{"id":19110,"date":"2019-09-02T00:01:53","date_gmt":"2019-09-02T00:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=19110"},"modified":"2019-06-18T01:49:26","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T01:49:26","slug":"unplugged-tanto-cuore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/02\/unplugged-tanto-cuore\/","title":{"rendered":"Unplugged: Tanto Cuore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019ve been going to the Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX for short, for about ten years now.\u00a0 While I mostly visit the video game booths, there are an equal number of tabletop and card game booths as well.\u00a0 Every year I always pass by a booth featuring a card game called Tanto Cuore.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why I always remember that, but it does seem like a memorable game.\u00a0 The very kind folks at the booth always offer to show me how to play it, but I\u2019m usually in between meetings and appointments and don\u2019t have time.\u00a0 But now Tanto Cuore is celebrating its 10th<\/sup> anniversary!\u00a0 Wow, has it really been that long?\u00a0 I guess considering I\u2019ve been to PAX for about that length of time, it does make sense.\u00a0 In honor of that milestone, the makers of the game have offered to let me review it so I can finally play it!\u00a0 Anyway, Tanto Cuore is a deck building card game where you amass an army of anime maids, and according to the instruction booklet, Tanto Cuore means \u201cMuch Heart\u201d in Italian.<\/p>\n

So why anime maids?\u00a0 Well, I don\u2019t really know.\u00a0 My brother Jeff, who helped me set up and play this game for my review, said there is a popular movement called Gothic Lolita which I don\u2019t quite understand, but this is just a card game so I guess it\u2019s best to not think about it too much.\u00a0 Anyway, in this game for 2 to 4 players, each person has a pretend mansion that they need to staff with maids for some reason.\u00a0 Guess these are really messy mansions.\u00a0 At the end of the game, whoever has the most highest quality maids (depicted by a certain number on the cards), wins the game.\u00a0 Here is a larger shot of the Tanto Cuore box.<\/p>\n

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The game requires a bit of set up and space, so make sure you have a clear spot on your table.\u00a0 You have to arrange cards in a certain way in the center, but luckily the game comes with cardboard plate cards so you know where to put everything.\u00a0 This arrangement of cards is called the \u2018town\u2019 and is where you\u2019ll pick out maids to put in your deck.\u00a0 When two piles of maid cards in the town are empty, the game is over and you count your card points to decide the winner.\u00a0 Or at least that\u2019s how I THINK the game plays.\u00a0 One of the problems I had with the game is that I feel the instruction booklet on how to play isn\u2019t written very well in places.\u00a0 They don\u2019t even tell you how the game ends and how to decide a winner until way late in the pages.\u00a0 Luckily since the game has been out for so long, there are plenty of videos on the Internet on how to play the game, so I recommend checking those out if you get confused.\u00a0 Anyway, here\u2019s a shot of the setup of the \u2018town.\u2019<\/p>\n

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But since the town setup is so big, I had to split it into two pictures.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are also a bunch of cards I didn\u2019t use in the game, but you can sprinkle them in to change up how the game plays so it\u2019s different each time.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a shot of those other cards.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Setup and the initial learning curve are the hardest parts of the game.\u00a0 Once you start playing, it\u2019s easier to understand and it goes by quickly.\u00a0 Plus you can always do something on each turn, which I like.\u00a0 I can\u2019t stand card games where you have to wait to have enough points to do anything.\u00a0 Even the Pok\u00e9mon card game is like that.\u00a0 But luckily, in Tanto Cuore there is always something you can do on your turn.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll start out with a pre-set hand, but you can use maid cards and spend \u201clove points\u201d (the currency) to put more maid cards in your deck.\u00a0 After you do these things, you discard your hand of five cards and it\u2019s the other players\u2019 turn.\u00a0 Then when it\u2019s your turn again, you shuffle your discards and make a new hand of five.\u00a0 Certain maid cards can let you draw more cards or get more points, so you must use strategy to get the most of your turn.\u00a0 Other things you can do are upgrade some maid cards to be chambermaids, and they are put into a separate pile and always come into play.\u00a0 Or you can buy cards that hurt your opponent\u2019s deck, like illness or bad habit cards.\u00a0 There are certainly other rules of play, but I won\u2019t go into them here, as I just wanted to give everyone just a gist on how to play.\u00a0 When the game is done, you\u2019ll wish you had a few of those maids to help you clean up all the cards!<\/p>\n

I really liked how the game played once you get started.\u00a0 Turns are quick and you can always do something in each turn, and every game can be different.\u00a0 The cards are of nice glossy material and have good artwork.\u00a0 What I didn\u2019t like was the initial setup and steep learning curve at first.\u00a0 Plus the subject matter is a little too out there for my tastes.\u00a0 But the game has been around for ten years, so it certainly has staying power.\u00a0 There are also a lot of expansions to keep the game fresh, and many feature anime tropes like Beach Party and Winter.\u00a0 If you are an older player and have a group of friends who enjoy anime and card games, you may want to check this one out if you haven\u2019t already.<\/p>\n

Kid Factor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because of the complexity of the game, I\u2019d say this one is best for older players.\u00a0 Plus the subject matter of the game may be considered slightly suggestive, depending on how you look at it.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also presented in a campy way, too, like an anime cartoon.\u00a0 But mainly the steep learning curve and setup make it best for older players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been going to the Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX for short, for about ten years now.\u00a0 While I mostly visit the video game booths, there are an equal number of tabletop and card game booths as well.\u00a0 Every year I always pass by a booth featuring a card game called Tanto Cuore.\u00a0 I don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-unplugged-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19111,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19110\/revisions\/19111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}