Maui sees you placing towels on the beach.

But don’t get them too wet!

Locals and tourists in Maui are heading to the beach for a chance to find a nice spot to lay their towels and enjoy the amazing view of the Hawaiian ocean. In Maui, you want to find and place beachgoers on your sand so that they create pleasing patterns, while also placing their towels close to the ocean or under the shade of trees or umbrellas to earn the most points. However, getting too close to either of these areas is risky and might ruin their plans!

Maui Game Overview

Quick Rules Summary

On a turn, a player either takes all of the sand dollars from a row of the market or takes a towel from a row that cost 0-2 depending on how far back it is.

A towel is placed on the player board next to the previously placed tile matching at least one pattern. You get points for that matching that pattern with more points given for the further out of the centre of the board you are.

But, if you overlap the top or bottom of your board too far you gain penalty points.

If you cover an umbrella you get the token which could be 1 of 2 colours of pearls.

How do you win?

When a player has placed their 13th tile the game ends and the player that scored the most points from the different patterns and sets of pearls wins.

Main Mechanisms

Pattern building for sure. The whole game is taking a tile and placing it on your play area to match a pattern.

USP

Nothing unique here. You’re placing a pattern thing next to another patterned thing. that’s been done before.

Theme

I like placing towels on the beach as a theme. You score more points for the ‘premium’ positions on the beach which is next to the sea and in the shade. Although, I don’t know about you but ‘wet’ and ‘out of the sun’ are not my prime beach positions.

Setup

Tiles in a bag, brollies on a board. That’s it.

Components & Artwork

Very standard components with wooden shells that are used to track scoring the highlight.

The minimal art has a relaxing look.

Ease of Teaching

A simple game with open information is both easy to teach and accessible.

Similar Games

As I said about Yak which was on the next table to Maui, this was in the same area at Essen as Azul. If you’re going to play a pattern-building game, play one of the Azuls.

Maui Review
Positives

A nice theme.

Interesting scoring that asks you to sacrifice points now for more points next turn.

The limited sand dollar resource that flows around the players is fun to manage. You spend it for better towel picks but then you give your opponents a chance to pick them up.

Negatives

A bit basic.

The components are as standard as standard can be yet the price is only £4-5 cheaper than Azul.

Summary

A decent game that doesn’t live up to the gameplay or production standards of the year it was released.

Jesta ThaRogue