Islet

• Designer: Thomas Dagenais-Lesperance
• Publisher: 2 tomatoes games
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 8+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

In Islet, you embody tropical birds seeking to nest on a small islet in the middle of the ocean. During the game you will collectively explore the islet to collect materials, while competing to create the best nests to spawn, thus guaranteeing the continuity of your species. On each of your turns you choose to either explore the islet to receive resources, or position yourself to create the perfect nests in which to spawn your precious eggs.  This way, together – as much as against one another – you’ll build a tropical islet with its different biomes, and whoever spawns all their eggs on the islet first will be the winner.

How to play:

Whoever has touched an egg most recently starts the game.  A starting islet of six random tiles laid in a hexagon shape is made on the table.  Each player’s pawn is placed on the table (in the sea).  Starting with the start player, take turns clockwise. On your turn, you must take either an EXPLORE or a MOVE action.

When you EXPLORE, EXPLORE you lay 1 to 4 tiles from your reserve, expanding the islet, and receive resources in return.  The first tile must be placed in the sea, and then optionally, tiles 2, 3 and 4 can be placed, each being adjacent to the one previously placed, on a space not containing an egg nor a pawn, and must be at a higher level than the previously placed tile.  If you place on the sea or on a tile of matching terrain color, you draw a resource card of that terrain.  If you place on a different color tile, you get the nest card matching the combination of the two tiles in that stack.  You are limited to 8 unguaranteed resources at the end of your turn.

When you MOVE, you can ADVANCE your pawn and SPAWN (lay eggs), as many times as you want and in any order and combination, as long as you can pay the required resource cost.  You can freely move between adjacent tiles of same terrain, otherwise you pay a card of the terrain you are moving to.  If you want to spawn, you must pay three nest cards that match the type on the tile you are on.  You can always trade in a pair of terrain cards for any other, and you can trade in a mismatched set of 2 terrain card to get the nest card for that combination.  If you have 2+ free eggs when you spawn, you can place one of your eggs on the board and another egg on top of a resource of your choice.  Once per turn, you can exhaust this egg to provide the resource of the card it is sitting on.

The end of the game can be triggered in 2 different ways
● When a player SPAWNS their last egg, their turn ends as normal and then the current round ends (so that everyone plays the same number of turns).
● When a player takes the last islet tile from the bag, the current round ends and a new round is played (so that everyone plays the same number of turns).

In any case, the player who spawned the most eggs wins the game.  Ties broken in favor of the player with the highest egg placed.

There is a solo game included in the rules as well, and you use a special deck of cards that give you restrictions on how to place nests on each of the two islets in the game.  It’s not quite the same as the multiplayer version, but it’s an interesting challenge nevertheless.

My thoughts on the game

Islet is a beautiful abstract game, and I really like the way you see the conglomeration of colorful wooden tiles grow on your table. The wooden birds and eggs sit on top, both looking beautiful as well as providing obstacles that inhibit the placement of further wooden tiles.

The rules are deceivingly simple, you only have 2 options for what to do on your turn, and while the placement rules sound complex; once you’ve played a few turns, it is all quite simple.  The most confusing thing might be the guaranteed/non-guaranteed goods, but again, this should be old hat by the end of your first game.

I’ve played at different player counts, and I will say that the game feels quite different based on the number of players in the game.  At 2p, you have much more control over the game as there is only one contravening action between yours.  You can set up a situation for your next turn and have a reasonable chance that it’s still on the board when your turn comes back up.  You also have a lot more leeway to play defensively – that is, if you see your opponent set up something for themselves, you might want to play reactively and squash his nest building opportunity, etc…. Of course, you have to have some luck on your side because you’ll need to have the right tiles in your hand at that moment in order to do it.

At higher player counts, the game is a bit more wide open and less predictable.  It is nearly impossible to set something up for yourself with three actions between yours.  In this case, you’ll need to have much more flexibility in how/where you can move your bird and simply take advantage of board positions left to you by your opponents. As there are only 3 colors and only 3 nest types, it is honestly pretty impossible to avoid leaving board positions that your opponents will be able to benefit from.

Every 2p game that I’ve played has ended about two thirds through the bag of tiles.  With the 4p game, it’s at least a possibility that the tile bag will be exhausted before someone lays all their eggs (though you have many fewer eggs to place in the higher player count).  

If you’re one of those people who must play a certain color, you should be warned that this is a game that mandates which player colors are available based on player count… The wood bits are great, and as I mentioned earlier, I love the way that this looks on the table as your islet grows in both height and breadth.

Though the bits are colorful, this is still a pretty abstract game, and if you like that style of game, this should be a good fit for you.  It looks great, gives you some interesting decision points in its 20-30 minute time frame, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it. Dale (2p)
• Neutral. Dale (4p), John P
• Not for me…