Tikal is a German-style board game

German-style board game

German-style board games, frequently referred to in gaming circles as Euro Games or Euro-style, are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components...

 designed by Wolfgang Kramer

Wolfgang Kramer

Wolfgang Kramer is a German board game designer.Kramer formerly worked as an operations manager and computer scientist, but since 1989 he has worked full-time on game design. He has designed over 100 games, many which have been nominated for or have won the Spiel des Jahres...

 and Michael Kiesling

Michael Kiesling

Michael Kiesling is a German board game designer. Many of his games have been nominated for or have won the Spiel des Jahres, a German games award.He is best known for co-authoring the board game trilogy Tikal, Java and Mexica with Wolfgang Kramer....

 and published in 1999 by Ravensburger

Ravensburger

Ravensburger Spieleverlag GmbH is a German game company. It is a leader in the European puzzle market.-History:The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier with seat in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began publishing in 1883 with his first author contract...

 in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 and by Rio Grande Games

Rio Grande Games

Rio Grande Games is a board game publisher based in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The company primarily imports and localizes foreign language German-style board games.-History:...

 in English. The theme of the game is that of adventurers exploring parts of a Central American jungle in which artifacts and temples are discovered.

The gameplay is turn-based, with the victor decided by victory points, which can be achieved by either finding artifacts or excavating, and then controlling, temples.

Tikal won the Spiel des Jahres

Spiel des Jahres

The Spiel des Jahres is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the stated purpose of rewarding excellence in game design, and promoting top-quality games in the German market. It is thought that the existence and popularity of the award is one of the major drivers of the quality...

 and the Deutscher Spiele Preis

Deutscher Spiele Preis

The Deutscher Spiele Preis is an important award for boardgames. It was started in 1990 by the German magazine "Die Pöppel-Revue", which collects votes from the industry's stores, magazines, professionals and game clubs. The results are announced every October at the Spiel game fair in Essen,...

 in 1999, and the Games Magazine Best Multiplayer Strategy Game in 2000. It was the first game in the Mask Trilogy

Mask Trilogy

The Mask Trilogy refers to three award-winning German-style board games designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling. The trilogy is given this name because the box of each game features a mask from the region which gives the game its theme...

, followed by Java

Java (board game)

Java is a German-style board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling and published in 2000 by Ravensburger in German and by Rio Grande Games in English. It is illustrated by Franz Vohwinkel....

and Mexica

Mexica (board game)

Mexica is a board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling and published in 2002 by Ravensburger in German and Rio Grande Games in English. Mexica was awarded 5th prize in the 2002 Deutscher Spiele Preis....

.