Hey guys, I like it! (Tikal x2)

Shemp picked Tikal and Mexica this week, though as he picked them he mentioned that we would surely trash him at Tikal since we had so much more experience than he did with the game. As we gathered around the table, he suggested we start with Tikal... he seemed curious to find out if he really liked the game or not.

He did. And then we played that again instead of Mexica.

The first game was characterized by very expensive pathways. There was a temple site that had two 6 step branches off of it. This also meant that many paths were completely inaccessible (i.e. no stepping stones). All in all, movement was wonky. I was lucky enough to draw the lion's share of the treasure hexes and so I built a big lead in points from those. In the end, those points won me the game (though Kozure surprised us all with a massive 50+ point scoring round at the end).

In our second game, Shemp had the lead in treasures and also strategically located his two tents on either side of a long uncross-able path. The mobility this afforded him allowed his domination of some big temples that we couldn't get to easily. He won.

I'm a little curious how often the player who draws the most treasure hexes wins the game. It's hard to say that it's definitely an advantage, because digging up treasure is costly (and making up sets even more-so). Definitely being able to score complete sets across multiple scorings is a huge advantage.

In my opinion, Tikal is best with 3 players (and is one of my favorite euros when played this way). It was nice to get it to the table again.