Game Review: Tonooo

[Black_Wolf]

It was interesting to get Tonooo to the table.

This is one of those interesting games in the sense it is perfect information, no dice, card draw, or imposed luck, but the information is only known if you have a good memory game.

As a memory game Tonooo was a rather new experience for The Meeple Guild. We might have a games' room piled high with games, plus more at the homes of members, but none of us could recall a pure memory game among the collection.
That suggests it is not exactly a style of game we are attracted too, so Tonooo was immediately something very new for us.

From Ludarden the game is all wonderful wood, which is always a plus in my mind. Wooden games have a vintage look and feel that plastic can never come close to matching.

As for rules, Tonooo, like most of the Ludarden line, are quite simple, although the ruleset being translated to English does at time require just a minute to interpret.
The aim of the game is to be the first to have four small cylinders of different colours in front of you, which can include joker, which make those very important if you can find one.

Each player on his turn does one of two choices.

* Either they draw a small cylinder from the bag and places it in one of the four big cylinders, letting players know what he drew so you can put it in your memory where it went;
* Or they pick up one of the four big cylinders and look at all the small cylinders placed in it. If there are at least two small cylinders of the same colour, the player keeps one of them in front of him. If there is also a joker, they claim it too.

Each time there are not two small cylinders of the same colour, the player is penalized and replaces one of the small cylinders in front of him in the bag, if they have one.

Since this is a memory game, you need to be in the mood to pay attention to the game you are playing, and wanting to make the brain work too.

In my case I tried to simplify things. There are four large cylinders that the smaller ones are placed. I tried focusing on two, being fairly confident when I went hunting that there were two matching pieces inside. It worked not badly as a strategy.

However, ultimately jokers tend to be part of a win, which isn't surprising.
A quick game from designer Philippe Proux that I'd be up to play as a filler anytime.

Check it out at www.ludarden.com

Thanks to fellow gamers Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.