The result is an engaging puzzle. While Five Tribes can sometimes feel overwhelming due to the fact that you can play almost anywhere on the board at any time, Yamataï feels initially more manageable. It imposes some helpful limits, such as starting from "entry points" along one side of the board, and once boats are placed, they are largely stationary. This limits the decision space just enough to make the (many) options on each turn easier to parse; they don't overwhelm even new players, though decisions do become increasingly complex as each game develops thanks to specialists and the growing map.

Still, there's lots to ponder here, and analysis paralysis can certainly set in. The key is simply to look for solid moves that net something of real value on each turn instead of trying to consider every possible option—which quickly becomes overwhelming, especially when considering certain fleet powers that let you move boats and culture tokens around.

As is usual for Days of Wonder, the production values here are top-notch; Yamataï has some of the chunkiest and most colorful wooden bits I've seen in some time, and the board is gorgeous. The artwork is also family friendly, which was not really the case with Five Tribes, a game that initially came with both "slave cards" (changed in a later edition) and extremely dark djinn art. (This art was so dark that two of my friends actually printed up custom djinn card decks with new art in order to play with younger children.)

To top it off, each player gets a terrific player aid/mat that walks people through each step of a turn—extremely helpful when learning.

A pair of small—and bizarre—issues mar the otherwise perfect design: two of the "culture token" colors are shockingly similar in shade, and the "PPs" are represented by two differently shaped and colored icons in different parts of the game. What the what?

Yamataï doesn't break major new mechanical ground, and the theme—doing something "For Queen Himiko's Smile," which is the game's subtitle—is thin. But the gameplay is a deeply satisfying and polished amalgam of mechanics, with a smooth ruleset and an ease of teaching that belies the game's strategic weight. Highly enjoyable and well recommended, it even works well with two.