Tanglung is a 2-player abstract game by Mark William, published by Malaysian publishing house Luma. “Tanglung” refers to Chinese lanterns which are carried during the Mid Autumn Festival.

I absolutely love the production of the game, especially the attention to detail. The insides of the box are decorated. I adore the art!

A game is set up like this. The two corners will always be roosters, and the players each start on a rooster. Other cards are random, and the four central cards are face-up. On your turn, you must move your player pawn – the matchbox – to another card. You move based on the movement rule of the card you are on, or you can also choose to use the rooster movement (one step orthogonally). After you move, the card you were on is discarded. The board shrinks. If you move to a face-down card, you flip it face-up.

There are several ways you can win. If your opponent is unable to make a move, you win. This might be because the board has shrunk too much, or you are blocking him. If you light the last lantern, i.e. you reveal the last face-down card, you win. If you bump your opponent twice, you also win. When you bump into your opponent, his pawn is temporarily removed from the board. Next turn, he must place his pawn on an empty space.

There is a fan in the game. Some cards let you place or move the fan. The fan blocks movement. It can be used to stop your opponent from moving. You can also force your opponent to go to a position where you can bump him.

The gameplay feel is that of an abstract game. You have to think ahead a little about your opponent’s possible moves. You do not have perfect information though, because of the face-down cards. You do know the card distribution and the movement rules of the cards. This allows you to plan somewhat.

The pawns (matchboxes) are different on the two sides. The full health side shows a full matchbox, while the “injured” side after you have been bumped once shows only one match remaining.