Path is the publisher's first board game, one that matches the European model in terms of quality, and matches its simplicity of concept with a simplicity of play.
The concept is that the Dragon and the Phoenix share the guardianship of the paths of life, maintaining a careful equilibrium between the two forces of luck and destiny. Only by finding a balance between the two can you find the path to enlightenment. In Tsuro, this is reflected in the players having to find their way across the board, but curiously not to the other side. Indeed, a player does not want to find a path to the other or edge of the board, but rather he wants his opponents to do so. This will lose them the game, and if he can force this to happen by putting a path in front of them in front of an opponent -- which he must take -- then so much the better . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: May 12, 2006
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