Trencadís: A Mosaic of Words (Spanish)

Trencadís: A Mosaic of Words is the latest offering from Zombi Paella and the publisher's first language, letters, and words game. Inspired by trencadís, the mosaic technique made with ceramic fragments popularized by Modernism, the game offers an original combination of linguistic creativity, mental agility, and majority strategy.

Players will build some of Barcelona and Valencia's most emblematic buildings, such as the Sagrada Familia and the Palau de les Arts. To do this, they must collect mosaic pieces… but each fragment contains a letter. The way to add new pieces to their building is by forming words.

In each round, players will find a shared mosaic on the table made up of several letter pieces. After revealing a theme, such as animals, flying things, or women's names, they will have a short time to think of a related word that uses as many of the letters in the mosaic as possible.

Once the time is up, the participants will place their wooden stamps, one by one, on the letters of the word they have formed. When letters are repeated, players must strategically decide which piece to place each stamp on.

At the end of rounds 1, 3, and 6, a tally is taken. Each player will add to their building only the trencadís pieces on which they have placed more stamps than any other participant.

Trencadís combines linguistic creativity, mental agility, and majority strategy. Finding a good word isn't enough: players must also decide which letters to compete on to secure the most valuable pieces. Furthermore, whoever thinks of the word fastest gains an advantage: they place two stamps on the first letter and are the last player to place their stamps, giving them greater control over majorities.

Trencadís also stands out for its original components, including a box with reflective finishes, hexagonal cards that form the mosaic, printed wooden stamps, and an hourglass.

The game was designed by Eugeni Castaño (Castle Party, VIP RIP) and Óscar Romero (Misty Valley), and illustrated by Pau Urios, who is also responsible for the graphic design of Zombi Paella titles such as Rebel Princess or Paella Park.