Designers: Louis Malz (Edo, Rococo, Valparaiso), Stefan Malz (Edo, Rococo, Valparaiso)

Artist: Andrew Bosley (Blood Bowl: Team Manager – The Card Game, Citadels, Everdell, Mission: Red Planet Second Edition, Tapestry)

Publisher: Alley Cat Games (Dice Hospital, Ruthless, Welcome to Dino World)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority/influence, area movement, civilization, dice rolling, nautical, set collection, worker placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Tungaru is already fully-funded. In fact, pledges currently total more than 5.5x the initial funding goal with 2 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 2-5

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About: “Tungaru is an engine-building, resource-management and dice-placement Euro. In the early sea-faring days of the Pacific Islands, you will set out to spread your culture across the archipelago of Tungaru. Gather resources, enlist the help of your culture’s Leaders and attract Nomads to help your culture prosper.”

How It Works:  Tungaru is played over several rounds, with each round consisting of 4 Phases: Roll the Dice and Get Goods, Choose Leader, Perform Actions, and Cleanup. During Roll the Dice and Get Goods, the active player rolls 3 of their 4 dice, re-rolling them if all 3 show the same result. Then the active player places the 3 dice onto the dice spaces of their boats, and saves the 4th die beside their Culture board until they decide to play the Worker in Phase 2. During Choose Leader, each player secretly chooses one of their Leader cards and places it face down in front of them. Once all players have placed their cards, players simultaneous reveal them and carry out the depicted abilities for Leader cards 1-4 (Leader card 5 is resolved during Clean-up, except when end game is triggered, and then it is not resolved at all).

Then, in player order and proceeding clockwise, players take turns performing 1 Action each until each player has passed. Actions are performed by placing a die on an empty dice placement space on either island, the player’s Leader card, or their Culture board; or by exhausting a Settler on an island and laying it flat. Possible actions include Sailing (crossing up to 2 borders, or 3 if spending a fish), Harvesting (taking resources matching the die on an island their boat is anchored), Settling (spending 2 fish to place an unused Settler in an empty settling space on an island their boat is anchored), Trading (moving a good from their storage to an empty market space, or vice versa, using a die or Settler on an island their boat is anchored), Traveling (moving a Settler from one island where their boat is anchored to a connected island where they don’t already have a Settler located), Recruiting (using a die or Settler on an island where their boat is anchored, paying the depicted Recruiting costs, as well as placing a Monument if the action is taken on an island where they don’t already have one placed, then collecting a Nomad to their Culture board and moving a Nomad from a connected Migration space to refill the vacated space), Activating a Nomad (placing a die onto one of the face-up Nomads on their Culture board and taking the associated action), Using Your Leader’s Actions (placing a die onto one of the unused die spaces on their Leader Card and taking the associated action), and Passing.

During Cleanup, the Chief (Leader Card 5) is resolved, unless the Migration piles are emptied, in which case the end of the game is triggered instead. During final scoring, players receive victory points for recruited Nomads and their associated bonuses, and then the player with the most victory points wins.

Comparisons:   Louis and Stefan Malz have previously created the popular Rococo. Venice, also on Kickstarter right now, is another mid-weight worker placement game with a nautical theme. And publisher Alley Cat Games has previously published worker placement game Dice Hospital. Perhaps the best comparisons are worker placement games using dice as workers. A few other games that also utilize this mechanic include Bora Bora, Champions of Midgard, Coimbra, Dice City, Kingsburg, Pulsar 2849, Rajas of the Ganges, and The Voyages of Marco Polo.

What Should I Pledge?:
$39 Tungaru Retail Edition: includes the retail edition of Tungaru and all retail stretch goals.
$53 Tungaru Deluxe Edition: includes the Deluxe edition of Tungaru and ALL stretch goals.

Add-Ons:
$38 Dice Hospital: Community Care Retail Edition
$51 Dice Hospital: Community Care Kickstarter Edition
$50 Dice Hospital Base Game
$28 Dice Hospital Deluxe Add On Pack
$58 Chocolate Factory: Base Game
$75 Chocolate Factory: Deluxe Edition
$17 Cat Cafe
$27 Dino World: Base Game
$37 Dino World: Deluxe Edition
$43 Coral Islands: Base Game
$19 Ruthless
$13 Pocket Pharma
$13 Pocket Sub
$7 Cauldron Master & Expansion

KS Exclusives:
The Deluxe Edition is a KS Exclusive, including the following components: 8 Island Overlay Tiles, 40 screen-printed Culture Monuments (replacing the base game’s culture markers), 5 Boat Minis (replacing the base game’s punchboard boats), and the upgraded Dice Hospital wooden 1st Player Token.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $53 for the Tungaru Deluxe Edition pledge and $6 in shipping for a total of $59.

Tungaru completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, November 28th and tentatively ships in September 2020.