Tulikko

Solid gateway puzzle game. The central tile selector is a lot of fun.

Tulikko is one of those games that you just want to play again and again and again.That's for several reasons: 1. it is BEAUTIFUL! Every game pieve is an artistic creation of great quality! 2. the game play is easy enough for everyone to catch on quickly but engaging and complex enough to come up with a strategy of your own for the next game.3. you get that "if I only did this instead of that, ok next time!" feeling after every game. Two, three or four player this is so much fuuun and the unique, innovative system the center board is using is adds a fantastic, curious level of functionality to the whole experience!

Simple but crunchy puzzle game that looks gorgeous on the shelf and on the table.

The artwork is beautiful, especially on the iridescent cover. I loved the whimsical style on the trees and boards. The tiles are sturdy, the tokens are chunky and it is all put together with care. I had fun to learning the legend of the Tulikko and I would have loved to learn the lore behind the other spirit animals as well.

Gameplay is faster and simpler than expected. The central board definitely adds a new element over just straight drafting. Since there are only 12 turns, it is impossible to fill your entire board, meaning you have to be strategic as to which objectives you try to complete. Some of the aurora tiles grant pretty powerful rewards, so they’re pretty important to chase.

Our first game was over in about 15 minutes, so we reset and immediately played again. I like that there are a variety of objective cards, adding some variety while keeping it easy to learn. I was even able to teach my 7 year old, who enjoyed it (although we played without aurora tiles for the first game).

Overall, I think it is a lovely, family weight game for when you want something a little lighter or to be able to play multiple games in a night.

Tulikko is one of those games that feels easy at first, and only takes a few minutes to learn, but quickly turns into a tight puzzle. It plays fast, but there’s a surprising amount to think through. The goal is to be the first person to place all of your animals and rivers. If your new tile touches a matching color, you add an animal token between them; if it doesn't match, you add a river.

I already love a slide puzzle, so I was sold on that alone. Each turn, you slide a tile in, which pops one out the other side, and then you have to place it on your board in a spot that matches the symbol it came from. As fun as that aspect is, the game isn't so much about the sliding as what you build with the tiles that come from it. In addition to placing same-colored tiles next to each other, you’re building specific shapes, color patterns, and river paths to claim bonuses and racing other players to complete symbol goals. These are especially important because completing each objective lets you place not one, but two animal tokens on the respective card.

Technically, every tile you push in affects what everyone else has access to, but there's a tile hidden in the middle that I usually forget what it even was. I rarely played defense, or even thought ahead, for that matter. That might be different in a two-player game, but with the full four players, things would change enough by the time it got back to your turn that there wasn't any point in trying to plan based on what tiles were in the center board. That said, there was still plenty to think through when it wasn't my turn, like which tiles I'd ideally like to show up, what icon I'd need to get them from, and what I'd hope for if that wasn't an option.

Tulikko gives you a lot to aim for, which can feel overwhelming, but I love that inherent stress of trying to get everything to fall in line perfectly. It's a game where placing a few tiles to meet a specific goal can ruin your chances of meeting other goals. On a scale of Calico/Arboretum-level stress (the highest) to My Shelfie/Cities (pretty low), it's right in the middle.