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Tzolk'in
Authors: Daniele Tascini & Simone Luciani
Publisher: Czech Games Edition / Heidelberger Spieleverlag
Year: 2012


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In ‘Tzolk’in - der Maya Kalender’ each of the four players try to develop their tribe as well as possible and convert these development into points, in this the Mayans don’t differ from the builders in Tuscany or Egypt, or the sailors in Portugal. To to this, a player initially has three workers that he can place on a position on one of the five wheels of the calendar, performing the corresponding action in a later turn. After each of the players has taken his turn, the wheel rotates one position reflecting one day and a new round starts with a possibe new starting player. As the wheel has been rotated, new and often more attractive actions become available. In his turn, a player decides between taking one or more workers back from the wheel, or place one or more workers - if available, leaving already placed workers on the wheel to be rotated one position further towards more interesting actions. Corn is important; after each quarter of a rotation the tribe must be fed, but corn also is a means of payment. When the wheel has completed one full rotation, the game ends and the player with the most points has won.

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At the start of the game each player is dealt four starting chits. Each chit is different; one could provide a player with nine corn and a stone, an other chit offers a more modest supply with three corn and a wood, but also with a permanent nutrition for one worker during the whole game. This way each player makes his own consideration and chooses two chits to start the game with; this makes each player has a different starting position with which a player perhaps could plot an immediate starting strategy.

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To ensure the tribe can be fed sufficiently after one quarter, each player will have to visit the ‘green’ wheel from time to time: it is here that a player can harvest corn, less at the lower, and plentiful at the highest positions. To eliminate a possible misunderstanding right away: it would be all too easy when a player was allowed to place a worker right away onto the highest positions; this is not allowed. A worker always has to placed at the lowest possible position; when he is lucky this is the ‘zero’ and he does not have to pay for the placement, but when this position already is taken by an other player he is forced onto the higher available position, a fluke maybe concerning the later intake of more corn, but a problem if he does not have the necessary corn to pay for the position. How much has to be paid can be read near the edges at each of the wheels.
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At the second wheel recources can be collected with which buildings and monuments can be built elsewhere, from wood and stone to gold and crystal skulls. The third wheel primarily offers opportunities to development on four different tracks, and the possibility to acquire buildings or monuments that offer perks during the game or points at the end of it. Also it is here that the gods can be propitiated - for points of course, although this can be done at other locations too.

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At the fourth ‘yellow’ wheel trading is the main activity, such as the possibility to build a building with corn instead of resources, or the exchange of resources into corn or vice versa, or the propitiation of the gods - and thereby achieve a higher position at the corresponding temple: to be paid with corn.
When a player feels he needs more than the initial three workers he can acquire an extra worker at this wheel; his tribe may consist of up to six workers that otherwise all have to be fed. Fortunately there are buildings that produce corn, effectively giving a discount at pay day. But if these buildings will become available at a given time in the display is the question of course.

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At the last ‘blue’ wheel workers are placed that, when a crystal skull has been acquired, can be placed at a free position at the wheel; for lesser points at lower positions than at higher positions. After placing the skull a player may also increase his influence at one of the temples as indicated, all this for points - or resources, dependent on the type of scoring.
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Each quarter the worker must be fed; failing to feed one puts a player back three points per worker on the score track. Also the temples are scored. At the first and third score each player receives the resources for each resource he has passed or reached at each of the three temples. At the second and fourth score where all workers also have to be fed, players score points for their position at the temples, with a bonus for a player who is at the highest position at a temple - and no points for runners up!

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A player may decide to develop, doing this at the third wheel, on one or more of the four development tracks. The upper row actually only deals with corn: a player receives more corn when he is at the ‘green’ wheel and decides to take the ‘take corn’ action - or if enough developed, he does not have to fulfill a certain condition to take corn.
The second row supplies additional resources when the concerning resource is taken: when taking stone, an additional stone may be taken; and the same goes for wood or gold.
In the third row a player receives additional corn or points when he has built a building, and in the fourth and last row a player will focus on the ‘blue’ wheel: he may place the skull one position higher than his actual position on the wheel, he may place his marker one position higher on one of the temples, paying only any one resource, or he even may take an additional skull when het ook this as an action on the second wheel, all this provided the player has progressed onto these developments so this action is available.

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At the ‘green’ wheel the corn at the higher positions cannot simply be taken; the fields are not cultivated and what we only see is forest. The forest first must be removed with the action ‘take wood’ in order to be able to take corn at a later time - or the forest can be burnt so the corn can be taken right away, but the gods dislike such brutal force, and the player subsequently has to lower his marker one position at one of the temples.
But a development on the second row of the green development track dismisses a player from this punishment so he can take corn even if there is still forest on top - a miracle!

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The starting player of a round has the first choice from attractive positions, including the ‘zero’ as the wheel just has rotated one position with the zero becoming available again. Other players usually have to pay their positions with corn, and this could become a problem in the long run. When all players have taken their turn, a corn is placed at the socalled starting player position, a choice a player could make by placing one worker there, taking all the accumulated corn, and becoming starting player for the next round with a special action: he may choose between rotating the wheel one or two positions. This sounds fine as a desired position could be reached one turn earlier, but when a player finds his desired position lies behind him as the wheel has passed it in rotating two positions, he has to pay one corn per passed position.

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The buildings in the game supply, once bought with the necessary resources, for one-off or continuing effects during the game; the monuments that are considerably more expensive score points at the end of the game, provided the relevant conditions are met. A player will only focus on one of the monuments when he has gotten a better picture of his development  and suspects that a certain monument could give a nice bonus to it.
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The game lasts twenty six turns. This seems long, but after every six or seven turns there is a score of some kind and the tribe must be fed again. And when a starting player change has occurred, the wheel suddenly could be rotated two positions, with a soon approaching scoring ahead.
At the end of the game a final feeding of the tribe and score takes place, after which the remaining resources are exchanged for corn according to the market prices and then turned into points: each four corn is one point. The unplaced but collected skulls score three points each, and to this the value of the monuments is added.

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There are many games where it is necessary to describe the mechanism of the game; in ‘Tzolk’in’ one must be double blind to not see what is attached to the game board: a large wheelwork. But this also triggered the initial suspicion before the first game was played: is this mechanism merely a gimmick? Is there also a game behind this?

Purely seen from the actions, nothing shocking seems the matter: tokens are brought into play, that score revenues and points. Yet, and it has to be said as it is, this game is toothed nicely, and the various considerations ensure an exciting and intriguing game. A player continuously is making plans: when I place something here, I can do this in two turns, meanwhile having collected enough resources to do on that other wheel exactly what I planned to do.

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But more often a player sighs and moans that things don’t come together; and especially near the end of the game, when players make a rally of some kind for this or that and, of course, points, more often it appears that the pre-calculation is just yet a bit different than expected. This gives players the intention to play it differently a next time to play a then perfect game. Throufh this the game challenges the players time after time: can you cope me?
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The venom of the game lies in its simplicity: either place one or more workers, or take one or more workers back and perform its corresponding actions. When a player doesn’t have any more workers left to place, he is forced to take at least one worker back. Optimal however would be that all workers are at a desired position, harvesting efficiently in a single turn. But for this, all has to come together perfectly, and a player may see a desired position occupied by a player who is taking his turn before him. This makes it interesting to place a worker in order to become starting player. But a player initially only has three workers, and a possible fourth is only to be get at the third position of the ‘yellow’ wheel. Meanwhile this worker cannot be put into action elsewhere...

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And then there is the consideration how many workers at once have to be placed, as each additional worker is placed at increasing corn costs. Placing three workers at start costs three corn, expensive and not wise, as in the second turn the player is forced to take one or more of these workers back at minimal revenu.

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There are not many games that stand out, and this is not about the appearance of the wheels. No, it’s the tension, the intentions, the small successes during the game, but basically the overall gaming experience that lifts this game far above average. Everything works and makes sense, while meanwhile there still is plenty to discover in the combinations of the various development tracks in combination with the actions on the wheels. With all this, ‘Tzolk’in’ classifies itself in the highest regions of quality board games.
© 2013 Richard van Vugt

Tzolk’in, Daniele Tascini & Simone Luciani, Czech Games Edition / Heidelberger Spieleverlag, 2012 - 2-4 players, 13 years and up, 90 minutes


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