I had recently the opportunity to join a playthrough at Tabletopia of an upcoming board game that caught my attention through its cute art and promising gameplay. It looks like I wasn’t disappointed at all. I am talking about Tekton Dash, a new game from a new developer and publisher, the Spain-based DanchieGo Studio. This is actually a rare case of a game developed simultaneously in a digital and cardboard form.
Tekton Dash is a party game for 3 to 6 players (as in all party games the more players, the better), featuring a well-blended mix of strategy, twists, sabotage and loads of fun. All that through two laps of racing while collecting tiles and building patterns. But what’s going on here? Is there a story behind all that?
Lisandro Mota, the game creator, has come up with a whole world as the set of the game, the whimsical world of Tektonia. Once a peaceful place, the home of the tiny builders known as Tektons and the racing enthusiasts known as Dashers, Tektonia faces a big disaster, leaving the country in ruins. Now Tektons must team up with Dashers in order to rebuild their home, by collecting four magical tiles and using them to build two blueprints. There is a whole story book accompanying the game, which is very fun to read and presents a detailed background for the game.
The object of the game is to race through the board, collect the four tiles needed to build a blueprint, arrange the tiles properly on the player board, get to the finish line first, then flip the blueprint, revealing a new one and race all the way back to the starting line, while completing the new blueprint.
One big asset of Tekton Dash is its unique gameboard which is designed before each and every game by the players themselves. The board seems pretty impressive as it will be 3d, as it can be seen in the following picture, featuring six racing lanes with many different kinds of tiles on them and even real obstacles (blocks) that prevent players moving forward.
Each player chooses two meeples, a Dasher and a Tekton and also receives a gameboard and a Dasher Specialty token. The player board is the area where you will store and arrange the tokens you collect and it also has a special area to keep your blueprint and a sabotage meter.
Players take 2 random starting tiles and place them on their board. They also receive a two-sided blueprint (one side for each of the two laps of the game). They put one meeple on the starting lane of the board according to their turn order.
Then its time for the obstacle setup. Here is a list of available obstacles:
The number of obstacles and tiles used in each game as well as the number of lanes used on the gameboard depends on the player count. For 3-player games there are three specific obstacles setup where for 4+ players, setup of obstacles is fully customizable. Players receive a set of obstacles to place on the board and they take turns placing one type of obstacles at a time, following some rules.
When the board is ready, the race is about to begin. Players will dash through the board, trying to complete their blueprint and reach first the finishing line. Then they will race back to the starting line, while also trying to complete a second blueprint by re-arranging the tiles they got on the first race. Each player, each turn must complete a full Action Set , choosing from three regular sets and one special move. The full sets contain the following options:
- Action set A: Move one square to any direction then take a tile beneath the current position or first take then move
- Action set B: Move one square to any direction then place a tile beneath your position on an empty floor or first place then move.
- Action set C: Move one square to any direction then roll a dice to spawn tiles or first roll then move
- Special move: Slide a tile
There is much more that makes the games richer like power-ups cards that you can draw when you pick up a power-up tile and specialty tokens that are dasher special abilities and can be used once in the game.
The first player to reach the finish line on lap 2 and complete the red blueprint is the winner.
Let’s see where the game stands in our standard categories with the information we have till now:
Components
Although we don’t have the final product in hand, we can judge according to the photos supplied and the information revealed. This is one of the rare board games that has a fully customizable board and a 3d one too. If the correct materials are chosen for the board, tiles and obstacles it will be a great boost for the game. I really liked the obstacle tile that is a block barrier, it really stands as an obstacle on the board (there is a special space between tiles on the board for the barrier to fit in). The meeples have a nice twist as they have faces drawn on them in contrast to most other that are plain meeples without a face. But what really shines in this game are the funny, just adorable characters and the vivid colors used in all components. It just make you smile and melts your heart just looking at this game. Along with the game you also receive a complete storybook to learn about the facts that led Tektons and Dashers to this race. The story is very well written, with great artwork and complements the game beautifully. 9/10
Power-up cards
Gameplay
The heart of the game seems solid enough to stand out among hundreds of board games published each year. The whole idea of the 3d board and a race accross it, through obstacles that are always in different positions and can change throughout the game along with the some of the cutest characters we have seen in years compose an explosive cocktail of fun.
There is great variety in moves to choose from each turn: moving, picking up tiles, putting down tiles, spawning new tiles, playing cards to sabotage opponents. All possibilities are open and it’s all up to you to make the right moves. The clever use of power-up cards and your dasher specialty token enhances even more the strategic element of the game making the outcome of the race even more unpredictable.
The element of luck plays a small role here just as it should (just a personal opinion). The tiles themselves are of many different types, giving players many options to choose from. The racing to the finish line element is complemented by a puzzle solving experience and collection of tiles in order to complete the blueprint. There really isn’t a moment to be bored in this game. It is fast-paced and requires strategic thinking allwhile having fun be sabotaging your friends (or getting sabotaged by them).
As a con, the duration of the game maybe could be a little shorter for a party game. 7/10
Replayability
This is a section where Tekton Dash shines. The 3d, fully customizable board, ensures that no game will be the same with any other. This feature is really well thought, there are hundreds of different setups you can play with, given the many options of different obstacles to use. There is also great variability in power up cards and dasher specialty tokens that make the game even richer.
A downside of the fully customizable board that is that game setup takes up pretty much more time than a typical party game would, something that could potentially annoy impatient players. Another one is the game duration. Party games and light-weight games are usually filler games with a short duration. This one takes from 90 up to 120 minutes to complete which makes the game a standard game, not a filler. It also makes the game reach the table less frequently as there is big competition in that duration slot. 7/10
Theme
The theme of the game couldn’t be more supported. The cute Tektons and Mektons can be seen everywhere from the meeples, to the player boards and power up cards. The storybook included with the game presents the world of these creatures with great detail, making you see the game from another perspective and helping you get in the shoes of the Tektons/Mektons as they race through the board. As an extra bonus, after completing the game you can go through the tektonpedia (also included in the game) to find out if you are a Mekton or Tekton according to your style of play and uncover exactly which character mirrors your game style. 10/10
Player Interaction
I always had a thing about player interaction. When it’s not there, it’s a serious problem because we are talking about games and having fun. Fun is synonymous to player interaction almost always. This game fortunately has loads of interaction. It’s actually based on interacting with others by mainly trying to sabotage them in various ways. You can use power-up tiles to take tiles from other players, exchange tiles with them, freeze their movement, swap positions and much more. What more to ask for? 10/10
Learning Curve
The game has a fair learning curve. It requires some time to learn the basics and start playing, especially learn about the options you have on your turn and what the different tiles do. Power up cards and specialty tokens are thoroughly explained in the rulebook. There is a Dasher specialty guide provided for each player at the beginning of the game. 7/7
Final Thoughts
The way everything is so well thought and meticulously made, with so much attention to detail makes me believe that the creators had so much faith in their creation and really gave love to the game. This is a game that all party game lovers should consider this year. Its original board and setup options together with a hilarious storyline behind the game makes it one very original game that can stand out between dozens of games being published every year. Player interaction is also at its best in this game, promising loads of fun and unpredictable results.
DunchieGo provided us with a play-through game in order to have hands-on experience of the gameplay.
