Hawaii

Play

A eurogame in eurogame clothing. This is pretty soulless but still retains some interest to me probably because it's just so well designed. Only played on-line. Suspect ftf may see a slightly higher rating

We really enjoy Hawaii, it's got everything Angie and I like in a game:

• It has clever and entertaining game mechanisms.
• You have lots of options every turn, so there's plenty of decision making.
• It's possible to follow strategies, but you certainly need to keep an eye on what your opponents are doing and adapt accordingly.
• It has variable setup so that no two games will be the same.
• It has a charming theme with beautiful artwork and high quality card and wooden components.
• There's player interaction, but in a resource-denial style rather than smashing up someone else's creation.
• It provides for up to 5 players but still plays well with 2.
• It wasn't overpriced!

It reminds us of Vikings and Sun, Sea & Sand, which are two other games we like a lot.

In the center of the table is the island, comprising 10 randomly arranged location tiles, on which sit a number of building, people and other stuff tiles.

The players move their chieftain figure around these locations. He travels on foot so to move him you spend the first currency in the game, little wooden feet.

On arrival you take a tile from the location and add it to the villages in your tableau. The cost is paid in the second currency of the game, little wooden shells. The cost varies from turn to turn so you need to watch for cheap prices.

Your villages may provide end-of-game points but they may also provide other general benefits, or generate feet, shells and the final currency, little wooden fruit at the end of each turn. Everyone gets a diminishing general income each turn so these supplements are very important.

Fruit can be used either as shells or as feet, but not in combination: you must fully pay using only one of the three currencies.

At the end of each turn there are a lot of points to be awarded based on who spent the most improving their villages and making the occupants happy. So you are torn between trying to get the best price for your purchases, but also trying to spend enough to qualify for those happiness points.

Very nice game :)

An excellent worker placement/resource management game. My pick for best game of 2012. There is a lot of direct and indirect interaction and lots of strategies and routes to victory. BGA implementation is also really nice.

Play a set number of rounds of running around collecting tiles for your village that give you benefits and/or points, using a modular board, and a relatively new/interesting payment mechanic. Sounds very derivative and bland but it actually works very well. Scales nicely too, so overall a real success, especially for a first-time designer.

Own the [boardgame=123878]Kamapua'as Gunst[/boardgame] spielbox mini-expansion.

Was too similar to more favorable Euros. So no, don't need/want to play anymore.

Feels too tedious, somehow.

A beautiful game.

Not a bad game, but I don't like the setup time and continually putting out markers.