Atiwa

When I see Lookout, Uwe, and a proud “advanced” on the box, I almost automatically expect a very particular level of quality. With Atiwa, though, I get the feeling that the rush for Essen left something behind. My first encounter was already disappointing: it was the first Lookout game I received with components missing from the box, while the negative scoring tiles mentioned in the manual were never printed at all. Those are not small details when a game is trying to feel complete on the table.

At its core, Atiwa is a cheerful engine builder built on familiar patterns from the designer. I gradually build up my productive engine and try to use what it gives me more and more efficiently. The flow is quick, never weighing the group down, and that may be its clearest strength.

At the table, I do not feel that the game is pursuing some grand, intricate conflict between players; the emphasis is more on each person assembling their own engine. Interaction is therefore not what lingers, but rather the pleasant, brisk process of developing your personal system within the somewhat strange theme of primitive people eating bats.

In the end, it is honest enough. It plays quickly, it is enjoyable, and it can work very well as a step toward introducing people to heavier euros. I just do not see it truly speaking to the people chasing the “advanced” label on the box. If it had arrived as a hundred-euro deluxe production from a company like Elf Creek, perhaps we would have seen it climbing the hotness charts; released as it is, I fear its intended audience will not even hear about it, while everyone else will mildly sneer at it.