Atua (2023)

Overview

In Atua, which was first released as Motu, you and your fellow players will each create your own island from scratch, expanding it round after round...as long as you have enough coconuts.

To start, each player has a face-up village card in front of them, and four face-up island cards and three face-down draw piles constitute the building materials of these islands. In each of nine rounds, you choose a card featuring symbols, properties, and borders that appeal to you, then overlap that card on your existing island, trying to create different sources of harmony that will affect its value.

The game features three intermediate scoring rounds in which players choose which sources of harmony they will convert into points and when. Timing is crucial because each source can be scored only once. Whoever best keeps an eye on fishermen, birds, and volcanoes; maintains the balance between island residents and natural resources; and gains the most harmony points will win.

Atua includes expansion materials — resident and fate tiles — for additional scoring opportunities, as well as a solo variant in which you play against the imaginary opponent Tahuma in one of four levels of difficulty.