Tekken: The Boardgame

Tekken is a well known arcade game franchise. It is a one-on-one fighting game. The boardgame version is coming soon, and a digital implementation is already available on boardgamearena.com. This is a two player game. You play three rounds and you win the game by winning two out of three rounds. The basic premise is simple. You defeat your opponent by reducing his health points to zero.

The two fighters are represented by figures on a small board made of hexagons. You have a hand of three cards. Whenever you play a card, you will draw a new one. There is a concept of initiative. The player who has the initiative will be attacking, and the other will be defending. When you play a card to attack, the card can be of one of three types - high, middle or low. Your opponent tries to block the attack by guessing which type it is. If he fails, your attack card takes effect and you get to attempt a subsequent attack. You can attack up to three times this way before your opponent gets the initiative. 

Deciding how to block is not arbitrary, at least not entirely. If your opponent has played a card, that card may be linked to the next card. It can give him an extra attack if the next card is a specific card type. So he has incentive to play those, if he has them. Now you have to guess whether he is going to make use of that bonus, or maybe he will sacrifice that bonus so that you will not guess his next move. Some double guessing and reverse psychology can come into play. A successful attack can be a hit, which means reducing the opponent health points, or a push, or a move. There is some positioning in play in the small battle arena. 

This card lets you move twice and push once.

Characters have unique abilities. When playing specific combinations of cards, they can make extra attacks. There are special moves which allow you to make unblockable attacks, or to make an extra attack before being forced to surrender initiative. You have several tools at your disposal.

I must admit when I played the game, I was figuratively speaking button mashing. I did not quite grasp the intricacies of the various possibilities. I just had a vague idea. I feel the game is more strategic than I know how to play it. I don’t think I am fully utilising the strengths of my character. One-on-one fighting games are not really my thing. I did not spend enough effort to learn to play it properly.  For me, it was mainly hoping my opponent didn’t guess right when I attacked, and hoping I guessed right when I was trying to block. If you like this genre, you may get more out of it.