for the terrain hexagons.

Because Mini-Tikal was to use only 12 tiles, it would

be infeasible to randomize in the same way as the full game; dividing the tiles
into seven sets from A to G would result in a highly predictable and boring
game. Instead, it was decided that the tiles would be divided into three sets and
randomized within each set. A, B, and C were combined into a single set, as were
E, F, and G. The D set was kept alone, in order to keep the appearance of the By J. Edward Sanchez; Version 1.01; July 13, 2007.
volcano close to the midpoint of the game. Original game by Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer.
Despite the increased randomness introduced by this scheme, the small number
of tiles was still determined to be a likely source of game imbalance due to the Introduction
luck of the draw. Consequently, it was decided that it would be necessary to play Mini-Tikal is a quick two-player variant for the board game Tikal. It retains most
Mini-Tikal exclusively with the auction version of the original rules. of the elements and much of the flavor of the full game, but it can be played in
The next thing to decide was the number of workers to give each player. This was 15 to 30 minutes. It was conceived because the full game can be prohibitively
a tough decision to make, since in the full game the balance of workers varies long; Mini-Tikal presents a more accessible and less daunting alternative to
greatly with different numbers of players. After some analysis, it was decided players who have a limited amount of time to play.
that the ratio of workers to terrain hexagons would be modeled after the ratios For game balance reasons, Mini-Tikal is based on the auction version of the
present in the full three- and four-player games. This was achieved by giving each original rules.
player 12 workers plus an expedition leader.
An early draft of Mini-Tikal allowed two temple guards per player, as in the full Preparation
game. However, during playtesting this was shown to cause significant problems, Each player selects a color and takes the following game figures of that color:
so a limitation of one temple guard per player was imposed. Similarly, the very one expedition leader, 12 expedition workers, one camp, and the turn indicator.
small map used in Mini-Tikal made it unnecessary for each player to have two Return the rest of the game figures to the box.
camps, so each player would be allowed only one.
Place the game board on the table in easy reach of both players. Use the
It was decided that there would be 12 treasure wafers in the game, even though expedition workers of an unused player color to mark off the board as shown:
only nine could be uncovered. This was done to avoid the zero-sum situation
that tends to occur in the full two-player game. Having a potential shortage of
treasures better captures the tense feel of the full three- and four-player games.
The number of square temple tiles was left unchanged. While scarcity of temple
tiles can be an important issue in the full game, it had very little potential to be
so in Mini-Tikal. With only seven temple hexagons in play, competition would
already be fierce; limiting the square temple tiles as well would be likely a source
of game imbalance that would greatly outweigh any potential benefit.
Comments and suggestions are welcome. The author may be contacted on
boardgamegeek.com, under the user name Spire.

Revision History
Version 1.00; July 9, 2007
• Initial release.
Version 1.01; July 13, 2007
• Edited and expanded design notes.
The shaded area will not be used during the game.
4
Select the following 12 terrain hexagons, and return the rest to the box:
Sort the 12 terrain hexagons into three sets according to the letters on their
backs: A-B-C (five hexagons), D (three hexagons), and E-F-G (four hexagons).
With the letters facing up, shuffle each set separately, then combine all three
sets into a single stack such that E-F-G is at the bottom, D is in the middle, and
A-B-C is on top.
Note: Shuffle the D set first, then shuffle the E-F-G set under the table and
immediately place the shuffled D set on top of it so that no one sees what letter
tile is at the top of the E-F-G set. Finally, shuffle the A-B-C set under the table
and place it on top of the stack.
As in the full game, sort the square temple tiles by their numbers and stack
them carefully in numeric order next to the board.
Select four complete sets of round treasure wafers, then shuffle them upside-
down and put them in two stacks next to the board. Return the other 12
treasure wafers to the box.
Place both the players’ scoring markers on space “20” of the scoring track.
Playing the game
Randomly select a player to begin. Mini-Tikal is played the same way as the
auction version of the full game, with the following exceptions:
• Each player may establish only one camp.
• Each player may place only one temple guard.
• Since there is only one volcano hexagon in play, there are only two scoring
rounds in the game: one midway through, and one at the end.
2 3
Design notes
Mini-Tikal was designed with the following goal: Minimize the playing time
while preserving as many elements of the full game as possible.
Because Tikal relies on diversity of terrain in order to present a variety of options
to the players, it was decided that a practical minimum number of terrain
hexagons to use for Mini-Tikal would be around a dozen. The exact number
12 was chosen because it is one-third the number of tiles in the full game, and
because a configuration of 12 tiles forms a desirable shape on the game board
when combined with the preprinted hexagons.
Selecting the specific 12 hexagon tiles to be used presented a challenge. The first
priority was to follow the terrain-type distribution of the full game as closely as
possible. The full game consists of 39 terrain hexagons (including the preprinted
ones but excluding the base camp): 17 temples (44%), eight treasure hexagons
(21%), 11 jungle hexagons (28%), and three volcanoes (8%).
Fortunately, this distribution afforded a very similar breakdown of the 15 terrain
hexagons to be used in Mini-Tikal: seven temples (47%), three treasure hexagons
(20%), four jungle hexagons (27%), and one volcano (7%).
The next task was to select the individual terrain hexagons of each type. With
seven temples allocated in Mini-Tikal, and with two “1” level temples already
preprinted on the board, it was a natural decision to use all five of the remaining
values: one each of “2”, “3”, “4”, “5”, and “6”. Likewise, the three required
treasure hexagon tiles were also selected for maximum variety: “2”, “3”, and “4”.
Next, it was important to emulate the terrain progression curves of the full
game. For treasures, this was relatively easy: the full game follows a strict
decrease in treasure values, so for Mini-Tikal the following treasure hexagon tiles
were selected: A[“4”], C[“3”], and E[“2”].
Temples were a more complicated matter. In the full game, the order of
appearance of the 15 temple hexagon tiles resembles a curve with a gradual
ascent followed by a sharp descent: A[“1”, “2”, “2”], B[“2”, “3”], C[“3”, “4”],
D[“5”, “5”], E[“5”, “6”], F[“4”, “4”], G[“3”, “3”]. For Mini-Tikal, it was tricky to
find a combination that would satisfy all the desired criteria, especially when
constrained by the availability of the original tiles. After much trial and error,
the following set was arrived at: A[“2”], C[“4”], D[“5”], E[“6”], G[“3”].
The three jungle tiles were selected according to two criteria: availability in a
spread-out distribution and maximum connectivity. The latter was deemed
important due to the limited connectivity of some of the temple and treasure
hexagon tiles previously selected.
Finally, the lone volcano hexagon needed to arrive in the middle of the game, so
a D volcano was selected.
The next thing that needed to be determined was the randomization method