Tranquility

The Game

Tranquility is a cooperative game and an abstract game. It has cards numbered 1 to 80, which needs to be played onto a 6x6 grid. If you manage to fill the grid before the deck runs out, you win. 

Players cannot discuss their hands or communicate in any way. This is supposed to be a silent, zen game. On your turn, you either play a card or discard two cards. At the end of your turn you draw back to your hand limit. The numbers in the grid must go from smallest at the bottom left to highest at the top right. Within each row, the numbers must increase from left to right, and the number range in a row must be higher than the row below it. So effectively this grid is a single 36-space row where numbers must go from low to high. When you play a card, if the adjacent spaces (left and right, including wrapping around to the next row) are empty, you play the card for free. If there is an adjacent number, you must pay a fee in the form of cards being discarded. The fee is the difference between the number played and the adjacent number. So if you play a 23 next to a 24, you must discard 1 card. Cards discarded like this will be lost forever, because there is no reshuffling of the discard pile. 

In addition to the number cards, there are some start cards and some finish cards in the deck. The term start card is misleading. You don't actually have to play it at the start. You just need to make sure you have played one during the game. Else you can't win. Playing a start card requires some thinking. When you do it, you will draw several cards, and you will also be forced to discard several cards. It is a time for difficult decisions. The finish card only needs to be played before you finish. You must make sure you have at least one left, so that you can play it after filling the grid. This is how you win. 

The Play

The card deck is your life points. You must complete your mission before you run out of life points. Conserving cards is important. If you need to make payment all the time, the cards won't last. You also need to be careful not to discard cards which you might need. If there is a space between two numbers, but all the cards that can fit have been discarded, you will lose. It certainly helps to card count. I'm too lazy to do that. I only try to remember some of the important or easy-to-remember numbers. E.g. if I have placed 79 in the second last spot, I will keep in mind not to discard the 80 when I draw it. 

In the early game I try not to play cards next to other cards, to avoid the need to discard cards. You know roughly which number should go where, but this is not exact math. Whether you have placed a number at a good position depends on the card draw. You can only take your best guess and hope things work out. 

The first game I played was a two-player game with Han. We weren't sure about the strategy and fumbled along, figuring things out as we played. Needless to say that game didn't go so well and we lost with two spaces we were unable to fill - this screenshot below. 

Afterwards I tried this as a solo game. Now that I understood the strategy, the game felt pretty easy. I won pretty comfortably. I think the game is easier as a solo game. With two or more players, you don't know what cards your teammates have. I wonder whether the game is too easy as a solo game and doesn't quite work. This screenshot below was taken shortly before I won the solo game. I knew I still had cards smaller than 4, and it was a matter of when I'd draw one. I already had a finish card on standby. 

The Thoughts

This is an abstract game. It is a simple cooperative game. I don't yet have a good grasp of the difficulty of winning. I believe it will be more challenging and also more interesting with more players. I don't think it works as a solo game because it seems to be too easy. But take this with a grain of salt - I have only played it once solo. The game is for 1 to 5 players. BGG says it is best with two. I'm not sure whether it is because I won the solo game easily, I find the game a little dull. It is a light game that casual players can easily ease into, and it's cooperative so if you have non-gamer friends who want to play a peaceful, non-competitive and simple game, this might work.