Targi

Excellent two player (only) game. The “board” consists of 16 border cards that are always the same and 9 center cards that vary throughout the game. Players take turns placing one of three “workers” onto the border cards (with limitations on how they do that). Imaginary lines are drawn between your workers and where those lines cross (row vs column), you place another token to signify that card is yours in addition to the ones on the border that you claimed. After each player places their workers and determines the two cards in the middle that are theirs, it’s time to resolve the (5) card’s effects. “Goods” cards grant resources and “Tribe” cards are what you’ll spend those resources on. Eventually, players will build a “display” of tribe cards that they have purchased in front of them. A 3x4 grid of 12 cards. How you lay those cards out matters towards your final scoring. We found the game very enjoyable, easy to learn, affordable, fairly quick to play and not as vicious as other two player games. Overall, a fine game.

Targi is a classic two player game from Thames & Kosmos that has finally been reprinted. Targi is an interesting mix of worker placement and action selection. Targi has a (random) map made up of cards wherein the edges are preset, but the middle spaces will change over the course of the game. Each player has three tribesman (workers). These workers will be used to trigger special actions/abilities and to gain resources and/or victory points over the course of the game. During the course of a game turn, players will take turns placing there tribesman along the EDGE of the map, and only the edges. Players cannot place their workers in a space taken up by another worker-even their own, and they cannot place a tribesman directly opposite of where another tribesman was placed. Then an imaginary line is drawn by each player's workers, and where those lines intersect on the center part of the board each player places one of his markers. There are usually two such spaces each turn. The two (intersected) spaces that are marked, plus the three spaces where their tribesman where placed around the edge of the map, will make up the available actions each player will do during their turn. The order in which each action is done is up to the player. The purpose being to gather as many resources and/or victory points as possible per action. Interestingly, as each action in the center of the map is taken, that space is REMOVED and REPLACED by another random map card! Which means the center of the board is always changing while the center stays the same! As you can see, Targi is a simple yet very strategic game. The placement of workers requires a lot of preplanning, The ever changing map means no two turns will ever be the same, so you have to be tactical as well as strategic. And being able to block the other player from certain spaces means the game has a 'take that' element which means you can never rest on your laurels. If you want a good, strategic and tactical two player game, GET TARGI! You won't be disappointed!

My husband and I love playing this game! It’s a fun strategy game for 2 players and is easy to learn.

We love this game. Easy to learn but requires strategy.

The game in itself is great with good mechanics and strategy scope (Rated 7.5+ on BoardGameGeek). It's among the very few two-player worker placement game out there. -- Game Overview -- In each turn you place your three tokens/agents on the outside border of a 4x4 grid. You collect resources/actions mentioned on the position where you place your tokens as well as the intersection points of these tokens. This mechanics is unique in a way that you place your current token keeping in mind where you're going to place your next token. And since players place their tokens alternatively the other player can place their token at a position where you thought you'll place your next token to spoil your next move. The aim is to collect resources, pay those required resources to build Tribe cards which gain you Victory points at the end of the Game. These Tribe cards also give you some special powers that can be used during the game. The player with most Victory Points at the end of the Game wins. Good: + The game is quick to set up and easy to teach to new players. + Gameplay is simple, but has scope to apply various strategies. (If you want to collect same type of Tribe cards or different types - each approach gains you different victory points). + Gameplay is unique and fun to play. It makes you constantly think about two moves ahead. + There'll be no one-sided games* as there's minimial 'luck' factor involved. You don't know the winner until the final scoring is done. Bad: - There's a card which can make a player very powerful and one-sided but there's a workaround for it. During the game any player can convert three goods of the same type into a Gold coin. This action can be taken repetitively during a turn. But there's a tribe card when built, you can convert 1 resource to 1 Gold Coin. In a game my opponent converted 4 goods to 4 coins in single turn and I couldn't convert/gain any Gold coins in the entire game. The game became totally one-sided. So we modified the rule that when built this Tribe card, you either convert 1 goods to 1 coin per turn or if you want to convert more than once during your turn, do it 2 goods token per 1 gold coin (Either make the cost 1 for one conversion or reduce the cost from 3 to 2 for multiple conversion). - The border cards are always fixed in order. It'll be good to have more variety in the border cards (different arrangements). -- Build Quality -- Being a very new Print, I expected Game to be visually appealing and more thematic. But was disappointed on that front. Good: + The Goods cards, Tribe cards and Border cards are good in quality. The Border Cards have Pictured representation on one side and Text Description on the other side. So you don't have to reference the Rule Book again and again, just turn it to read description. Bad: - The Goods token and victory point tokens are poor in quality. All Goods token are square card boards of same size. All Victory point tokens (1, 3 and 5) are same in Shape and size with a tiny text on them telling whether it's 1, 3 or 5, which is really poor. These tokens could have been made of different color or sizes to differentiate 1, 3 and 5. - Goods tokens are very limited in quantity. Though the rule says a player cannot have more than 10 goods at the end of their turn, but could hold more during their turn. The rule book explicitly says if you run out of goods token during the turn note it down on a piece of paper! It couldn't hurt to give 5 extra token of each type in the box. - This is just my wish that they should've included a small playing mat in the box. It'd really keep the game setup organized and enable us to play even on Bed! Currently you can't play it on bed as the cards would just keep on sliding on the uneven mattress!

If you like 2 player games, then I think you'll want to have this one. And if you also happen to like unique worker placement games, then I think you'll find this is a fantastic compact game. And you should get it. This is the new English reprint from Thames & Kosmos, and wow - I LOVE THIS GAME! There is so much depth packed into this small game. You are essentially placing your 3 workers, or 'targis' (female desert nomads), on varying outer cards each turn. At the intersection of these cards, you will either gain a goods card or a tribe card. Goods help you pay for and score your tribe cards. There is an interesting 4x3 grid you have for your tribe cards to be set in, and depending on how you play them, you can get various bonuses and cool special abilities. All the outer cards (except the corners) also have benefits for you, so not only are you going for certain inner cards (within a 5x5 grid), but you are also weighing these against which outer cards you want to use as well. So in a typical turn, each player will have access to 5 cards total; 3 outer cards, and 2 inner. The game can get a little brain burny, but not too bad. There is also robber pawn (similar to the targis) that traverses the outer cards one at a time, and it hinders both players from playing on that particular card, so a few inner cards will also be inaccessible each turn. When the robber hits each corner in progressing order, there are penalties incurred by both players. The game continues until either the robber has completed his 16 card voyage around the starting outer cards, or until one player has completed his/her 4x3 grid of tribe cards. Goods score you nothing at the end, so be careful not to overcollect near game end. Add up all points from tribe cards and grid bonuses, and whoever has most points wins! There are a few tiebreaker rules just in case, but this doesn't come into play too often. Games are usually somewhat close, unless one player is very inexperienced and/or has no idea what they're doing. All in all, highly recommend this game for 2 players. You should buy it. In the wise words of Homer Simpson, "You won't never regret it, Mr. Editing guy!"

This is a great two player game with a solid theme and interesting mechanics! I love the simplicity yet complex strategy it affords. The quality of the game is good with wooden pieces and solid tokens. It is easy to learn and teach! The only negative for me is that I have to set the boarder up each time. Because it is always the same I feel like a game board would have enhanced setup. Overall great game and I am glad I purchased it!

Targi is a great two player game. Both my husband and me love playing it. The game play is enjoyable and has a medium level intensity (not too simple, not too complex). The quality of the game pieces, cards and box is excellent as well. Overall, highly satisfied.