Game Info
Year
2017
Collection
Mechanic profile
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Description
"My next several hours were spent learning how to play tak. Even if I had not been nearly mad with idleness, I would have enjoyed it. Tak is the best sort of game: simple in its rules, complex in its strategy. Bredon beat me handily in all five games we played, but I am proud to say that he never beat me the same way twice." -Kvothe
Tak is a two-player abstract strategy game dreamed up by Pat Rothfuss in "The Wise Man's Fear" and made reality by James Ernest. In Tak, players attempt to make a road of their pieces connecting two opposite sides of the board.
Featured Videos
Rules Teach
Tak - How To Play
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Images
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 9
This page: 9
Sentiment:
pos 8 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 1 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–9 of 9
Video X8S-WjbTEb8
Top 10 List at 5:09 sentiment: positive
video_pk 67850 · mention_pk 164118
Click to watch at 5:09 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Gorgeous art
- Baby yak first player marker is a highlight
- Easy to teach
- Has heavy strategy and planning
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Constructing a great stone tower to guide merchants and their yaks.
- Himalayas
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- hand management — Each player has one card in front of them containing stones and food.
- Resource management — Players acquire stones from visiting merchants and manage carts containing stones and food.
- worker placement — Players use worker placement mechanisms to manage their dojo and train athletes.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- my name is at the start it's fine is it hello i'm matthew and joining me to count down the 10 games our viewers are playing this month is paula hi everyone i'm here too uh because we're in my house right now i'm at your house also i am real jet-lagged so who knows how this is gonna go
- fun flippin right like game the special abilities feel great a fun puzzle to solve each time and solo is quick to play it's great i love you when every card feels super good yeah a game where you're like everyone else has way better powers than me but everyone else is like oh everyone else is weird yeah yeah yeah i love it it's fun i like it it does kind of feel like a flipping right but it's not it's a it's a flipping place cubes yeah it's a flipping cube we've coined it it's a coin game
- got it as a late birthday present the gifter was originally going to buy a different game but she was swayed by the cute kittens i would be too and that's why i had to interrupt you so but what we were talking about is being a teppanyaki chef over our hot hibachi grill and it sure does look entertaining but could you be one throw the egg grab the pepper and find out in hibachi players are japanese teppanyaki chefs who must use their hibachi grill to please hungry customers by throwing disks which are actually poker chips onto the board where the chips land determines which ingredients the chefs can buy or sell and which special actions they might be able to take the first chef to complete three orders from customers not just ones they made up out of their brain wins in that it's obvious like i win nobody wants everyone i did it they just came in for water they did it viewer jonathan l recently fired up this game stating hauling poke chips across the board to complete recipes and getting to annoy your friends by kicking their chips around what not to like my brother really enjoyed this game well the game that this was really based on yes this sounds really fun i like it's obviously a dexterity game it is but also the way you go about it is very very fun it's like flicking throwing and flick i think it'd be bad at it i just need to get some gums i wish what did they look like did the pieces feel like slices of the onion volcano oh exactly like that of course that's exactly how i was going to describe it before you started saying the deluxe version of this game should have actual edible bits that you're throwing on the board i feel like you think that you want that but you don't want that i want it no don't tell me what i don't want okay it comes with an egg
- this game is more phenomenal it creates the most faithfully immersive board game experience for a franchise that i never stopped loving since i was a kid the sheer number of expansions allow for so much gameplay variety creating unique combat puzzles for each playthrough depending on the combination of rangers and their fighting styles that you're playing with also the miniatures are so cool i think i had the last jason toy that was in the country my mom had to drive to a port to get it from a guy who had it in a box oh wow oh it was huge never let me forget it
- deduction and suspense deduction and suspense carefully observe strange clues strange and ominous patterns it's actually quite distracting when you do that now think about it distracting in the things going on in the apartments across the way there's parties knives a saw bickering laughing music and a mysterious trunk do you detect a murder or is the secret private world of
- Knocking it out of the park at number two is Barron park.
- The first game is the guild of merchant explorers in which cities will grow in reach as players traverse the map to increase their network of connections and build routes toward the goal of achieving their personal secret objectives.
- Parks are created by combining polyamidos with players scoring for animal house animal areas completed construction and more.
- We were just taught this at a game night with friends we had such a great time and it's one of the best games we've played recently and autumn p adds just charming not all the babies are bears oh the game sorry cares like charmin is what i thought just charming because they have a bear mascot that's true
- Near and Far in which players explore different maps in a search for the last ruin recruiting adventurers hunting for treasure and competing to be the most storied traveler they must collect food and equipment at town for long journeys to mysterious locales making sure not i do the pointing that's my thing i have the mug and the pointing i'm so sorry long journeys mysterious locales making sure not to forget enough weapons to fight off bandits living statues and rusty robots statues exactly you've got to watch out for the living statues sometimes travelers run into something unique in a mini adventure is read from a book of stories it's giving the player a choice of how to react creating a new and memorable tale each game
- We just started playing this one and are so impressed with the different modes of play campaign character arcade is like a choose your own adventure book inside the choose your own avenger book
- I like the characters in storytelling
- Maybe my favorite red raven game maybe my favorite game ev my favorite game ever
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video yvOZxLVZiMo
Review at 2:32:32 sentiment: positive
video_pk 67592 · mention_pk 163733
Click to watch at 2:32:32 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Fills a gap in games about heists, focusing on planning and execution.
- Has a robust solo mode.
- Excellent player interaction and negotiation.
- Creates emergent narratives and memorable moments.
- Research-driven design leads to a historically grounded theme.
- The getaway system is a tense and engaging set-piece.
- Embraces the 'fun' aspect of heists, focusing on non-violent crime.
- Unique mechanics and 'above the table' interactions.
Cons
- The requirement for players to advocate for themselves in negotiation can be a weakness for some.
- Two-player cooperative variant reportedly removes tension.
Thematic elements
- planning and executing a series of heists to acquire the most money without getting caught by the police
- late 80s, early 90s
Comparison games
- Burrow Brothers series
- Splatter
- Leaving Earth
- Chinatown
- Oceans 11
- Nemo War
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action Point Allowance — Players have a certain number of actions to perform during the heist.
- Dice rolling — Dice are used, particularly in the getaway sequences and potentially other risk-related actions.
- negotiation — Players engage in negotiation with each other to plan and execute heists.
- risk management — Players must plan and execute heists while managing the risk of getting caught.
- scenario-based play — The solo mode features different scenarios like bank heists, armored cars, and museums.
- set collection — Players may collect specific crew members or tools needed for heists.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- For me, heists were kind of the biggest gap in what I could find a game for.
- The original thesis of the game was that with unlimited amount of planning time, you could erase all of the risk from a job.
- When we talk about what makes a game a Leader game, it was that level of player interaction.
- The development process involved numerous iterations, especially for the getaway system.
- If you actually pull the trigger on a job, you will get caught. It just raises the stakes to such a level that I don't think you can find a major heist where somebody was killed that didn't end up getting caught.
- The idea of like representing it just be it became a historical uh to rep the idea that if someone had a gun and was able to use it and then still get away with it just didn't ring true.
- We're telling the story from uh the point of view of the criminals. You just simply don't know what the police are doing at any given time.
- I think it is because the uh the object of desire is so obvious and relatable.
- There are no guns in Tate and there are no like directly represented police.
- The solo mode is based on the one big job and we can swap it out among different scenarios.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video FxW9Nk8139o
Watch It Played Rules Teach at 0:24 sentiment: positive
video_pk 65062 · mention_pk 158666
Click to watch at 0:24 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Multiple board sizes available for varied gameplay.
- Clear objective of creating a connected road.
- Engaging movement mechanics with stacks and capstones.
- Alternative win condition based on controlling stacks.
- Optional scoring variants add replayability.
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- abstract strategy
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control (implied) — Controlling stacks by having your piece on top is a key aspect of movement, and winning by controlling the most stacks is an alternative win condition.
- Capstone Ability — Capstones count as part of a road, can be moved with stacks, and have the unique ability to flatten standing stones.
- piece placement — Players can place stones flat or standing upright on empty spaces during their turn, or as part of setup.
- Road building — Players aim to create a connected road of their flat pieces or capstones from one side of the board to the opposite side.
- Stack movement — Players can move stacks of pieces they control in a straight line, dropping off pieces in each space entered, up to a carry limit determined by the board width.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Tac was first mentioned as a purely fictional game in the novel by Patrick Rothfuss The Wiseman's Fear
- The primary objective is for you to create a road of your connected pieces from any one side of the board to the opposite side
- Standing stones do not count as a part of your road
- Capstones are rare and powerful; they also count as a part of your road
- Capstones have another property: they're the one piece that can flatten standing stones
- The player with the most of those stacks is the winner
- You say Tac out loud to your opponent anytime you're one turn away from winning the game
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video ihOGMm4TFkg
Meeple University Rules Teach at 0:40 sentiment: neutral
video_pk 64517 · mention_pk 157985
Click to watch at 0:40 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
neutral
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- appeasing a volcano monster; village building and ceremonial pacts
- the tribes of the village of Wutaki compete with each other in their worship of the mighty volcano monster Booker
- mythic/ceremonial with contracts, omens, and a doom pyramid
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- ascending pyramid of doom — players can ascend the pyramid for increasing victory points
- contracts — contracts are represented by cards in the display and can be completed by paying resources
- contracts/pacts — contracts are represented by cards in the display and can be completed by paying resources
- end game triggers — end triggers when someone reaches 100 points or ascends the pyramid of doom, then final scoring occurs
- feeding workers — as pacts are completed by all players, extra workers must be fed with unique resources or be lost
- omens — omens cards grant powerful one-off or persistent abilities
- Resource management — players gain five resources, upgrade towers, and upgrade town spaces to influence resources
- Resource management and upgrades — players gain five resources, upgrade towers, and upgrade town spaces to influence resources
- revenue/score cards (revenge) — revenge cards have objectives that must be met at end of game or lose points; can be used via cost of strong actions
- round-based play — round-based play where turns proceed until all players have placed their workers
- secret elemental scoring — each player has a secret elemental that scores points from pacts, with opponents able to affect scoring as well
- special worker — there is a special worker that doubles the effect of any action
- worker placement — players place a worker on a board space to gain resources, then retrieve workers for a new round
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- wutaki is a worker placement game in which the inhabitants of wutaki compete with each other in their worship of the mighty volcano monster booker
- this makes wutaki a particularly more cutthroat game than your typical worker placement game
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video jClb-9dYdLI
kovray Review at 2:06 sentiment: positive
video_pk 63933 · mention_pk 157456
Click to watch at 2:06 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Two-player game with a small, portable box
- Evolves with play and reveals strategic depth
- High variability with Wind and Storm cards
Cons
- Prototype components are not final
- Initial rules can be a bit abstract to grasp
Thematic elements
- sailing, wind, weather manipulation
- sailing/wind-based navigation with weather effects
Comparison games
- Chess
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Column wind comparison — After movement, if any column totals exceed the wind value, dice in that column are returned to the owners and rerolled.
- End condition — First player to nine points wins; ties lead to another sail-off.
- Limited Points — First player to nine points wins; ties lead to another sail-off.
- Movement within a row — On your turn, move one of your five dice forwards or backwards within its row; you cannot move back to the starting position.
- reroll mechanics — Dice are rerolled and returned to their columns after scoring or when forced back.
- Roll/Spin to Move — On your turn, move one of your five dice forwards or backwards within its row; you cannot move back to the starting position.
- Scoring on wind match — If a column total equals the wind, each die in that column scores one point.
- Setup and die upgrade rule — At setup, draw a wind card, place colors and dice in starting column, and if all dice are three or lower you may upgrade one die to four to six.
- Wind and Storm cards — Wind cards set the wind value; Storm cards provide abilities and are dealt three to the bottom of the board.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Tac is designed by Emily L Ro it's published by zeru games
- it's a two-player game
- the box is quite small
- it's pretty easy to carry around and show to other people
- this is a prototype and the components are not final
- learn more about the glory of TAC
- and that's Tac
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video hLpN4Zz2gTk
Board Game Dad Discussion at 0:45 sentiment: positive
video_pk 40034 · mention_pk 121021
Click to watch at 0:45 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Unknown
- Unknown
- Unknown
Comparison games
- Castles by the Sea
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- The objective of castles by the sea is to keep your pocket-sized structures and figures on the beach as long as possible before they can be devastated by the hazards of a smaller existence
- You draw at least three blocks of sand and place them anywhere on the board such that they remain a connected unit
- As long as the structures remain standing you will receive victory points
- These games are short with only a few turns per player and gameplay is strategic but also fun and easy going
- for a similar game with less threats take a look at Yak
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video qg7bTA2-5UI
Board Game Hangover Top List at 2:45 sentiment: positive
video_pk 5347 · mention_pk 100330
Click to watch at 2:45 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
very positive
Pros
- Gorgeous components
- Great with two players
- Dice placement mechanic
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Resource collection
Comparison games
- Crisis of Burgundy
- Civolution
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dice placement — Roll dice to place on worker spaces and collect tokens
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- If you care for Star Wars, this is a must-play game for you. Hands down.
- An amazing two-player game where you can explain the rules in just couple of minutes
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video CACsxXw02AA
Chairman of the Board Discussion at 4:51 sentiment: positive
video_pk 1653 · mention_pk 82684
Click to watch at 4:51 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- versatile card set; many different plays
- interactive dice economy
Cons
- depends on others' dice; can feel opportunistic
Thematic elements
- dice manipulation and placement
- generic Eurogame setting
- strategic engine-building with dice buying from others
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dice drafting/occupation — you roll dice that can be bought by other players and used for regions
- dice manipulation/placement — build an engine by converting dice into money and points
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- this is such a wonderful game
- I had a huge Monopoly on the money generating Viking
- it's such a great little programming game
- I like this little Jewel Rondell system
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video fBWDfXE9xsU
Adam in Wales - Board Game Design Top List at 21:26 sentiment: positive
video_pk 988 · mention_pk 2776
Click to watch at 21:26 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- clear, elegant path-building mechanic
- distinctive pieces with varied function
Cons
- some players expect deeper thematic integration
Thematic elements
Comparison games
- Camelot
- Quarto
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- flat stones with path creation — create a continuous path toward the opponent's edge
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- these games have no theme
- it's a toolbox for you as a game designer which of these mechanisms do you want to employ in your own abstract strategy game
- product design is everything
- the single most impactful feature of connect 4 was that little hatch beneath the frame
- abstract strategy games are some of the most interactive games in existence
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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