Tempurra

• Designer: Kuraki Mura
• Publisher: IELLO / Swan Panasia
• Players: 3-7
• Ages: 8+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Times played: 3, with review copy provided by IELLO

Tempurra is another push your luck game in the Spring 2016 IELLO co-production series as well as the second release from Mr. Mura (Happy Pigs) in the bundle.    This is a push-your-luck game where players are cats in an eating contest, and they are trying to eat as many things as they can without getting indigestion.

Each player starts the game with a hand of five cards (starting deck is made up of 72 dish cards, 17 action cards, 1 Indigestion card). The game starts with a single Dish cards placed face up on the table.  Then, going around the table (in the direction of the arrow on the play direction token), players take their turn by choosing one of four actions.

1) Serve A Dish – you can play a matching Dish from your hand onto the stack on the table

2) Eat a Mouthful – Draw as many cards as the sum of the dish cards and reveal them.  If you reveal an Indigestion card, the round will end.  If not, you then add all revealed cards to your hand, and then discard the current stack.  Play new card from your hand to start a new stack.

The number cards

3) Play an Action card – Play a card to either add 1 dish to the total number to be eaten, reverse the direction of play or choose the next player and continue play in the current direction.

4) Skip a Dish – Play two identical Dish cards to discards the current stack.  One of the paired cards is also discarded, the other is placed on the table to start the new stack.

The current round ends any time that an Indigestion card is shown.  That player takes one of the 15 Indigestion tokens and places it in front of him.  The current stack is discarded.  Finally, the active player decides whether to add another Indigestion card to the deck (there are 6 total in the game).  All players keep their current hands, and the discard pile is shuffled back into the deck.  The player who ended the previous round starts the next round by placing a dish card on the table.  Play direction always resets to the clockwise direction.

Indigestion card on right. Special action cards on left

The game continues until one player has gained his third Indigestion token.  The player who has the fewest tokens is the winner.  If there is a tie, the player with the most cards in his hand at that time is the winner.

Indigestion tokens

My Thoughts on the Game

Tempurra delivers exactly what it advertises, a quick and fun press-your-luck game.  The choices on your turn and few and simple to digest – (see what I did there) – and there is always a bit of tension when someone chooses to flip over a large number of cards from the deck.

The initial rounds are very straightforward, especially when there is only one Indigestion card in the deck… but as more of those Indigestion cards are added, the decision to take cards becomes harder and harder to make.   Early in the game, I like to amass as many cards as possible to allow myself more options in the later rounds when it is very risky to take a lot of cards.  Having a large hand gives you a better chance of having a matching card or an action card to let play pass you by.  Of course, everyone in our group does this, and near the end of the game, the deck is quite small (because many cards are locked up in the player’s hands) and all the Indigestion cards are stuck in the deck!

At this point, it’s all a matter of trying to decide when it’s worth it to try to take new cards or not. The game is a nice opener/closer as it usually comes in around fifteen minutes.  You get a chance to make a few good decisions along the way, but in the end, it’s more about the luck of the draw – which seems to always elicit groans/laughs/etc.  It’s been a nice way to end game night with my regular group, and with the boys in the neighborhood, it’s a nice game that gives everyone a chance of winning and causes everyone to laugh with delight at the misfortunes of someone else!

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it. Eric Martin
• Neutral.  Dale Y, Craig V
• Not for me…