A Step on the Path
Article by Your ever-loving Site Admin: Lejon --- Read more from this author
A light game. A game of quiet strategy. A game of survival. These are ways to describe Tsuro, the Game of the Path. The rules are marvelously simple, and can be summed up as “move your piece around the board, and be the last pawn standing at the end.” The board, however, is not an unchanging world. It shifts with each player’s turn, and the numbers of players can vary from as few as two to as many as eight with each number in between altering the play in subtle yet definite and interesting ways.
Let us begin at the beginning, or rather the eldest of your group, for they are the honored elder and allotted the first turn. The elder places their playing avatar on whatever starting space they choose. Everyone follows this lead in clockwise manner. Then playing tiles are distributed to each player: Three to each. The honored elder then places a tile on the playing board in front of his avatar, moves his avatar along the newly laid path to its end, and then draws a new playing tile. Play continues clockwise until there are no tiles left that may be played in anyone’s hands, or until only one player remains on the board.
The game plays quickly enough, and several rounds can be played in a short period of time. The trick of the game is to not run off of the board or into other players. Each tile played creates new choices which may cause snickers and jeers from your opponents, but don’t be dismayed. The wise man knows which is the correct choice, and in the end will make the best step on the path.
-Lejon, The Ever Lovin’ Site admin