Tiger & Dragon

The Game

Tiger & Dragon is a tile game from Japan, from Oink Games. It is a shedding game, as in players compete to play all their tiles, like in Big 2 and Tichu. You don't actually have the tiger and the dragon fighting. In fact the tiger tile and the dragon tile will never have any confrontation because they are of different suits. However they are important tiles in the game because they are jokers.

The game uses mahjong-like tiles. They are smaller than standard mahjong tiles. This could have been implemented using cards and it would work fine that way. However using mahjong tiles does provide a fun playing experience. There are some other useability advantages too. 

This is the player board. Everyone has the same board. When you play a tile, you place it on your player board. There are marks on the board indicating when you will win a round. Those 10 holes at the bottom are for placing your point markers. This is the first time I see a player board which looks like a punched sprue. When you buy this game, don't punch the components and throw away the sprue! 

Here is how the game plays. Every round most of the tiles are taken by the players. The start player takes one tile more because he will be first to play a tile. Every round only one player will score points. This is the player who is first to play all his tiles. The number of points you'll score depends on the situation on your player board. What your last tile is determines your points. If you have any face-down tiles on your board, they also score 1 point each.

Tiles are numbered 1 to 8. There is one tile for 1, two tiles for 2, three tiles for 3, and so on. So 8 is the most common, with eight tiles. Odd numbers are red, even numbers are blue. The tiger and the dragon are jokers in blue and red respectively. There is only one tiger and one dragon. When the start player plays the first tile of a round he is the attacker. Going clockwise, everyone has a chance to defend against this attack. You defend by simply playing a tile of same number or a joker of the same colour. When you manage to defend, you immediately become the new attacker, and you play a tile to start a new attack. If no one is able to or wants to defend, and the turn goes back to the original attacker, he "defends" against his own attack by playing any tile. This tile is played face-down, and scores 1 point if this player eventually wins the round. The player then starts a new attack by playing a tile. 

On your player board, tiles played to attack are always played in the lower row. Tiles played to attack are always played in the top row. 

The two jokers are mostly used for defense. You can attack with them, but when you attack with them, defense can be done using any tile of the same colour. So the jokers are weak attackers. 

Your points are the black disks. When you gain points, you put them in the holes on your player board. 

This is a battlefield card. There are many such cards in the game. They determine how you score points for the particular game you are playing. This is equivalent to making available different scenarios. Always pick one battlefield card before you start a game. The game rules remain the same. Only the scoring at the end of a round differs. However there are two common rules across the battlefield cards. If you win a round by playing the 1 tile, you score 10 points, which means you win the whole game immediately. The 1 is a powerful tile and the only possible defense is the dragon (red joker). If you have the tile and can resist using it and still win the round, you deserve to win the game. The other common rule is if you win a round using the tiger or the dragon, you only score 1 point. Even your face-down tiles do not score points. The tiger and the dragon are useful tiles and often we want to save them for later use. However if we keep them till the end, that is not good for us.

The Play

Tiger & Dragon feels a little like Big 2, Fight the Landlord and Tichu. These are climbing games and also shedding games. Tiger & Dragon is not a climbing game. Players do not keep outdoing one another until someone plays a tile which no one else can top. The moment one opponent is able to play a tile to defend, that opponent immediately becomes the new attacker and initiates a new attack. Tiger & Dragon is a shedding game, because every round you try to play out your hand. Unlike the other games, Tiger & Dragon has no combo. You only play single tiles. 

You will try to plan your hand so that for your last few tiles no one else will be able to defend. That's how you can go out. It is easy to count cards, because all the tiles played by every player are neatly laid out. You will be constantly counting tiles, so that you know whether a tile you have can be defended against. At the start of a round some tiles are removed from play. Also sometimes some tiles are played face-down. Because of this the tile counting won't always be exact. There are still some uncertainties. 

There is certainly luck in what tiles you get, however the game does have tactics to ponder. Even if you get many common (and weaker) tiles, e.g. many 8's, it is still possible to win. If I have many 8's, I will try to wait for others to use up their 8's, since they may think these are weak tiles not worth keeping. If all the other 8's are out, then my hoard of 8's will be unstoppable, except by the tiger (blue joker). Knowing when to hold on to a tile even when you can use it to defend is an important skill. 

The Thoughts

Tiger & Dragon is a beautiful surprise. I am thrilled to have tried the game. This is the kind of game you can play while chatting and catching up with friends. Just like mahjong. It is not very taxing, but it has meaningful decisions. It is simpler than mahjong, and non-gamers will be able to handle it. I highly recommend this game!