Designer: Reiner Knizia
Artist: Andreas Resch, Franz Vohwinkel
Publisher: Ducosim, Österreichisches Spiele Museum e.V., Steffen-Spiele, W. Nostheide Verlag GmbH, WIN: Das Spielejournal
Tiku is a beautiful wooden version of an early Knizia design that first appeared in spielbox magazine in 1993. Played on a 6x6 board, each player has six pieces and fourteen stone markers. The pieces move in a straight line orthogonally like rooks in chess, but without any capturing. Instead, they leave a trail of stones behind. As you can't jump other pieces, you try to block your opponent from crossing your markers and, therefore, replacing them. The first player to place their last stone marker wins.
Deeper than it seems at first glance. While it is important to place as many stones on your turn as possible, sometimes it is more important to make moves which force your opponent to take back some of their already placed markers.
Re-implemented by: