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Tinners' Trail (Second Edition)

Tinners' Trail (Second Edition) gives an older game a handsome, thoughtful return, with a smooth and approachable flow plus plenty of player friction. Its mineral pricing still shows the age of the design, but the table experience remains a strong one.

TheCuttlefish · 30 November 2021 Machine translated EL EN Read the original
Tinners' Trail (Second Edition)

Tinners' Trail (Second Edition)

Published
2021
Designer
Martin Wallace
Publisher
Alley Cat Games, Maldito Games, PHALANX
Players
1–5
Playing time
90 min

Tinners' Trail (Second Edition) is the kind of reissue you want for an older game: a lovely production, sensible fine-tuning, and additions that do not scrub away its identity. It arrives on the table looking ready for business and gets everyone involved quickly.

The play is smooth and accessible, but do not mistake that for solitary resource management. Your choices run into everybody else's, and the table develops a proper little grudge: you watch what they are setting up, you get in the way, and then they return the favour before you can blink.

Your choices run into everybody else's, and the table develops a proper little grudge: you watch what they are setting up, you get in the way, and then they return the favour before you can blink.
TheCuttlefish

At five players, the pressure is sharper because there are more actions on offer than you can really afford to support. One of the two KS mini expansions feels essential there; it gives the game the breathing room it needs without removing the squeeze that makes the decisions matter.

I would have liked a stronger mechanism for pricing the minerals, because that is where the design most clearly shows its age. Even so, this is a rewarding experience with real player friction, and with the right small addition it becomes very close to the game you want to set up again at once.

Even so, this is a rewarding experience with real player friction, and with the right small addition it becomes very close to the game you want to set up again at once.
TheCuttlefish

Source: BoardGameGeek

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