Game 134: Latice Hawai'i

 

Anthony brought this game with him when he and his family headed up north to our place for Christmas break.  We enjoyed it so much that David promptly ordered one for us.  The package arrived today, and we just finished playing our first game together.  It's a good combination of strategy and luck, though somewhat heavier on strategy, I'd say.  We are pleased with the quality of it - the feel and look of the tiles and gems, the solid box that folds over and closes magnetically, etc.  Unfortunately, ours arrived with one side of the box torn in two places.  I'm not sure how that could have happened, as it was well-packed and was sealed in it's original plastic wrapper.  We thought about returning it, but we'd enjoyed it so much that we didn't have the patience to send it back and wait for another one, so we're just taping up the tears.  Here are the opening few moves to our first game.
You begin with 5 tiles, and you draw-up again after your turn.  Generally you're placing things on the board in such a way that color and/or image match adjacent tiles.  A "wind" tile can be used to move another piece, which can be a big advantage because you can earn gems depending on special types of placement or by placing on a sun square.
The goal is to be the first to use up all your tiles, and the gems can really help with this.  A yellow gem allows you to place an additional tile.  (If you have more than one yellow gem you may do this more than once in a turn.)  Two blue gems allow you to place an additional tile.  Also, you can exchanged 3 yellow gems for a "wind" tile.  You can only ever have a maximum of 3 yellow gems.

Above is a picture partway through the game, and below is the end of the game - David having used up all his tiles, while I still had 7 left.


I noticed again as I picked up afterward what high quality this is.  The board is really thick and sturdy, and I noticed as I was folding it up that the bottom of the board is even more beautiful than the top.  (I just wish the box hadn't come torn - alas.)





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