Exploration · Nautical

Tongiaki: Journey into the Unknown

The game of seafaring adventure in ancient Polynesia!

2–6 players45 minages 10medium difficulty

About the game

What is Tongiaki: Journey into the Unknown

The game of seafaring adventure in ancient Polynesia!

Tongiaki is a tile-laying game that reflects the risks and successes of these early explorers. There is often a chance that an expedition will end in utter failure... or, it might land in Tahiti, Fiji, or Oahu. Clever players might even found Royal Islands to call their own! Only fate will decide if, and where, sailors make landfall, although careful planning will give players the best odds for ever seeing land again. The goal of the game is to spread your "tribe" to many different islands in order to gain the most victory points. Islands have victory point values from 2-5, and having multiple pawns on an island gives no bonus.

This game uses a unique tile design never seen in any other game (hexes with wavy edges), and is easy to explain and easy to enjoy. Players all begin on the island of Tonga, and immediate overcrowding forces players to search out other islands to populate. For each expedition that leaves, a new tile is placed, revealing either an island, or a "water path" that may or may not have a number from 2-4, indicating that many different players (not number of boats) must make up that expedition for it to survive the voyage (draw and place an additional tile). In this way, the game encourages both cooperative and competitive play at the same time.

From the back of the box:

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