{"id":942,"date":"2021-05-18T02:20:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T02:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brown-sheep-511001.hostingersite.com\/carla\/?p=942"},"modified":"2022-01-21T23:26:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T23:26:43","slug":"in-depth-design-trails-of-tucana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/05\/18\/in-depth-design-trails-of-tucana\/","title":{"rendered":"In Depth Design: Trails of Tucana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If you haven\u2019t played Trails of Tucana by Z-Man Games, you can check out the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/boardgamegeek.com\/boardgame\/283864\/trails-tucana\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/boardgamegeek.com\/boardgame\/283864\/trails-tucana\">BGG page<\/a>&nbsp;or this video by Gaming Rules!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Trails of Tucana - Live Solo Playthrough - Playalong at home\" width=\"864\" height=\"486\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Izs_3e-F3u4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Trails of Tucana is a flip and write game where you&#8217;re trying to make trails throughout the island of Tucana with the goal of connecting villages to each other and to the sites around the island. It&#8217;s a really simple game that can be played in about 15 minutes, yet still has a good amount of depth. I was really impressed with it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Variable Starting Setups <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In Trails of Tucana, one of the main goals is to connect villages with the same letter to one another, hopefully before the other players do. Before the game starts, a starting setup card is drawn and all players start the game with specific letters at certain places. This means that while each player is starting off at the same point, it can be more difficult to connect certain villages in certain games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"852\" height=\"639\" src=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4499-rotated.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-946\" srcset=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4499-rotated.jpg 852w, https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4499-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4499-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 852px) 100vw, 852px\" \/><figcaption>Starting Setup Card<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, in the above card, the B villages would be very close to each other, while the A villages would be about as far apart from each other as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each village gives different points for connecting it to its partner village, so each game is going to be a bit different, and you won&#8217;t be able to use the same plan for each game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I thought that this was a wonderful way to add replayability to the game without adding a bunch of components. The sheets themselves are all identical, meaning they don&#8217;t require a lot of graphic design to make them unique, and people that laminate their sheets also will only have to laminate a few. Plus, there are already other cards with the game, so adding a few more to alter the starting setup shouldn&#8217;t have increased the overall game cost by too much!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Isla Petit and Isla Grande <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two maps to choose between: Isla Petit and Isla Grande. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"639\" height=\"852\" src=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4500-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-954\" srcset=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4500-1.jpg 639w, https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4500-1-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Isla Petit has a smaller map and only plays two rounds, while Isla Grande has a larger map and plays three rounds. I really like this about the game, as your choices over the game add up, so it&#8217;s nice to do a short learning game, then immediately play again and use all the things you learned on the larger map. It&#8217;s also just nice to have the choice to play a longer or shorter game depending on how much time you have. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Making the maps double-sided doesn&#8217;t add too much to the manufacturing cost, but it definitely makes the game a lot more flexible!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Two Cards per Turn<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Each turn, players will draw a line from one type of hex to another based on the cards that come up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"852\" height=\"639\" src=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4502-rotated.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-945\" srcset=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4502-rotated.jpg 852w, https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4502-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/IMG_4502-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 852px) 100vw, 852px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In the example above, the players would all draw a line from a forest hex to a mountain hex. Using the cards means that the game is randomized and different, but not skewed too much in one direction or another like dice might be. Players can somewhat predict what cards will come up, but they&#8217;ll almost never be entirely sure as there&#8217;s also one card that isn&#8217;t used each round. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each game will be different, but players should be able to make decent progress each game regardless of what happens. Yet they won&#8217;t entirely know what will happen either, making this turn method work really well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also means that there&#8217;s only a small number of cards that are needed, and players can simply shuffle the cards as needed until the game is over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Graphic Design <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The graphic design of the sheets is terrific and informative. I like that there&#8217;s a list of all the cards in the deck in the top-left corner of the sheet. This way, players know there are only 4 water cards vs 8 deserts and so on. As such, all the players know the chances of being able to draw between two water tiles is really rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fact that you score all the vistas each round is also obvious, as each scoring area uses its own color and icon, as well as a round number. Once you&#8217;ve learned the game, it&#8217;s easy to pick the game back up, as everything is quite clear and uses more than one method to indicate what goes with what. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I thought Trails of Tucana was a really interesting game that did a lot and used its components wisely. There&#8217;s a lot of game in this box and it&#8217;s incredibly easy to learn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-486c7adc-686a-4c64-bcdb-61fbd8cc93cf\">Did you enjoy this entry? Have you played Trails of Tucana before? What did you think was the most innovative aspect of the game? Please let me know! I\u2019d love to hear what you think and what kind of things you\u2019d like to see from this blog. Feel free to send me an&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:contact@weirdgiraffegames.com\">email<\/a>&nbsp;or comment with your thoughts!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-13702601-7c3f-4394-b118-093561d5d54a\">Don\u2019t forget to sign up for my mailing list, so you don\u2019t miss a post:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/carlakopp\">https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/carlakopp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you haven\u2019t played Trails of Tucana by Z-Man Games, you can check out the&nbsp;BGG page&nbsp;or this video by Gaming Rules! Trails of Tucana is&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_4766012646_4766012646":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[2,26],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design","category-in-depth","tag-proofreading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/trails-of-tucana.png","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":970,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/06\/28\/in-depth-design-7-wonders-duel\/","url_meta":{"origin":942,"position":0},"title":"In-Depth Design: 7 Wonders Duel","author":"Carla","date":"June 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I initially picked up this game as I wanted to experience more games that are specifically made for two players, to see what sort of design decisions go into that specific experience and I was not disappointed at all with 7 Wonders Duel. Multiple Win Conditions Players can win in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/in-depth-7-wonders.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/in-depth-7-wonders.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/in-depth-7-wonders.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/in-depth-7-wonders.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/in-depth-7-wonders.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":246,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2020\/07\/04\/making-games-that-appeal-to-kids-and-adults-with-helaina-cappel\/","url_meta":{"origin":942,"position":1},"title":"Making Games that Appeal to Kids and Adults with Helaina Cappel","author":"Carla","date":"July 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Designing games that appeal to both adults and children is hard! However, Helaina Cappel of both Kids Table Board Gaming and Burnt Island Games has been making games that appeal to both adults and children for years. Watch the live chat below: https:\/\/youtu.be\/-18D_ctcjOU It's usually easier to take a game\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/helaina.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/helaina.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/helaina.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/helaina.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/helaina.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":661,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/02\/25\/playtesting-goals\/","url_meta":{"origin":942,"position":2},"title":"Playtesting Goals","author":"Carla","date":"February 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"One way to make your playtests really valuable is by setting goals before you start. Giving yourself a direction and something to pay particular attention to means you'll have a better idea of who to playtest with, how to prepare them for the playtest, and what questions to ask them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/playtesting-goals.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/playtesting-goals.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/playtesting-goals.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/playtesting-goals.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/playtesting-goals.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":490,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/07\/20\/working-on-multiple-games\/","url_meta":{"origin":942,"position":3},"title":"Working on Multiple Games","author":"Carla","date":"July 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I really enjoy working on multiple games at the same time. As a publisher, this is pretty much required if I want to have more than one game come out every year or so. The process of game design and development can take months, and art can sometimes take even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2020\/04\/04\/when-you-get-stuck-on-a-game-design\/","url_meta":{"origin":942,"position":4},"title":"When You Get Stuck on a Game Design","author":"Carla","date":"April 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes you won't know exactly what to do next on a game. You could use your game design time to think on what to do and it's good to do so, but you don't want to do so for an excessive amount of time. Here's a variety of things that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide8.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide8.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide8.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide8.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide8.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":929,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/05\/10\/organic-marketing-with-gary-alaka\/","url_meta":{"origin":942,"position":5},"title":"Organic Marketing with Gary Alaka","author":"Carla","date":"May 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Gary is the Operations Manager of Gap Closer Games, Designer of Rival Restaurants and Rival Restaurants: Back for Seconds, and is on the Board of Directors at GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association). You can watch the interview below: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YAUVkJK-nlY Organic Marketing Marketing comes in two main forms: paid marketing and organic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interviews","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/interviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/gary.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/gary.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/gary.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/gary.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/gary.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1024,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions\/1024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}