Tulikko the Fire Fox lives in the forest, deep in the borth with all of the other animal spirits. Today we will journey deep in those forests to uncover the secrets of the animal spirits. Let’s grab a friend or three and go see what we can find!
Tulikko is from Pandasaurus Games and plays 2-4 players in 20 mins. It is designed by Jerome Soleil and Nicolas Melet with art from Maud Chalmel.
Overview:
Tulikko is a tile-laying puzzle game in which participants build individual wilderness maps while interacting through a shared central board. The game revolves around manipulating tiles, placing them into personal grids, and managing all of it in order to complete objectives and ultimately be the first player to place all of their tokens.
Gameplay:
To begin set up the player and central game board areas. A central board is arranged using forest tiles in a grid that all players can access. Each player receives a personal map area where they will construct their own wilderness, along with a supply of tokens.
Play proceeds in turns, with each player moving along 3 actions in order. The central mechanic involves selecting a forest tile and sliding it into the shared board from one side. This action shifts the row or column of tiles in that direction and causes a tile to be pushed out from the opposite side. The tile that is ejected becomes the active tile for the player’s turn. Each play changes the layout of the central board, making the shared board a constantly changing system of tiles available for all players.
After obtaining the ejected tile, the player must place it into their personal wilderness map. When tiles are placed next to others of matching patterns this generates animal tokens, which are a primary resource for winning the game. When tiles do not match, they instead generate river tokens, representing a different type of placement outcome that still contributes to overall progress.
In addition to adjacency effects, tile placement can fulfill specific area objectives. These objectives may involve arranging tiles into particular shapes, patterns, or alignments. Completing an objective can be for a landscape card, symbol card or aurora tile. Each one will grant effects in game. Over the course of the game, players gain and place their tokens based on their tile placement, adjacency, and objective completion.
The game ends when a player succeeds in placing all of their tokens onto their map. The game will also end after 12 turns if players have no forest tiles in their personal piles. If only one player successfully places all their tokens they win the game!
Impressions:
Tulikko is a tile laying game that is simple to understand and play but brings enough challenge to the table for all players young and old. I like how easy it is to set up, the game is simple right out of the box to get on the table and get teaching.
Most of game centralizes on selecting a tile and sliding it into the shared board to shift out a different tile from the board. I love the way it lays out and the constant changing of the tiles is a fun game mechanic that feels a little like the kids game Labyrinth in the way it all plays out.
The aesthetics of the game is great, it just looks nice on the table and the art is whimsical and fun. We especially liked the aurora style that the game has and it looks pretty on the table. For those looking for a game that has a strong table presence and will draw in others, this is it!
Overall I enjoyed this game and look forward to playing it more in the future. It is a whimsical adventure and one all of our friends and family really enjoyed. So grab a friend or two, head to the forest and see if you can uncover the secrets of the animal spirits together!
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