Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
Tango.
What a great name for this trick-taking game. It is, of course, a cute name, given that Tango is exclusively for two players. It takes two to tango, and Tango takes two. But it takes more than a cute joke to make a title great. “Tango” is also apt. David Harding and Matt Sims have designed a game that is all about coordination. Also, frankly, there is something a little sexy about this game when you and your opponent are both locked in.
Let’s get into position. Both players are dealt two hands of cards. One hand is subject to the usual standards, by which I mean you hold it in your hand. This is the hand-hand if you will, the pie activo. The other hand, the pie soporto, is set out on the table in front of you in five stacks of two, with the top cards face-up and the bottom cards face-down. This we will call the table-hand.
Now we can begin the footwork. A Basic to the Cross isn’t so complicated, so let’s try that: I play a card from my hand-hand, you play a card from your hand-hand that follows suit if possible, I play a card from my table-hand that follows suit if possible, and finally you play a card from your table-hand that follows suit if possible. There’s a “Follow my lead” joke in here somewhere.
The winner is either the player with the highest value card in the led suit or the player with the highest value trump card, but be wary. Winning isn’t always a goal unto itself in Tango. Some cards are worth negative points and others aren’t worth anything at all. It’s a give-and-take. You find yourself looking for opportunities to dump a 9 or a 10 off-suit, so your opponent can deal with the consequences of winning it. Even with positive points on the line, though, losing can be more in your interest.
The trump suit in Tango is determined by whatever card is leftover once forty of the forty-one cards have been dealt out. It probably won’t stay there for long. After every trick, the loser has the option to swap the trump card with any card from their hand-hand. Managing the trump suit, and your constantly fluctuating relationship with it, is hugely important. It is the dance, really, every change of suit the adornos that make a dance memorable. It’s all the more important for the fact that the only card in the game worth two points, the Rose, is always treated as the 0 of trumps. If you have it, you’re dancing to deny your opponent a chance to nab it. If you don’t, you try to make the other player miss a step.
The constant fluctuations inherent in this system are not for everyone, but I think Tango is divine. It’s heavy with a heady combination of known knowns and known unknowns. You can see the contents of both your hands and your opponent’s table-hand. You have some sense of what they can follow and some sense of what they can’t, but their hand-hand is the mystery. A single well-timed swap of the trump can change everything about how you thought this was going to go. Sometimes you feel like nothing can stop you as you glide across the floor. Sometimes it can feel like you can’t catch a break. It usually comes down to player error rather than divine providence. Across ten or so games of Tango, I never felt like I was dealt two left feet.
Like any dance, Tango requires that you time your movements. Like any dance, it can be awkward at first, as you fall out of step or trip over your feet. Like any dance, it’s mostly about solid fundamentals, but it rewards attention with flashes of brilliant showmanship. Grab your castanets and get those clappin’ hands ready. Let’s Tango.
Tango details
- Designer: David Harding (II), Matt Sims
- Artists: Heiko Günther
- Publishers: Grail Games, Jelly Jelly Games, Maldito Games
- Release Date: 2024
- Player count : 2
- Age range : 10+
- Time range : 15 - 30 minutes
- Mechanism(s): Trick-taking
- BGG Geek Rating: 7.14626 - converted to Meeple Mountain scale: 3.5.
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