''Tikal'' is a

German-style board game A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game (generally just referred to as board games in Europe), is a class of tabletop games that generally feature indirect player interaction, lack player elimination, ...

Wolfgang Kramer Wolfgang Kramer (born 29 June 1942 in Stuttgart) is a German board game designer. Early life As a young child, Wolfgang Kramer used to play games with his grandmother, and said he developed a positive attitude about games because "she always use ...

and

Michael Kiesling Michael Kiesling (born 1957) is a German board game designer. Many of his games have been nominated for or have won the Spiel des Jahres, a German games award. Kiesling began working as a full time game designer in 1989. In 1988, he was one of th ...

and published in 1999 by

Ravensburger Ravensburger AG is a German game, puzzle and toy company, publishing house, and market leader in the jigsaw puzzle market. History The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and by

Rio Grande Games Rio Grande Games is a board game publisher based in Placitas, New Mexico. The company primarily imports and localizes foreign language German-style board games. History In 1995, Jay Tummelson began working for Mayfair Games. At that time, ...

in English. Set in a Central American jungle, in ''Tikal'' players aim to discover artifacts, excavate, and maintain temple control to gain victory points.

Gameplay

The gameplay is turn-based, with the victor decided by victory points which can be achieved by finding artifacts, excavating, and maintaining control over temple sites. The theme of the game is that of adventurers exploring parts of a Central American jungle in which artifacts and temples are discovered.

Reception

''Tikal'' received positive reviews and won numerous awards, including the

Spiel des Jahres The Spiel des Jahres (, 'Game of the Year') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence an ...

, the

Deutscher Spiele Preis __NOTOC__ The Deutscher Spielepreis (, ''German Game Prize'') (DSP) is an important award for boardgames. It was started in 1990 by the German magazine ''Die Pöppel-Revue'', which collects votes from the industry's stores, magazines, profes ...

in 1999, and the

Games Magazine ''Games World of Puzzles'' is an American games and puzzle magazine. Originally the merger of two other puzzle magazines spun off from its parent publication ''Games'' magazine in the early 1990s, ''Games World of Puzzles'' was reunited with ''Ga ...

Best Multiplayer Strategy Game in 2000. It was the first game in the Mask Trilogy, followed by ''

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

'' and ''

Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: ; singular ) are a Nahuatl-speaking people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of the Triple Alliance, more commonly referred to as the Aztec Empire. The Mexica established Tenochtitlan, a settlement on an island ...

''.

Warren Spector Warren Evan Spector (born October 2, 1955) is an American role-playing and video game designer, director, writer, producer and production designer. He is known for creating immersive sim games, which give players a wide variety of choices in how ...

comments: "Once you're hooked on ''Tikal'', you can move on to the other games in Kiesling and Kramer's 'Mask' trilogy. The games ''Mexica'' and ''Java'' share some mechanics, but feature different settings, fiction, and some new gameplay elements. Try them, for sure, but if you're like most people, you'll find yourself coming back to ''Tikal'', once the novelty of the newer games wears off. As is so often the case, the first is still the best." In a review in the February 2000 issue of ''

InQuest Gamer ''InQuest Gamer'' was a monthly magazine for game reviews and news that was published from 1995 to 2007. The magazine was published by Wizard Entertainment (not to be confused with Wizards of the Coast, which produced its own CCG magazine, '' Th ...

'', Tom Slizewski stated that the game is easy to learn and fun, and that "every component is a thing of beauty". He also said that it is primarily a tactical game requiring "constant mental calculation to play well" but that the

game mechanics In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics define how a game works for players. Game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide player actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, whi ...

are straightforward.

Reviews

*'' Backstab'' #19

References

External links

* * {{Spiel des Jahres Board games introduced in 1999 Board games about history Board games using action points Deutscher Spiele Preis winners Spiel des Jahres winners Board games with a modular board Wolfgang Kramer games Michael Kiesling games Ravensburger games Rio Grande Games games