Trails of Tucana First Impressions

Trails of Tucana has players explore a hex-filled island.

Can you discover all the points of interest?

Each player is given a map of the island Tucana, showing its villages and important sights. The positions of the villages are randomized for each player, so every game will provide a unique puzzle.

Trails of Tucana Game Overview

Quick Rules Summary

Players have a board with a bunch of hexes with different terrains and objects in them and also cities around the edge of the board.

Cards are flipped over in pairs showing two terrains. For each pair, players can draw a line across hexes that have those two terrains in them.

How do you win?

Connecting items on the map back to cities earns points after one round. They all score again after the second round as do connecting cities together. There are also a few extra points for the players that connect cities the quickest. The most points after going through the decks of cards twice is the winner.

Main Mechanisms

Roll and write with cards flipped over showing you which hexes you can connect.

I guess that also adds route building into the mix.

USP

This came out a year after Welcome To… so can’t claim the… urgh… “Flip & Write” system first.

Theme

I’m pretty sure the theme is just “exploring” and there is no reason for it.

Setup

Shuffle the cards and hand out pens and boards.

Each player on the table starts their city in a different position so while the boards are the same, they’re laid out slightly differently.

Components & Artwork

The owner of the game laminated the sheets themselves and used their own pens so It wouldn’t be fair to comment on how we struggled to get those to work. But it did work.

But, the terrain types were clear for all to see… I did feel some of the elements on the map didn’t stand out quite as well.

Ease of Teaching

This is easy to teach. Everything is open information and as it’s simultaneous, you can always pause the game to help the new players after each card flip.

Similar Games

I mentioned Welcome To… and someone at the table also said Railroad Ink which has short route building via dice rolling.

Trails of Tucana Review

Positives

Fun roll & write gameplay.

Interesting route building with a race to connect cities adding tension.

Negatives

Might get a bit samey over time.

Not special enough to stand out in a crowded niche.

Summary

Good, but doesn’t do enough to compete in the roll & write arena.

Jesta ThaRogue