Game Review

Concept:

Tochtli (Toe-Klee) is the Aztec word for jack rabbit. Pieces jump around the board until they can capture one of the corners.

Gameplay:

To start, players place their pieces on the board in the starting configuration: On directly opposite points, opponents place a stack of two of their pieces. The remaining 4 pieces foe each player are places in two stacks on the adjacent spots to their opponent's starting point (see picture).

Players decide which of them goes first. On a turn, a player may do one of the following:

• Move your piece or stack one space.

• With a piece or stack you control, jump over a piece or a stack.

• Split a stack that you control.

• Move or jump a single piece onto another single piece to make a new stack.

• Flip a stack where your piece is on the bottom.

The rules are extremely short, so I am intentionally not explaining them all. If you must know more -- you should buy the game. The rules depict moves that are not allowed as well as noting some exceptions to the "flipping" option.

A player wins when all three spaces of an outer point are controlled by them -- with pieces of the same height: either all stacks, or all singles. A combination of stacks and single pieces will not win.

Winning Conditions:

All three spaces of an outer point are controlled by stacks you control or by single pieces you control.

Our Opinion:

Tochtli is one of the first games created by Coyote Games -- a local game store in Redmond, WA. Apparently this is a collaborative effort between the game store and the creator of Dao. We played this game several times -- overall, we could see that it was well thought out and very cleanly constructed. There aren't any major rule omissions, or items to cause us to question the design. However, we had a lot of trouble enjoying the game.

It plays similar to Dao, but strikes us the same way that Ido did. It was presented well, but lacked a fun element. After a lengthy discussion, we believe we could best summarize the problem with this game as follows: Too often, a player does not make a strategic choice in the game -- the player is left with a "must-move" in order to NOT lose. One player attacks several times in a row, until they require multiple moves to be in the next winning position; then, and only then, can the second player launch a counterattack. Typically the player who loses is the player who forgets to defend on a turn.

Tochtli is well balanced, and cleanly written, but it lacks the strategic openness that Dao contains. Players don't need to think as hard in Tochtli -- they just cannot forget to stop their opponent's winning move.

Tochtli is a reasonable game for people who really like two player strategy games -- but it isn't a "must-have." If you are looking for a new 2 player game, compare this with some others that are similar before you buy it. We had mixed feelings about it -- you might like it more than we did.

Where to buy:

Contact Coyote Games at their website.