Eilif Svensson and Kristian A. Østby launched Trails of Tucana, a popular flip & write game for families, onto the games market in 2020. Tucana Builders was released by Pegasus Spiele another independent game from the island universe. This time as a board game. But without the island idyll. Rather, the aim is to restore exactly that: A volcano has erupted on the islands of Tucanas and all the animal inhabitants are running around in fear. It is up to the players to guide pumas, monkeys and co. back to their villages. We will take a closer look at how the rescue operation succeeds and whether a short vacation into the chaos is worth it.
The background story of the tropical puzzle game Tucana Builders has already been told in two short sentences. But there is no need for much more fluff. After all, the game is aimed at families with children aged eight and over and has no claim to complexity. The focus here is clearly on easy learning and entertaining fun.
If you still want to find out a little more about the island paradise, a quick look at the rules of Trails of Tucana is enough, which reveals to particularly curious players that the inhabitants of Tucana live in harmony with a variety of animals and that peoples from ancient times left their mark on the islands. In contrast, everything in Tucana Builders doesn't sound quite so paradisiacal, but always with an eye on the happy ending.
Place particles, chase points, have fun
Anyone who has ever played a board game, such as The Island of Cats, will be very familiar with the basic concept. Everyone else won't need much longer to understand it. Children can also play without any problems, because the board game is completely family-friendly: each player plays on their own island in a simple, repeating sequence.
As soon as a terrain card determines on which surface - jungle, lava, sand or stone - the path tile should be placed, the animal rescue operation can begin. Always with the goal in mind of guiding the animals to their appropriate village. In Tucana Builders, appropriate simply means that the colors of the animal and the village hut match. The yellow puma has to go back to the yellow hut and so on. Only the eponymous toucan is the chameleon among the island animals and is counted as rescued when it returns to any of the three possible huts - blue, yellow and red.
Quickly learned by families, quickly played
Laying out the path tiles is child-friendly. They can be rotated and placed anywhere, and if a player doesn't like the path tile they have drawn, they can swap it out of the supply. If the surface they have drawn is still in the way, the joker card helps out once per round by allowing them to freely select the surface. If the first paths are then connected and the route doesn't go as planned, it can be abandoned. There are therefore a whole range of aids that make the game much easier.
The animal rescue mission on the islands of Tucana Builders takes place over two quick rounds. A total of twelve path tiles are laid out per round. After each round, there is a short point hunt for the interim scoring. This, too, does not present any particular challenge, apart from the bustling jumble of animals and paths on the game boards: every correctly connected animal earns the player a point!
At the end of the second round, each player receives a small bonus. The game becomes slightly more difficult if the advanced version is played. The twist comes from two bonus cards with special objectives that are laid out face up for everyone and are also valid. A bonus task, for example, would be to connect two huts using path tiles. This hardly changes the game, but offers less space for escape routes and therefore a little more spice.
In the solo version of Tucana Builders, the rules of the game hardly change. Only the value of the bonus cards is slightly changed. Older children can certainly be trusted to discover the solo version for themselves.
Tucana Builders as a solo game for children
In terms of play, Tucana Builders remains what it wants to be: a board game for families with children. Connoisseurs or even experts will not be well served if they reach for the games shelf with a desire for complexity. Nevertheless, they should also have fun with the game if they see it as fun without any particular demands. Perhaps as a warm-up game before games night or as a so-called "no brainer" to relax after a stressful day.
The game from Pegasus Spiele is simply designed to bring simple fun to the table. Any child can easily experience it. It only gets tricky if the paths are not laid out carefully and at the same time you forget to replace the tiles with a new one in time. Ultimately, Tucana Builders meets all the requirements of a cozy game (or rather, cozy board game): It doesn't give you an adrenaline rush, is easy to learn, requires little concentration and brings fun to the home game table.
Info about Tucana Builders
| Number of players: 1 to 5 Age: from 8 years Playing time: 20 to 40 minutes Difficulty: Family game Long-term motivation: medium Classification: placement game Authors: Eilif Svensson and Kristian A. Østby Illustrations: Gjermund Bohne, Yan Moussu, OffDutyNinja Publisher: Pegasus Spiele Official Website: Link Year of publication: 2024 Language: German Cost: 34,99 Euro |
Conclusion
Tucana Builders is a point hunt. The rules make the game noticeably simpler. The only risk we see is that tracks can be laid in such a way that they get in each other's way or leave no room for more. This can be almost minimized by careful playing. This is the perfect choice for families with children. Because what seems very simple for adults is quite tricky for children, which explains the rather long playing time of up to 40 minutes. However, the game with the eponymous woodpecker is not intended to appeal to groups of adults or even experts. The family game is intended to appeal to children and it certainly succeeds in doing so.
The board game is a hit with families thanks to its cute design (what child doesn't like exotic animals), the fun it offers with a minimum of effort and the short playing time. Each round of Tucana Builders is a little different from the previous one. That is the advantage of tile-laying games, which is also evident here. And when all the animals have reached their homes at the end and the island idyll has been restored, the whole family will most likely leave the game table satisfied.
Now, readers may murmur that the theme of most board games is just artificial and interchangeable, but let's be honest: laying out simple, brightly colored cards is only half as much fun. Don't we all want to be saviors of the animal world, build castles or beautify nature? Nevertheless, Tucana Builders remains what it is: a simple game for families that even children can play solo and that offers quick fun thanks to the short rules.
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