presentation

Aya

Landscapes for the goddess

Aya, Goddess of Water – in her world we explore landscapes and animals. The game features three terrain tiles each for fields, desert, forest, mountain and polar regions and a starting tile as well as five animal images per terrain and 15 terrain images. 156 domino tiles show all terrain types, each one on 30 pieces, six tiles are Extraordinary Gardens. 40 domino pieces show a Camera symbol.

In the Placing Phase of 2x10 minutes all simultaneously draw one piece and then place it vertically somewhere in the playing area or on a landscape tile on the table or into their personal reserve; in the playing area, tiles must be placed to continue the flow direction of the river. For the Camera dominoes, you can place a landscape tile corresponding to the tile and take the image that comes with it, or place a corresponding animal image on top of the newly placed and an adjacent domino. Extraordinary Garden tiles are jokers and allow you to place up to three animal images.

In the toppling phase the chain of standing dominoes with terrain tiles in between and animal images on top is started be pushing over the first tile; all dominoes should topple. If not, you can use Retriggering Markers to start the chain again after a gap. Then you score for all valid animal images and terrain tiles, using criteria for positions in relation to other tiles and the domino chain. The score is a result for a ranking that you should try to improve in your next game.

This is a spectacular eye catcher that demands close observation and quick planning; the game idea is marvelous, but not suitable for everybody, but trying it out is worth your while.

Players: 2-5

Age: 8+

Time: 30+

Designer: Olivier Grégoire & Thibaut Quintens

Artist: Julien Hanoteaux, Cédric Michiels

Price: ca. 32 Euro

Publisher: Heidelberger Spieleverlag 2016

Web: www.heidelbaer.de

Genre: Cooperative placement

Users: For families

Version: de

Rules: de en fr nl

In-game text: no

Comments:

Unusual, rewarding game play

Needs a few introductory games

Good mix of dexterity, speed and planning

Compares to:

First game of its kind

Other editions:

Act in Games (de en fr nl)

Chance (pink): 0

Tactic (turquoise):2

Strategy (blue): 0

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 3

Interaction (brown): 0

Dexterity (green): 2

Action (dark green): 2