I managed to nab a brand-new copy of this for sixty bucks on eBay. Totally worth it. My gaming group loves it. Great aesthetic, great mechanics, great strategy, all while being enormously accessible. It also has the best rule in gaming history: when turning the idols, they must turn with a grinding noise. It's in the rules!
Spot on, Tom - this game did (and still does) indeed have legs. We don't like the "Volcano" expansion though, because it needlessly messes up a perfect design.
Maybe it's the colors. Maybe the treasure hunting mechanic. The Jeeps. Who knows. But it's nice to have a Tobago between todays polished and calculated designs.
This game owns. Really good game guys. It is currently out of print but you can find it online if you look hard enough. Thanks for another great review Tom.
@Medsas reverse or not, the treasure is still not hidden at the start, it just ends up on some spot depending on the cards you draw/put, if i understand the mechanics right.
@wr00t well thats what reverse deduction means to me... deduction means you're finding the location of the treasure, reverse of that means you're setting the location of the treasure...
Haha! Didn't knew that one! :-) Absolutely great! I was just reminded of a scene when I had a discussion with my boss and I was a little bit explosive about a technical decision we had to make... and I apologised for that. And he said: No! Don't be sorry for that! It shows you're really committed to your task! You really put emotions into it. Don't worry if you get a bit energetic! :-) I actually like your reviews because you always have feeling about a game... and not only dry thoughts. :-)
The game looks great, but I didn't find it exciting in play, and the amulets (and curses) felt wonky and tacked on to me. Very good gameplay explanation by the way Tom. @Medsas, they aren't cars, they're ATVs, that is All Terrain Vehicles.
I always wonder about those deduction treasure games. In reality the treasure is not hidden anywhere. It could end up in any spot and all depends on those cards. Computer game would make this better as computer can play as one who hides the treasure and then you can be lucky to find a spot after just one or two clues, by wild guessing or going by your intuition. But this is probably impossible in the board game.
Good Lord Tom... You should review this game again. You botched so many rules and then started calling the treasures by the player colors and not the cube colors. You didn't do this game justice.
MassEffectFan113 - Don't be so nitpicky about it. He got the idea across and he corrected himself later calling the treasure by the original cube color (grey). Other than that there wasn't "so many rules" he got wrong. I say he brought the game across as something really unique and beautifully simplistic and fun. And that is exactly what TOBAGO is.
I managed to nab a brand-new copy of this for sixty bucks on eBay. Totally worth it. My gaming group loves it. Great aesthetic, great mechanics, great strategy, all while being enormously accessible.
It also has the best rule in gaming history: when turning the idols, they must turn with a grinding noise. It's in the rules!
I have just always done that, never realised it was in the rules... But how else?
If pixels were pounds sterling, i'd have enough for a happy meal.
One of the all-time best!
One of the all-time greats!
Spot on, Tom - this game did (and still does) indeed have legs. We don't like the "Volcano" expansion though, because it needlessly messes up a perfect design.
Maybe it's the colors. Maybe the treasure hunting mechanic. The Jeeps. Who knows. But it's nice to have a Tobago between todays polished and calculated designs.
@swincnik The estatues look over the area right before the ocean which should reveal amulets that give you extra actions during your turn.
This game owns. Really good game guys. It is currently out of print but you can find it online if you look hard enough.
Thanks for another great review Tom.
@Medsas reverse or not, the treasure is still not hidden at the start, it just ends up on some spot depending on the cards you draw/put, if i understand the mechanics right.
I predict it will be seen in the middle of the shelf directly behind Tom in all future videos. *wavy hand gestures* Psychic!
@wr00t well thats what reverse deduction means to me... deduction means you're finding the location of the treasure, reverse of that means you're setting the location of the treasure...
The sound is better in this 12 yrs old video than today's.
Haha! Didn't knew that one! :-) Absolutely great!
I was just reminded of a scene when I had a discussion with my boss and I was a little bit explosive about a technical decision we had to make... and I apologised for that. And he said: No! Don't be sorry for that! It shows you're really committed to your task! You really put emotions into it. Don't worry if you get a bit energetic! :-)
I actually like your reviews because you always have feeling about a game... and not only dry thoughts. :-)
Very cool theme! Seems like a lot of fun!
This one really caught my eye when it came out.
And its not deduction! :P Well, only within the role playing.
Tom you just sold me a game from my own game store... =P haha
Great review, Tom. Thanks.
@wr00t he said its a reverse deduction game, not a deduction game.
The game looks great, but I didn't find it exciting in play, and the amulets (and curses) felt wonky and tacked on to me. Very good gameplay explanation by the way Tom.
@Medsas, they aren't cars, they're ATVs, that is All Terrain Vehicles.
how can a car move on water??
but one question remains... What is the role of those eastern island statues? Or are they just rotating map clues decorations? :)
I always wonder about those deduction treasure games. In reality the treasure is not hidden anywhere. It could end up in any spot and all depends on those cards. Computer game would make this better as computer can play as one who hides the treasure and then you can be lucky to find a spot after just one or two clues, by wild guessing or going by your intuition. But this is probably impossible in the board game.
Dice Tower judgement....
I'd say it's pronounced like Tobago in Trinidad and Tobago :)
Omg, 13 years old video. Unbelievable.
what is the strange noise at around 2:19?
Sounds like a ring tone alert from his phone
Good Lord Tom... You should review this game again. You botched so many rules and then started calling the treasures by the player colors and not the cube colors.
You didn't do this game justice.
MassEffectFan113 - Don't be so nitpicky about it. He got the idea across and he corrected himself later calling the treasure by the original cube color (grey). Other than that there wasn't "so many rules" he got wrong. I say he brought the game across as something really unique and beautifully simplistic and fun. And that is exactly what TOBAGO is.
still talking about it today.. trying to sell it.
Interested in buying it if you're in NYC.
No Stockholm and its a swedish edition.
Sounds an awful lot like "Minesweeper: The Board Game," but I'll have to give it a try especially now that it's on BoardGame Arena.
serious gamer?
isn't that kind of a self defeating contradiction? :P
a trek :
a tresor cards deck
Yep, pretty much like Minesweeper...
Good for 8 year olds, not for serious gamers...