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Tavarua is a 1-6 player competitive surfing board game. In Tavarua you are a surfer in a surf contest. You'll need to pick a board, paddle out, look for waves, and ride them in to score points!
Tavarua is played over a number of short rounds. In each round waves advance towards shore, players simultaneously select then resolve actions by playing cards, and a wave card is revealed and resolved. Rounds continue until there are no more wave cards in the wave deck, at which point the game ends and one player claims victory.
Goal
The goal of the game is to win the grand champion trophy, by having the highest scoring waves. You score points by catching and riding waves, but you may only keep your top two wave scores for each board type. General gameplay involves looking for a wave to ride, paddling to the wave, catching the wave, riding the wave, then scoring the wave. When the game ends, three trophies are given out, whoever gets the Grand Champion trophy wins!
Looking For a Wave
At the start of each round all the wave tiles advance one space towards the shore. When looking for a wave to catch, you’ll need to remember that you can only catch a broken wave. Waves are either unbroken, or broken. Waves with a die number less than their space in the break are unbroken. Waves with a die number equal to or higher than their space in the break are broken.
Paddling to a Wave
Paddling moves your surfer in the channel. You can play any card to paddle, the number on the card determines how many spaces you move.
Catching a Wave
You can only catch the wave that’s in the same space in the break as your surfer is in the channel. To catch a wave, you’ll need to play a card. The number and direction on the card will shift your balance. When catching a wave you’ll want to look at the top card of the wave deck to determine which card to play. You want to play a card that will shift your balance so that you do not wipeout during the Wave / Score phase. You now move your surfer/surfboard onto the wave tile (standing your surfer up) and finally move your played card over to your score pile.
Riding a Wave
Once you’ve caught a wave you are considered to be riding it. While riding, your goal is to maintain your balance, while maximizing scored points. Cards you play will both shift your balance, and count as your score for the wave. The higher the number on the card, the more points it’s worth, however the more difficult it will be to maintain your balance. After you play and shift your balance, a wave card will be revealed, and it too will shift your balance. Be careful: if your balance token moves one or more spaces off the nose or tail of your surfboard, you’ll wipeout!
Scoring a Wave
When riding a wave: cards played are not discarded, but placed into your score pile. The numbers on the cards determines the score value of that wave. When you stop riding a wave you will score it during the “Wave / Score” phase of that round. To score a wave take one of your color score tokens, with the board you’re currently riding, and place it on score track at the number equal to your wave score point value, then discard all the cards/tokens in your score pile.
- Beautiful art by Andrew Bosley
- innovative card rotation mechanic that creates turn-order tension
- Some players may find the action-cycling mechanic constraining
- island/resource management with Polynesian-inspired theming
- islands arranged across a sea expanse
- card-driven actions guiding resource collection and goals
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action Following — the played card determines the action and moves to the next player.
- area-control-esque progression — players move around islands and progress toward goals on the board.
- Card-driven actions — the played card determines the action and moves to the next player.
- Resource Management — collect resources and fulfill goals scattered across the board.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is probably our our most played of the games that we're going to be talking about
- I think if your group likes combat games and likes that kind of almost push your luck
- I just want all games like this we can fit so many we can have so many games
- this is probably my favorite of all of alley cat's games
- it's a real chess match feel to it
- the conveyor belt is going to keep moving whether you like it or not
References (from this video)
- Regretted backing the game
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's with Charize Throne. Like there's an Old Guard 2 and everybody's like, "Oh my god, there's an Old Guard, too. How amazing."
- Charliss Therone as an immortal like a from ancient history, like ancient times. like she's been alive for thousands of years.
- She's badass.
- The whole team of immortals is badass.
- Oh, I started watching Squid Game season two because I never and I saw Squid Game season 3 is out and I'm like, guess I better watch season two.
- Do any of you guys watch Yellow Jackets?
- Watch it. Lord of the Flies and um yeah, like a Lord of the Flies kind of thing.
- Kabuki Kid says yellow jacket is good.
- I know I'll end up buying like Shackleton base, even though I don't need it and I won't play it, but I'll be like, "Oh, I should probably get this because it's supposed to be really good."
- I remember going to that movie with my buddy Scott and I remember and I was like because he said I heard somebody say it was really good and I was like well we should go check it out
- and I remember we went to it thinking you know this is before you could look [ __ ] up and like see everything and know everything, right? And so nothing about it. We went we went we went to it
- and I remember I mean we couldn't breathe. We were laughing so hard
- It's absolutely insane.
- remember the little like um like they would get done with a a scene and then they would have that like music cutaway of everybody dancing.
- The second and third one sucked.
- I mean um the first one though. I mean uh what was it was magical
- you shot me. You shot me right in the arm.
References (from this video)
- craftable dinosaur figures kit
- interactive and visually appealing
- easy to learn
- very simple core mechanics; luck plays a role
- take-that can be off-putting
- beginner crochet kit is not truly beginner-friendly
- Survival and obstacle race with evolving lava flow
- A lava-filled landscape with a beach escape objective
- Array
- Castles of Burgundy
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I think it's a great summary; I like the game but I don't think it's a very good game
- this is a game about hurting people
- it's an awesome outlet for your craftable figures
- the designer who made them is brilliant and an excellent teacher
References (from this video)
- table-friendly
- tactically engaging without heavy downtime
- might require a dedicated group to shine
- tidal strategy in a tropical setting
- island/ocean adventure
- lighter, tactical
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area influence — players influence island areas to gain advantages
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Canvas is a really cool hand management set collection game with these really awesome transparent painting type cards that you layer on top of one another to score points
- the art is just absolutely amazing
- Wingspan continues to be one of my favorite games of all time
- this game is perfect for anyone who's interested in escape rooms or ciphers and puzzles
- it's really easy to get to the table which is one of the reasons why we played it so often