Tembo: Survival on the Savanna

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

• card drafting/playing — Players draw and play cards with various effects, including placing elephants, building the savannah, or activating special abilities.
• cooperative play — Players work together to achieve a common goal.
• hand management — Players use cards from their hand to perform actions or gain benefits.
• Push Your Luck — Elements like drawing matriarch or lion cards can lead to negative consequences if not managed carefully, especially with double matriarch draws.
• Route Building — Players are trying to guide their herd across a series of boards to a destination.
• set collection — Players aim to collect specific sets of items or cover specific spaces on the board (landmarks).

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

• We got to get mossy.
• We got a destination to get to, baby.
• The matriarch has spoken.
• The strength of elephants is shocking.
• Hilarious.

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

• cooperative play — Players work together to achieve a common goal.
• hand management — Players manage cards in their hand to perform actions.
• Modular board — The game board is composed of several modular pieces that can be arranged differently.
• Push Your Luck — Players take risks, such as drawing cards, that could lead to negative consequences.
• Resource management — Players manage resources like elephants and energy.
• variable setup — Different setup options are available to adjust difficulty and board layout.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

• The game is, as many cooperative games are, a procedural game.
• Because it has this weird hand management where you're all like, 'oh Mike, you're almost out of cards.'
• The game to me is more interesting than fun.
• I do feel that tension of getting my herd across the savanna.
• If you don't like any punishing elements, then you might be on the other side of that continuum.

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

• Card rotation and icons — Some cards feature an icon that allows rotation; rotation can alter outcomes and board state, and is the only time you can rotate under certain conditions.
• Elephant placement and adjacency — Elephants are placed in a fixed paw-pattern adjacent to the matriarch or other elephants; diagonals count as adjacent within the given adjacency rules.
• Energy management and trees — Eating trees grants energy; energy loss is a central lose condition, and tree colors/flip mechanics influence energy dynamics.
• Landmarks and standees — Landmarks are completed by occupying purple circles; completing all landmarks yields standees and moves you toward the win condition.
• Lions and lioness activation — Lions wake up from cards, move toward elephants, attack and remove elephants; this raises risk and can force strategic shifts for all players.
• Matriarch movement and herd pushing — The matriarch can move to adjacent spaces, pushing the herd toward landmarks; moving costs energy for players and triggers regrouping of elephants.
• Pattern placement and orientation-based card play — Players place cards on Savannah boards in quadrants; the card's directional arrow must align with the facing orientation, making siting and direction matter.
• Rough terrain and resource costs — Rough terrains require two elephants per space and cannot be used on the same turn to gain energy, injecting strategic cost into movement.
• Support cards and tokens — Support cards provide one-time benefits; tokens are spent before actions and are limited in number, adding a layer of planning.
• Tech trees — Eating trees grants energy; energy loss is a central lose condition, and tree colors/flip mechanics influence energy dynamics.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

• Tempo is a cooperative game for one to four players where you're all collectively trying to move your herd of elephants to six landmarks and then get to your destination.
• You always have to be on the lookout for lions because they're going to come up as you draw cards as well.
• And over the course of the game, your matriarch elephant is going to be pushing the herd forward to the goal of the game.
• There's four ways to lose and we'll go over those as we come up to them.
• It's a bit of a pressure of luck because if you hold one of these in your hand, you don't have to play it.
• Cards with that icon can turn the card and rotate it, even if they're placing elephants.
• The object of the game is to visit all six landmarks.
• You win.

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

• build the savannah — place Savannah cards onto boards, oriented by arrow rules or freely if the card allows, to shape the map and gain benefits
• deck management and matriarch interactions — a draw/deck system with multiple card backs; matriarch resolution, including double matriarch scenarios, affects energy and draw penalties
• deck manipulation — a draw/deck system with multiple card backs; matriarch resolution, including double matriarch scenarios, affects energy and draw penalties
• end-game and failure states — lose conditions include energy reaching the end, depletion of elephants, lions in matriarch area, or an empty draw deck
• energy track and trees — an energy track governs game termination; trees and energy events provide energizing or penalty effects via standees
• Events — optional event cards and support tokens modify rules or grant benefits; events can be immediate or persistent
• events and support tokens — optional event cards and support tokens modify rules or grant benefits; events can be immediate or persistent
• landmarks and win conditions — players must visit all landmark spaces printed on Savannah tiles; once all purple spaces are filled, the game ends with a win
• lions — when activated, lions move toward the nearest elephants, potentially removing elephants and imposing penalties on players
• matriarch — play or move the matriarch, then resolve its effects and reset or adjust elephant placements; matriarch interactions affect penalties and card resolution
• place elephants — rested elephants must fill footprint patterns on the board according to the exact pattern, orientation, and terrain rules

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

• The savannah is beautiful, but it can also be dangerous, especially for elephants making their way to its various destinations as they work to find food, protect the herd, and avoid attacks from lions on the prowl.
• Join me at the table, and let's learn how to play.
• The game is played over a series of turns, starting with the first player and then going clockwise around the table.
• If you ever reach this final space of the energy track, the players all lose.

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.