The story of TZAAR
How I discovered TZAAR
One of my best friends was once a true gamer. He had played Citadels, Settlers of Catan with Seafarers and Cities and Knights, was the king of Babel, and most importantly he took the initiative to play a game and owned some games and even visited the FLGS sometimes. But in our fourth year at the university we grew a little bit apart. We did our internship at different places, he became the chairman of the student rugby club and I became the secretary of the student council and of my Improv group. Because we were busy on different places we did not meet as often as before. This caused that we were less on the same level. He and I always made lame jokes at the same time, but could also be serious together and we shared our interest in games. This changed during that year: if I made lame jokes, he was serious and if I was serious he made lame jokes. Now in our fifth year we are less busy, so we spend more time together. We drive other friends nuts again by be annoying together and we can have serious conversations again.
BUT one thing did almost irreversible change: he is not a true boardgamer anymore. Or maybe I became too geeky by discovering BGG. When I bought Agricola he was one of my most potential opponents. But when I explained the game to him he started to complain that there were too many rules and that it was probably a too long game and when we played two phases we stopped, because he became to annoying. So I needed to find new opponents and I could buy games with less rules and a shorter playing time. I found new opponents in my existing social network and outside it. "And uhm a game with less rules a shorter playing time" I thought "lets buy Hive!" And yes, my friend likes Hive, other friends like Hive, I like Hive and most importantly I discovered I like abstract games! Chess ruined abstract for me because years ago I played against an expert who read all the books and showed me all the corners of the board within 8 turns or so. But now this Hive game it was new, it was fast, no books about it and I discovered strategies and tactics. 52
"I want more abstracts", and who knows BGG and says abstracts, discovers the GIPF project.
I read about <PERSON> (http://www.gipf.com/project_gipf/burm/burm.html), his passion for abstract games, his mission to bring abstract games back on the map, his troubles with game publishers, the burned down abstract gaming hall. He was some kind of tragic hero and that combined with the reviews, the rating on the BGG and my new love for abstract games leaded to my first GIPF project purchase: Yinsh. After one game I screamed "more, more, more!". I hopped on my bike and bought DVONN. I tried to temper my buying mania and I almost succeeded till I read about TZAAR, there was no way to refuse to go to the store and buy that one, I bought it, I played it, I played it another time, I was shocked.
Game play
Why bother to explain the game if <PERSON> can do this for me http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=_NEtt_Zsl-w
Game feel
The first time I played the game, I didn’t really know what to do. But the second time I played the game it clicked, it grasped me and not only that: it hit my core. TZAAR is not just a great abstract it is a story. Many Euros pretend there is a story by a weak attempt to simulate some reality in some time period with colorful illustrations. TZAAR was not created to simulate anything, no illustrations, the components and board are even boring. But what a wonderful job it does in creating that story combined with an emotional roller coaster.
The game starts with prosecution of political opponents (capture the tzaars). It is very aggressive, violent and bloody. But after a while some leaders stand up and gain in power (stacking). An arms race starts (pieces getting higher and higher). Some important competitors become isolated or eliminated. The after match starts: first it is like fencing, a nasty stab here a smart step back, but then the opponents are too weak to hold up their weapon, they drop it and the strangling begins. Less and less air reaches their lungs. But one of them manages to reach for his knife hidden in his shoe and cuts the throat of his opponent. GAME OVER
almost strangled player looking for that knife
This interpretation is mine and not yours, and it will probably not even make sense to you. 504