Twisted Trumpets

• Designer: Matthew Rodela
• Publisher: Play to Z
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 8+
• Time: 30-45 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4uGuAAp
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Twisted Trumpets is a lively, competitive tile-laying game where you vie for the prestigious title of “Royal Bugler” by crafting the most whimsical trumpet in the kingdom!   The game ends when a player completely fills all but three squares on their player board. You’ll finish that round, then all players take one final turn. Everyone tallies their scores based on the length of completed pipes, sets of flags, notes surrounding birds, public objectives, and private goals. The player with the most points wins and becomes the new Royal Bugler!

To set up, place the main board on the table, and place 4 random Premium tiles on the spaces at the bottom.  Take 3 Royal Decree cards and put them in the spaces near the top.  Each player gets their own board and matching starter tiles.  Each player also gets one of each of the three types of King’s Favor tokens – each of these grants a special action when first used, and then a lesser special action on its second activation.  Players as well take a random hidden Queen’s plan card which challenge you to build your trumpet in specific ways by the end of the game to score additional points.

On your turn, choose from five actions: draw a basic pipe tile from the face-down stack, trade for face-up premium tiles, or lay tiles on your player board to build your trumpet. You can choose two of these actions in any order and you can repeat them.  As a fourth option, you can even pass and not take any actions.  And the fifth and final action is to remove a previously placed tile from your board in order to allow a valid tile placement.

If you choose to take a basic tile, simply take one from the supply.  To get a premium tile, you must discard a number of basic tiles from your hand to buy the Premium tile (cost for each tile shown on the main board).  You can also always discard a single tile from your hand for a mystery Premium Tile from the supply. 

If you choose to place a tile, take one from your hand and place it on any empty space on your player board.  You must connect to a pipe end that already exists.  If you are placing a premium tile, you can use either side – this can be useful as every Premium tile has a trumpet bell on its back.  Pipes are considered complete where there is a bell at the end, and only completed pipes will score positive points at the end of the game. 

As you go, you’ll create a fantastical, Dr. Seuss-like horn that twists and turns in all directions. Adorn your trumpet with flags, birds, and musical notes to meet various scoring criteria. Additionally, you’ll race to complete any of the three public Royal Decrees before your rivals to earn extra points. At the end of each turn, check to see if you have met the criteria for any of the public goals, and if so, mark the highest point space remaining on that goal.  All players that reach the goal on the same round will get the same score (i.e. markers can share a space).

The game ends when a player has filled all but 3 of their squares on their board.  Players finish the current round and then play one more full round.  At this point, the players now score the game.

• Pipes – Score for each completed pipe by counting backwards from each bell to the player character shown on the board.  Regular tiles are worth 1 point and tiles with twisted pipes are worth 2 points each.  It is possible to score tiles multiple times here as you trace the path back from each bell found on your twisted trumpet.  If there are loops, you must use the shortest path back to your character.
• Flags – score for each of the four colors of flags: 1/2/4/7/11/16 points for 1/2/3/4/5/6 flags of the color
• Birds – for each bird on your trumpet, score 1 point for a note symbol on each orthogonally and diagonally adjacent tile
• Royal Decrees – for each marker on a Royal Decree tile, score the points indicated by the marker’s position
• Queen’s Plans – Reveal your cards and score each based on the criteria on said card
• Penalty – Minus 3 points for each unfinished pipe on your trumpet

The player with the most points wins the game. Ties broken in favor of the player with this most points from Royal Decrees.

My thoughts on the game

I have always liked tile laying games, so it was no surprise that I was interested in this one.  I first saw it at Spiel 2025, but I did not get a chance to try it until early this year.  Your goal is to make the most convoluted trumpet possible – as the more bells you can fit into your trumpet, the more scoring pipes you’ll end up having!

You’ll be drafting/buying tiles from the market or hoping for very lucky draws.  The pipes on the tiles are clearly important, but unlike most other tile laying games, the tiles here are themselves the currency of the game…  You’ll need to discard tiles from your hand in order to buy the visible special tiles in the market – and these can definitely make or break your game.  Whether it’s getting a twisted tile to place in just the right spot, or a pipe that branches multiple times to allow you to extend your overall structure, or simply a special tile that you use for the bell on the back – these tiles give you the flexibility to make your plans come to fruition.

While you’re doing this, you’ll also be fighting with your opponents for all of the public goals.  The difference in point value is enough to motivate you to compete for them – but you might also have secret Queen’s goals that pull you in a different direction.  Sometimes the tiles decide for you, but other times, you’ll be faced with a tough decision on which tile to acquire or which tile to play first as you consider all the different options.

As with most tile-laying games, the strategies are simple to grasp, and this is aided by helpful diagrams on the goal cards.  That being said, Twisted Trumpets adds just enough complexity to keep it interesting for gamers.  At the most recent Gathering of Friends, I played the game three times and it definitely was well received by all who played.  

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Joe Huber (7 plays): Every Essen I create a short list of games that I am willing to pick up blindly, and a longer list of games that I want to try at some point.  I don’t do wonderfully at picking out games to purchase – but it’s often the best way for me to get a chance to try some of the games, which I don’t necessarily expect to have wide appeal (and thus don’t necessarily expect to be able to readily play if I don’t buy a copy.)

Twisted Trumpets was such a game; a friend was able to pick up a copy for me, and I quickly got around to playing it.  And – seven plays in – I’m looking forward to playing it more.  I don’t think it’s going to become an all-time favorite, though that’s still possible – but I don’t feel I’ve explored the whole of the game, either.  Worst case, I like the game, will play it a few more times, and be happy for more plays even if it’s no longer in my collection.  But I really do have hope that it will manage better than that; I do like musical themes in games, so I won’t be shocked if the game does stick for me.

Dan B. (4 plays): This is a decent little tile-placement game. It doesn’t do anything novel but it does what it does just fine, and has interesting decisions. The theme is kind of ridiculous, but I suspect that’s the point – any theme you attached to this game wouldn’t make a lot of sense, so why not lean into it?

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it. Dale Y, Joe H., John P, Dan B., Steph
• Neutral.
• Not for me…

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4uGuAAp