TARGUI



OBJECTIVE OF TARGUI: Targui’s objective is to gain the most victory points by expanding your tribe and exchanging goods for gold.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2

MATERIALS:

  • 80 cards: 16 Territory cards, 45 Tribe cards (blue), 19 Merchandise cards (red)
  • 8 Gold coins
  • 6 Targui figurines (3 per player)
  • 1 Thief figurine
  • 4 Tribe markers (2 per player)
  • 30 goods tokens
  • 15 victory point tokens

TYPE OF GAME: worker placement duel game

AUDIENCE: teen, adult


OVERVIEW OF TARGUI

You control a Tuareg tribe that you have to develop by collecting resources and trading. By strategically placing your Targui figurines, you will gain access to different abilities and collect valuable resources to buy cards to expand your Tribe. Beware of the thief who regularly launches raids, remember to set aside to avoid disappointment.

SETUP

Place the 16 Territory cards (also called border cards) to form a rectangle whose width and length is equal to five cards, in the order of 1 to 16, so that the card number 16 is in the top left corner. These cards will never move.

Place the Tribe and Merchandise cards (central cards) in the central area (consisting of a grid of 3×3 cards) alternating them:

Merchandise, Tribe, Merchandise
Tribe,          Merchandise,          Tribe
Merchandise, Tribe, Merchandise

Give to each Player:

  • 3 wooden Targui figures in its own colour
  • 2 cylindrical wooden Tribe markers in its own colour
  • 6 items: 2 dates, 2 salt, 2 pepper
  • 1 Gold
  • 4 Victory Point tokens
Game setup, blue player first

GAMEPLAY

The game lasts a maximum of 15 turns, which is the time for the Thief to go around the Territory cards.

Phases of a turn

1. Move the Thief one square clockwise.

  • On the first turn of the game, the Thief is placed on the number one square (Territory card) called The Noble.
  • When the Thief reaches a corner, there is a Raid (see Raids).

2. Place the Targui figurines in turn on the Territory cards.

  • Each in turn, starting with the first player, the players place their 3 Targui one by one.
  • Each player will then occupy 3 Territory cards (because he has 3 Targui).

Note: It is forbidden to place a Targui on the following cards: card where the Thief is, Raid (the four corners), with another Targui, facing an opposing Targui, on the cards of the central zone.

3. Place Tribe markers at the crossover points on the 9 central cards.

  • Players place their Tribe markers: They draw an imaginary line from their respective Targui counters to the opposite side and place one Tribe marker per crossing.
  • If they have two Targui figurines on the same column or row, there will only be one crossing and they will not be able to place all their Tribe markers.

4. Carry out the actions

  • The first player can carry out all his actions thanks to his Targui figurines and Tribe markers.
  • The order is free, but the player must fully complete the action of one card before starting another. The player can use the action of a Territory card occupied by his Targui figurine or the action of a central card occupied by his Tribe marker.
  • The second player then performs all his actions in the same way.

The actions are as follows:

A) Territory cards:
The player gets his Targui figurine back but the card does not move. The action is carried out (read the conditions of the card).
B) Central cards:
The player recovers his Tribe marker, then performs the action corresponding to the nature of the card:

  • Merchandise card: The player receives the merchandise, victory point or gold indicated on the card, then the card is placed in the discard pile and replaced by a card of the other type (merchandise or tribe), face down.
  • Tribe card: It is placed in front of the Player who must pay its cost. If the player cannot pay, he can keep it in his hand.

Note: a player can only hold one Tribe card in hand.
To use or discard a Tribe card in hand, a player must play the Territory card: The Noble. If the player draws a Tribe card, he must discard the surplus and keep the original Tribe card in his hand.

5. New central cards (Merchandise and Tribe)

  • Central cards face down are turned over
    • Change of First Player: the First Player gives the amulet to his opponent who becomes the First Player.
  • A new turn begins (with the Thief moving, etc.)
During this turn, the white player collects 2 pepper, 2 salt, and buys an oases for 1 salt, 2 pepper and 2 dates. The blue player then collects 1 pepper, 1 salt and 1 date (by drawing a Merchandise card with the Caravan action), exchanges 4 goods for 3 victory points (Goldsmith action) and buys a Camel driver for 1 gold and 1 salt.

Other points of rules

The Raids

When the Thief occupies a Raid card, players must pay what is indicated on the card. Starting with the current 1st Player, each Player chooses whether to lose goods, victory points or gold depending on what is indicated on the Raid card. Losses are put back into the reserve. Then the thief is immediately moved to the next Territory card and the Players take turns placing their Targui.

Tribe cards

  • Cost:
    • Their cost is indicated in the upper left corner of the card.
    • Note: Some cards have a slash: the player chooses to pay for it in Goods or Gold.
  • Victory points (VPs) earned:
    • The PVs are shown in the bottom right-hand corner of the card.
    • They go from 1 to 3.
  • Advantages: Many cards offer a one-time or permanent benefit. These advantages can be used as soon as the Tribe card is placed in front of the player.
  • Display:
    • The collected Tribe cards are placed on the Player’s display.
    • This display is composed of 3 rows of 4 cards
    • In each row (horizontal line), the cards are placed from left to right.
    • It is not necessary to completely fill a row to start another: Each player can fill several rows at the same time.
    • The cards placed in the display remain there until the end of the game.
  • Symbols: The Tribe cards are divided into 5 symbols: Well, Oasis, Camel driver, Tent, Targuia

Goods and Gold limits at the end of a round

The number of goods and gold that a player can keep for the next round is limited.

  • If at the end of the round a player has more than 10 goods and/or more than 3 gold, he must discard the surplus in the reserve (he chooses the goods he discards).
  • Note: There is no limit to the number of goods/gold owned by a player during a turn.
  • Tip: Use the Merchant and Goldsmith cards or play Tribe cards to stay within the limit.

END OF GAME

The game ends when one of the players fills his display with 12 Tribe cards OR if the Thief reaches the last corner of the “cards board” (which corresponds to the 16th Territory card: Raid n°4).

Victory point count

Players add up up their victory points: Victory tokens, VPs in the bottom right-hand corner of the Tribe cards, and display bonus

  • +4 VP per row of 4 cards with an identical symbols
  • +2 VP per row of 4 cards with symbols all different

The player with the most victory points wins. In the event of a tie, the player with the most gold wins. If the tie persists, the player with the most goods is declared the winner.

The blue player has less Tribe cards but more victory points tokens. Moreover, he has one complete line of different symbols and a Camel driver card that grants 2 points per pair of Tent card. He totals 36 points and thus beats the white player’s score of 29.

Enjoy! 😊

Nakoa Davis