TacTiki
TacTiki Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
Make your way to the opposite side of the board and build a TAC or TIKI statue with 5 of your pieces on one of your opponent's start fields. The first player to build a 5-high statue wins the game!
Components
- 1 Rulebook
- 10 TAC miniatures
- 10 TIKI miniatures
- 1 Game board
The Story
Somewhere in a hidden corner of the Pacific Ocean, on a small Polynesian island, there lives a tribe forgotten by time. With the passing of aeons, the tribe has split into two factions.
One of the clans lives day-to-day in a peaceful, harmonious manner. They worship "TAC," the Sun God. Meanwhile, on the other part of the island, the other clan has a radically different culture. For them, "TIKI," the God of Rain, rules their world and they want to impose their beliefs on all the island's inhabitants. And now, they have started a war!
The carnage angers the gods, and the war takes on a supernatural form... TAC and TIKI have come to life to settle the bloodshed for good and determine who will be the one true god of the island!!!
TAC
Born from fire, TAC laughs in sparkling sunshine rays.
The Sun God is full of golden wisdom and calming warmness. Harmony runs through his mighty veins. The island tribe lives in peace and harmony under his blessings, celebrating light, life, and happiness. The beauty of life radiates from their hearts and leaves no place for clouds. They admire his teachings on the art of living in eternal love and light. The people of the tribe have pure hearts and creative minds open to the ancient lessons of building a harmonious world.
TIKI
When TIKI appears, every living creature quakes with fear.
The God of Rain is the powerful lord of storms, lightning, thunder, and flood. This maleficent god strikes unmercifully on the inhabitants of the island like a bolt from the blue. The tribe worshipping him desires victory, dominance, and the entire island to be under TIKI's hand. They move like shadows in the dark and their conflicted relationship with the other clan quickly escalates into a war to conquer their greatest enemy. Their goal is to destroy the neighboring culture and rule the island!
Game Board
The square, 5x5 board tile is the island where the war of the gods will take place. The first row of fields on opposing sides represent the start fields, while the three rows in the middle make up the battlefield.
The start fields for TAC sit along one edge of the board, the start fields for TIKI sit along the opposite edge, and the battlefields make up the three rows between them.
Setup
Easy to set up: Both players put each of their ten pieces on their own start fields, placing exactly two figurines on each field. You can position the pieces as you wish on the start fields in any combination of ranks, including two of the same rank on a single field.
Based on your game strategy, there are thousands of different ways to set up and arrange the figurines.
Enigmatic and entertaining: On the back of each piece there is a number (rank) ranging from 1 to 5. At the beginning of the game, the players should place their pieces so that the ranks are only visible to them, and not to their opponent.
Strength of the Pieces
The number on the back of each piece represents its rank.
The strength hierarchy ranges from 5 to 1 - with the unexpected twist that a rank of 1 is stronger than a rank of 5.
The strength hierarchy:
a. 5 is stronger than 4, 3, 2 b. 4 is stronger than 3, 2, 1 c. 3 is stronger than 2, 1 d. 2 is stronger than 1 e. 1 is stronger than 5
Gameplay
During the game, you will move and stack multiple pieces on top of each other, forming columns and initiating attacks against your opponent. Because TIKI has started the war, the player controlling TIKI takes the first turn.
On your turn, you may either move pieces or reincarnate a defeated piece.
How Do You Move?
You can move a piece 1 field forward, left, or right, but not backwards or diagonally.
Each player's turn consists of two moves:
- One piece can move twice (1/a, 1/b)
- Two pieces can each move once (2/a, 2/b)
When a piece moves into a field with 1 or more already existing pieces, it is always placed directly on top of the other piece(s). Also, once a piece has reached an opponent's start field, it may not be moved anymore, neither by you nor by any action of your opponent.
Note: If choosing to move on your turn, you must use both of your moves! If there is only 1 move possible, the second move is omitted.
Reincarnation
Once defeated, a piece is not entirely out of the game. On your turn, you may choose to reincarnate a defeated piece by placing it on one of your empty start fields.
However, reincarnation comes with a price - you may NOT move any pieces this turn if you reincarnate a defeated piece. If you have multiple defeated pieces, your choice of which one to reincarnate is secret and the rank of the piece is kept hidden as in the initial setup.
Note: You may not reincarnate a defeated piece on top of another active piece - the start field must be empty.
Attacking
When you move one of your pieces directly on top of an opposing player's piece(s), an attack happens and is immediately resolved.
To resolve the attack, rotate the top 2 pieces of the column 180 degrees to expose the hidden ranks. The piece with the weaker rank is defeated and removed from the board. The stronger piece is then rotated back to again hide the piece's rank.
If you attack a field with multiple pieces stacked on each other, the entire column has been attacked and each attack is resolved one at a time. For example, if your rank 4 piece attacks a column made up of a rank 3, a 1, and a 5, it will be stronger than the 3 and the 1, thus rotating and removing them one by one from the column and the board. However, since it is weaker than the 5, the attacking number 4 will also have to leave the battlefield. Column attacks are always resolved from the top to the bottom.
When two pieces of the same rank meet, both pieces will remain on the board, but the defending piece is now blocked and may not be moved again until the top piece moves or is defeated in a subsequent attack.
How to Win?
You win the game by being the first player to build a statue of 5 pieces on an opponent's single start field.
Strategy Tips
The game board of TacTiki may appear small and the rules may be easy to grasp, but there's an incredible amount of depth and new strategies to discover with every play.
You can aim to play offensively or defensively at various stages in the game, use your memory of your opponent's piece ranks to devise tactics, or plan a counterattack, but you can also win the game by simply bluffing - it all depends on your strategy and memory!
Here are a few strategy ideas to think about during your next game:
The initial setup: You're free to arrange your starting pieces however you wish, so finding good combinations and predicting how they will move are extremely important.
Occupy your opponent's start fields: If you're able to occupy all of your opponent's start fields, they will no longer be able to reincarnate defeated pieces and bring them back into the game. They'll be effectively blocked and you'll be in an easier position to build your statue and claim victory!
The role of memory: Each player keeps the rank of each piece facing only to themselves until two opposing pieces clash on the same field. However, it's in your best interest to remember the revealed rank of the exposed pieces.
From this moment on, the MEMORY part of the GAME kicks in! The more ranks you can keep in mind, the better strategy you can develop.