Oh, Fishing, fishing, once again;
Red fish, yellow fish, blues and greens;
Avoid those purples, grab those pinks;
Get as much shrimp as you can eat.
In Tonari, you and up to three other players will pose as fishermen attempting to make the biggest catch in order to feed your village. The game is fairly abstract and will take 5 to 20 minutes.
The board consists of multiple hexes, each containing either a basic fish (colored red, blue, green, or yellow), purple fish, pink fish, shrimp, or skill tokens. On your turn, you will move the communal boat to a neighboring hex that contains a tile and then collect that tile. If it contains a skill, you will perform it, otherwise collect the tile. All of the fish tiles provide points. The basic fish provide points on a sliding scale for each color; the more you have of that color, the more points that it gives you. Purple fish provide negative five points per tile. Pink fish provide five points per tile, however to collect them, you must jump over one empty sea hex in a direct line. Shrimp provide eight points but only if you have the most of them at the end of the game.
There are four types of skill tiles also spread out on the board: swap two tiles that are on the board (not including purple or pink tiles), swap a tile in your hand with a tile on the board( not including purple or pink tiles), remove a tile from the board, declare that one color of basic fish will be worth double points. The game continues until a player can no longer make a legal move.
Seems simple enough? Well, there is one thing that make this game more cooperative. In games of three or four players, your final score is calculated by adding the score of the player on your left. So, if the player on your left finished with 15 points, the player on the right has 12, and you have 13 points, your final score would be 28, the left player would have 27, and the right player 25. This is where the beauty of that communal ship comes in. You want to help your left neighbor, who wants to help their left neighbor, who wants to help you. An ideal move is one helps you but then sets up a move that will help the player to your left, but will prevent them from making a move that will help the player to your right. Even better if that move will in turn force the player on your right to make a move that is advantageous to you!
Tonari is an extremely light weight game. The gameplay isn’t very complex and the only thing that might be difficult to quickly understand is the scoring. The longest part of the game may also be the setup, as it’s definitely possible to make a move that will isolate the boat from the majority of tiles on the board within a few rounds. If you happen to like light and fast games, this might be one to pick up.
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