There have been many chess players who had been renowned around the globe. Nowadays, a lot of competitions are established to challenge these players.

This is a list of five great players chosen based upon a number of factors including supremacy over colleagues, length of career at the top, contributions to chess, and individual style and brilliance.

Garry Kasparov

A lot of chess enthusiasts labeled Garry Kasparov as the best chess player. He was a dynamic player who attacks using brilliant tactics. At age 22, he became the youngest ever acknowledged World Champion. He held this title until 1993 when he technically lost it because of an argument that led him to set up an organization. During this period, most chess enthusiasts still regard him as an unofficial World Champion until his loss to Kramnik in 2000.

At age 10, Garry Kasparov started his training at Mikhail Botvinnik’s chess school. He has a reputation of being invincible in playing chess because Kasparov did not lost a game for almost ten years from December 1981 to February 1991. He completely reigned for 20 years, and retired on top after contributing much to the theory of chess.

Bobby Fischer

Another player who can be the best of all time is Bobby Fischer. Having a strong fighting spirit made him a master strategist and a specialist in definite openings. Fischer declined the idea of draws and played to win every game.

Bobby Fischer started his career at age 14 when he won 8 US championships. He was considered as the youngest ever Grandmaster at age 15. He was also the youngest ever candidate for the World Championship. In 1975, he did not defend his World Championship title because of not agreeing on conditions with the International Chess Federation responsible for professional chess worldwide. Fischer played for a reported $ 5,000,000 purse that led to an arrest warrant being issued for him. He never returned to the United States since then and lived at Iceland until his death.

Emanuel Lasker

Having a reputation as a defensive risk-taker, Emanuel Lasker held the title of World Champion for 27 years. He was an extreme fighter who can turn lost games into triumphs.

He started to make a name in 1889 when he won several tournaments. His career as a World Champion ended when Capablanca defeated him in 1921. Many Russian mention him as a major influence in their playing style, though he did not really contribute a big deal to chess other than his natural brilliance, longevity and bigger purses.

Jose Capablanca

Tagged as the “chess machine”, Jose Capablanca has a systematic and simple method in beating his opponents. In playing chess, he preferred clearness of position, as well as logical and direct development. He is pleased in gaining small advantages and transferring them to a better endgame.

At age 4, Jose Capablanca already learned the rules in chess. He barely defeated the Cuban champion by age 13. He won the World Championship against Lasker in 1921 without losing a game. He formalized the World Championship rules which are agreed by all leading chess players. In 1922, he provided a synchronized performance against 103 opponents with 102 wins and 1 draw.

Anatoly Karpov

Anatoly Karpov played positional chess and improved his position by moves that showed amazing positional understanding. He waited for a slightest mistake of his opponent and then attacks them. His mastery in ending a game was incomparable, while he kept his opening quite narrow, and his middle game was always solid.

Anatoly Karpov was the World Champion from 1975-1985 and then from 1993-1999. At age 4, he learned the game and at age 12 trained in Botvinnik’s chess school, and was a Soviet National Master by age 15. In 1984 was his last victorious title defense was to Garry Kasparov in a 48 game match (5 wins, 3 losses, 40 draws). He was beaten by Kasparov in the following year.

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Say Anything is a light-hearted game about what you and your friends think. It gives you the chance to settle questions that have been hotly debated for centuries. For instance, “What is the most overrated band of all time?” or “Which celebrity would be the most fun to hang out with for a day?” So dig deep into your heart or just come up with something witty – this is your chance to Say Anything!

Learn to Play Say Anything Board Game with Wil Wheaton, Matt Mira, Jonah Ray, and Josh Cagan!

How to Play
1) Ask a question from the card you draw. Ex:
- If you could have a “BIG” anything, what would it be?
- What’s the most important invention of the last century?
- Which website would be hardest to live without?
- What’s the best activity for a first date?
- What’s the worst thing to say to a cop after getting pulled over?

2) Everyone else writes an answer and throws it face-up on the table as fast as possible. No duplicate answers are allowed!

3) Secretly choose your favorite response using a genuine state of the art SELECT-O-MATIC 5000 (see pictures).

4) Everyone else has two betting tokens to bet on which answer you chose. They can bet both tokens on one answer or split them between two different answers (just like in Wits & Wagers).

Who Will Like This Game?
Say Anything is a pure party game. It was designed to get a party started as quickly as possible by prompting people to talk about interesting things and to make ridiculous statements.

Although it was designed by the makers of Wits & Wagers, it is a much lighter game. Wits & Wagers can be played strategically or as a boisterous party game, but Say Anything can only be played as a pure party game. If you are looking for great social interaction and lots of laughs, then you will probably enjoy playing Say Anything.

So, you’re a Lefty, a South Paw, Cacky-Hander, Cuddy Wifter or a Squiffy? Then August 13th is Your Day. International Left-Hander Day!

All year round, Lefty’s fit in with home and office layouts designed for right-handers’ comfort. They put up with doors, cookers, sinks, computer mice, keyboards and desks that are efficient for right-handers to work at, and hundreds of times every day they are forced to awkwardly use back-to-front tools and gadgets…. But NOT TODAY!

Yes, a Day for Lefty’s really does exist.

Celebrate International Lefty Day with these Two Great Left Handed Games & Gifts.

Get 20% Off for 24 hours Only! Midnight to Midnight August 13th.

Left Handed Chess

Exclusive to Games from Everywhere. This is possibly the only Left handed Chess Set in the World!

Hand Carved in Poland, the unique difference in Left Handed Chess lies in the way you can move your pieces. Each piece in this Chess Set can be accessed, lifted and re-positioned using the left hand.

A Totally unique Concept and sure to be a major threat to those traditional Right Handed Players! Watch them squirm! This Chess Set can also be played by people with only one arm.

Get your Left handed Chess Set Today in our Store. Click the Image to Find out More. Add to Cart and enter the Discount Code “LEFTY” to Get 20% Off the Marked Price!

As a Bonus, this Left Handed Chess Set includes a Set of Left handed Checkers!!

Left Handed Yahtzee

The Original Yahtzee from South America. Beautiful Leather Dice Cups and everything you need to play the game the right way – Except, with this Yahtzee you get a full set of Left Handed Dice! Yes!

Watch your right-handed friends fumble the ball and mishandle the Dice as they try, but fail to out score you in every game.

A great gift idea for a Squiffy Friend and what a way to Celebrate International Left Hander day!

Get your Left Handed Yahtzee Set Today in our Store. Click the Image to Find out More. Add to Cart and enter the Discount Code “LEFTY” to Get 20% Off the Marked Price!

Comes with Left Handed Score Sheet.

Left Handed Facts and Trivia

Left Handers, also commonly referred to as Southpaws, are the brunt of more than their share of jokes all year long. How do I know? Yup, you guessed it! It ain’t easy being a leftie. But those of us who are, would have it no other way. Lefties are proud of it.

• Sinistrophobia is the fear of left-handedness or things on the left side.
• Only about 10% of the population is left handed.
• During the 1600′s people, thought left handers were witches and warlocks.
• In Australian terms, a “molly-dooker” is a “sissy-fisted” lefty.
• Nails grow faster on the left hand than the right
• Most champion fencers are left-handed.
• When looking at Michelangelo’s David, look at the hand David held his sling in.
• Draw figures facing to the right
• Recover from strokes faster
• Adjust to seeing underwater quicker
• Less able to roll their tongue than a righty

Left Handed Hall of Fame

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (Composer)
David Byrne (Talking Heads)
Glen Campbell
Natale Cole
Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
Phil Collins (Genesis)
Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins)
Charlie Chaplin
James Cromwell
Tom Cruise
Matt Dillon
Olivia de Havilland
Robert DeNiro
Richard Dreyfuss
W.C. Fields
Peter Fonda
Greta Garbo
Whoopie Goldberg
Bruce Willis
Oprah Winfrey

Torres is a German-style board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling and published in 1999 by FX Schmid in German and by Rio Grande Games in English. The game strongly influenced Kramer and Kiesling’s Mask Trilogy of games, but is not considered to be a part of the trilogy. The game has since been reprinted (in 2005).

Game play

Game play revolves around constructing an abstract set of castles set on a grid. Each player is allotted several knight pieces, which are placed within the castles. The higher the knights’ placement during a scoring round, the greater the payoff for the controlling player.

The number of points a player receives per phase is based on the height times the surface area of the highest point of the castle that the knight is standing upon. If the knight is on the 3rd level of a castle, and the castle occupies 5 squares on the board, the player receives 15 points. A King piece is also placed on the board and acts as a bonus modifier to any knights that occupy the same level and castle as the King at the end of a phase.

The game is composed of three different phases, with each phase having three to four rounds each depending on the number of players. Each player has five action points (AP) to spend during a round. The following moves may be performed during a round:

• Place a new knight (2 AP) All new knights must be adjacent to existing knights, and may only occupy a level equal to or lower than the existing knight on the board.
• Place a new castle piece (1 AP) Castle pieces must be placed next to or on top of existing castle pieces. A castle’s level cannot exceed the surface area, i.e., a castle occupying two squares on the map may only reach two levels in height. New castle pieces may not join two existing castles.
• Pick up an action card (1 AP) There are 40 different action cards which allow the player to perform special moves, such as moving the King piece, moving castle pieces, or moving knights diagonally. In the master version, each player begins with a full set of action cards in their hand. Purchasing an action card is no longer a possible action.

• Move a knight (1 AP/square) Knights may move one square per AP point spent, but may only move up one level, and may not move diagonally. Knights can go down any number of levels without spending AP.

• Gain one victory point (1 AP) Action points may be exchanged for victory points on a one-to-one basis.

Players receive three or four stacks of castle pieces per phase with two or three pieces per stack, depending on the current phase and number of players.

Shop online now for Torres Board Game for only $59.99. Plus Free Shipping!

A player may only use pieces from one stack per phase, but may transfer unused pieces to another stack for the next phase. After the last phase is reached all unused castle pieces are returned to the common supply and points are calculated. The king gives a bonus of five, ten, or fifteen points based on the scoring phase.

The number of victory points per player is kept by individual markers on the edge of the game board. Since no two markers can occupy the same victory point number, the last player to occupy the space will automatically be moved ahead by one victory point. The person in last place after each scoring phase may then move the King piece to another castle.

After the third phase, all victory points are calculated and the person with the highest number of points wins the game.

Acknowledgement: Dig Planet

Torres is a great little game that is simple to learn and hard to master, but those who put the effort will gain a mountain of enjoyment. It’s one of those games that will scratch your head at first since there isn’t a lot to learn as far as rules go. Most people will look at it and think it’s too simple and say, “that’s all there is to it?” And yes they would be right, since it doesn’t require a long rule book to explain its intricacies.

Yet, after a couple of plays (or even just in the initial play, like it happened to me) you start to uncover a deep strategy game where every move you make will make a difference down the line. In short, this game is for those that like to think and show their mental dexterity. People should really give it a try.

COMPONENTS

The game brings a lot of little pieces. You get 92 little tower segments, 24 knights if four different colours, four scoring markers, one king, and a set of action, master and codex cards along with a rule book and game board. The knights, king and scoring markers are made of nice wood painted with a good shiny paint. The game board is nice and sturdy with beautiful artwork and the rule book is nicely made. There were a couple of misspelled words here and there, but that’s the only drawback on that side.

The tower pieces are made of good plastic, but it isn’t the best plastic around. They’ll last a while, but you won’t be wowed by them. The worst aspect of the components is the action cards. They have nice art work, but they aren’t made of the most sturdy of materials. It’s very flimsy paper stock so after continuous play they will degrade. Try to touch them as little as possible so you don’t end up with warped cards. If Rio Grande is reading this, hopefully they bring out better printing stock for the action cards in future editions.

Overall the components are nicely made and should last you a long time after your initial purchase. Needless to say, this isn’t for young kids that have a death wish and want to swallow every little thing they can get their hands on.

GAME PLAY

The game is deceptively simple to understand, but implementation is where you’ll notice a richness of play. Each player receives six knights and four stacks of towers. Each stack contains two tower levels, so you have eight tower levels in total in four stacks. The stacks represent the turns that you have in one round, and what you can actually put on the board. Each player uses a “turn” to extend one of the numerous predetermined towers already placed on the board. These predetermined towers act like foundations where players can create their towers from. The catch is that you can’t combine towers that extend from two different foundations, and towers can’t touch in any way or form, except at the corners.

The making of long and tall towers is important, but also where you place your knights. See, the way the game is scored is through simple multiplication. Your knights act as the factor that allows the multiplication to occur. The towers get bigger, and your knights then start to fight for the highest tower level available on the different tower sections being created. Placing your knight on the tallest and largest tower is key to winning. If your knight is on the fourth level and the tower area is 4, you score is 16 based out of the 4×4 equation.

Players have to move around the board to reach said areas, but it’s tough to do when you only have a couple of limited options per turn. When doing anything in your turn, you only have 5 action points. Anything you do on the board, whether placing towers, moving knights and picking up action cards will cost some points. With only five points, every move you make is important. Any move can cost you the game, or give you the advantage.

These limitations actually make the game better, and your strategy then starts to develop. Do you focus on making a huge tower, or do you try and move your knights onto your opponents tower to smooch of their work? Do you corner their towers so they can’t expand any more? A lot of strategy options begin to emerge, and this is when some real thinking is needed. A lot of fun for those that like exercises in thought.

In short, Torres is a game for those that don’t mind a little thinking. It really is a thinking persons game. The more you understand the limitations, the better it plays. Every move counts and your actions always matter. I can’t recommend this game for everyone, though. If you want something with more “flavour” to it as in Catan, then I suggest you go elsewhere. There isn’t much to do here. There really isn’t much of resource management or stock piling or other resource intense mechanics. It really boils down to placement of what you initially have and knight movement. But that’s the beauty of it in my opinion. That you really don’t have much to work with, but you have to make everything count to come up ahead.

There are a couple more things in the game to make it more interesting, but it always boils down to your placement of pieces. I think anyone that had a fascination with chess and strategy games will enjoy Torres. It really is a true gem.

Get it, you’ll brain will thank you later!

From Amazon.

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Calling all food lovers Foodie Fight is a Party and Family Trivia Board that allows players to strut their culinary stuff and prove who is the smartest foodie of them all. Over 1,000 questions on topics ranging from culinary science and celebrity chefs to food history and exotic cuisine. Be the first player or team to fill in their game board and Win.

“Who is called the Julia Child of Italian food?” the announcer calls out.

It is only a practice question, but groups of four or five players hunker down at a Les Dames de Escoffier benefit dinner, discussing their answers in sort of hushed tones. “Oooh! Oooh!”

It is our first trivia question, and I am pretty sure I know the answer. Marcella Hazan?

Score!

There are blank stares at my table. I will return the favor later in the night. Hey, it happens. “Who invented Champagne?” A monk? Veuve Cliquot? No go.

“I love watching people play the game,” creator Joyce Lock says as she moves around Kansas City school district’s dining room in Overland Park, Kan.

In a group setting, the questions and answers are projected on a screen. But the home version of Foodie Fight is a compact board game that is small enough to be tossed in a bag when you head for the lake this summer.

Foodie Fight hit the market in 2007. More than 1,000 questions and nearly 100,000 games later, the original Foodie Fight Party Dinner Board Game is still going strong.

The idea for a foodie trivia game struck as Lock struggled to answer pop culture questions during a round of Trivial Pursuit. “Why hasn’t anyone ever come up with a game that I would be good at?” she thought. “I can’t believe no one has ever come up with a food and wine trivia game.”

Shop Online for Foodie Fight Dinner Party Board Game. Only $39.99

“It was the idea that wouldn’t go away,” she says.

Her games are played much like Trivial Pursuit. Questions fall in five or six categories, depending on the game; each card has one question from each category. Players roll a die to determine which question to answer; correct responses earn a scoring token. The first player to fill an answer card with tokens (three per category) wins.

Lock, who lives in Des Moines, Iowa, spent the first half of her career working in non profit management before deciding to pursue her culinary dreams. She earned a master’s degree in gastronomy from Boston University in 2002, and the idea that had been percolating for a foodie trivia game conveniently became her graduate thesis project.

With her prototype in hand, Lock considered taking the game to Hasbro but wound up with cookbook publisher Chronicle Books. The classic edition is heavy on food history questions. But she found through “play tests” that many people reported feeling intimidated by the history questions.

So in Rematch, Lock stayed with more contemporary food issues, including questions about gardening, food production and agriculture, categories of knowledge that might be more familiar to a younger generation.

Meanwhile, her Wine Wars game has been translated into French. “I’m blown away by that,” Lock says.

She found the wine questions most difficult to write. “A lot of wine games are so hard no one wants to play them. I wanted an approachable wine game. I want them to learn from it and for it to not be too intimidating,” she says.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Company’s Coming: What style Champagne glass has fallen out of favor for its relative inability to retain effervescence?

Lab and Field: How long does it take the liver to oxidize one alcoholic drink — about 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 60 minutes?

Food Stars: What foodie-acclaimed, 1985 film title carries the tag-line, “The first Japanese noodle western!”?

Foodiesphere: Who is the executive chef for Gourmet magazine and hosted the Food Network’s “Cooking Live” for six years?

What’s Cooking: True or false: A butcher’s steel will sharpen dull knife blades

Dining Out: What is the Italian garnish, usually served with osso buco, made of minced parsley, garlic and lemon peel?

Foodstuff: True or false: Broccolini and broccoli raab are marketing names for the same vegetable.

Leftovers: What globe-trotting food TV host wrote the crime novels “Bone in the Throat,” “Gone Bamboo” and “The Bobbie Gold Stories”?

To Table: How many pounds of cow’s milk does it take to make 1 pound of cheese _ about 2 pounds, 5 pounds or 10 pounds?

Smart Cook: What syrup grew in use as a food product sweetener from 1 percent in 1970 to 42 percent in 2006? Kitchenary: What heavy gear is used to make Italian pollo al mattone?

—————–
Read more: Newsok

Pop-up board games are the new trend of educational games. It introduces concepts like when you open the board, it would provide three dimensional playing surfaces.

Here are four examples of great educational pop-up board games for kids.

The Book of Greek Myths

This book contains four different pop-up board games which include: The Trojan Horse; Odysseus, Theseus and the Minotaur; and Daedalus and Icarus. It also includes a 14-page reading book about the myths that inspired them, a spinner, various stand-up pieces for each game, and a small storage pocket.

This is a great book, fun and educational for adults and kids. A lot of people will love this pop-up board game because of their interest on Greek mythology. Aside from being educational and entertaining, this book is also well designed.

The Book of Greek Myths has a simple and easy way to learn how to play. Players just have to roll the spinner and move! It is advised by the publisher (Tango Books) to be played by people ages 12 and up and can be enjoyed by 2-4 players.

The Book of Pop-Up Board Games

This book is composed of four educational pop-up board games which takes place in a different setting: pirates search for hidden treasure; medieval knights race to save a lovely princess; brave Astronauts try to escape from an alien spaceship; and a scary Mummy chases a group of explorers through the tombs of ancient Egypt.

The Book of Pop-Up Board Games is a great book and an excellent educational tool. Children and adults will love this game. It could be a great help for people who has special needs as it is suitable to any activity.

This amazing book does not have a complicated mechanics. It is advised by the publisher (Shooting Star Press Inc.) to be played by 2-4 players.

The Book of Great Explorers

The Book of Great Explorers is composed of four different board games that is about four great explorers which include: Alexander the Great; Marco Polo; Christopher Columbus; and Captain Cook. This book is also composed of an attached 14-page reading book about the four explorers, an integrated spinners, press-out counters, and spinner.

This is an interesting book and game for people who are interested in history. Kids will learn a lot from this game. Adults will love this game because of the adventure it offers.

Like other pop-up board games, The Book of Great Explorers has a simple and easy mechanics. It is also published by Tango books and can be played by 2-4 players.

The Book of Egyptian Myths

The book includes four different board games that about life in Ancient Egypt which include: Great Pyramid; the Tomb of Tutankhamen; the Battle of Kadesh; and Life on the Nile. It also consists of an attached 14-page reading book about the myths, an integrated spinner, press-out counters, and spinner.

This is an educational and fun game for kids and adults. People who want to know about the life in ancient Egypt will love this book.

The Book of Ancient Egypt is also published by Tango Books and promise to have an easy to learn mechanics. This game can be enjoyed by 2-4 players and has a playtime of approximately 30 minutes.

There are several games to keep an eye out – releasing from Fantasy Flight Board Games during August 2012.  Several of these are likely to first be seen at Gen Con 2012

Android: Netrunner LCG

“Richard Garfield’s classic cyberpunk card game returns cleaner, sharper, more flavourful, and better than ever with the release of Android Net runner: The Card Game! This two-player Living Card Game™ of mega corps, runners, and cyber-crime pits monolithic mega corps against subversive net runners in a high-stakes struggle for valuable data. Humanity has spread its wings and taken trade to the far reaches of the solar system, having colonized the Moon and Mars.

Visionary corporations created brain-taping techniques that have led to the development of lifelike artificial intelligence. But as these massive corporations guard their intellectual property on the network behind layers of ice, net runners seek to expose their secrets, for ideological reasons or for profit.”

City of Thieves: The King of Ashes Expansion

“The guild intrigues of Cadwallon: City of Thieves grow even richer with the treasure trove of new adventures, characters, equipment, and Arcana in The King of Ashes Expansion!

Rumours claim the newly-opened catacombs contain the legendary treasure of Sophet Drahas, and the thieves of the city above race to find entrance to these long-hidden catacombs and grab their riches.

The King of Ashes explores these catacombs with a new board and six adventures that can play independently or combined into a larger campaign. But thieves delving into these underground passages need be wary, lest they run afoul the dread Cyclops of Mid-Nor! Revised rules make the militia a more imposing force, and rules for experience, equipment, and mercenaries afford tremendous strategic options in your games, especially when you play them as part of a larger campaign.”

Dungeon Fighter

“Dungeon Fighter is a fully cooperative Board Game for one to six players that combines dexterity, adventure, and a healthy dose of humour.

Players take on the roles of heroes venturing deep into a three-tier dungeon. Along their way, they explore the dungeon, search its many rooms, and face endless hordes of vicious monsters. Where Dungeon Fighter stands apart is in its unique dexterity-based elements.

Players take turns throwing dice at a colorful target board, often from several feet away! What’s more, randomly drawn dungeon effects may dictate that a player must throw his die behind his back, with his eyes closed, under his leg, or under any combination of (often hilarious) restrictions. Keep a steady hand a clear mind, and your team with emerge victorious!”

Sewer Pirats      

“Command your crew to wealth and victory in Sewer Pirats, a whimsical treasure hunt for two to five players! Deep underground in a maze of domed caverns, narrow tunnels, and piped passages, a motley cast of rodents, insects, and other vermin sail the treacherous waters of human refuse aboard bizarre vessels in search of discarded booty. In order to claim the best haul from the abandoned flotsam, players must make careful use of the unique abilities of their crews’ rats, cockroaches, weasels, and other critters.

The game comes to life with thirty detailed pirate figures, twenty Color-Click™ bases, and a rich assortment of game boards, tokens, and cards. Starter rules get you into the game quickly, and a Crew Member Auction variant increases the strategic depth and lighthearted action.”

Rune Age: Oath and Anvil

“While the dwarves of the Dunwarr Mountains labor tirelessly in their massive subterranean forges, the orcs of the Broken Plains are themselves tempered by tribal conflict in a hostile land. But can they set aside their ancient rivalries to work together in the face of an all new evil?

Enhance every aspect of Rune Age with the Oath and Anvil Expansion! While the existing factions are bolstered by new units and abilities, two new empires join the conflict: the Orcs of the Broken Plains and the Dwarves of Dunwarr.

At the same time, new scenarios challenge your deck-building prowess and new Mercenary cards provide even more strategic options. Unite the tribes, fire the forges, and experience Rune Age like never before!”

…
Keep Reading at GameSalute

Important in any game are of course the physical components and the rules that govern actual play. As far as components are concerned, Coerceo is really easy to describe: High quality and beautiful. The injection moulded playing pieces (regular tetrahedrons) have a very appealing marble-like look to them.

Their tactile qualities are good too; moving them on the board and fiddling around with captured pieces is good fun in itself.

It feels natural to pick them up using 3 digits (your thumb, index and middle fingers), each finger being on one of the sides of the piece. Not all moves require you to pick pieces up though. Often you can simply slide them across the board using just your thumb and index finger.

The Coerceo board is made up of 19 similar cardboard tiles. Despite each tile having exactly the same graphic on it, you don’t notice the repetition at all. The marble textures perfectly suit their purpose and the fact that the orientation of a tile can be neglected (besides having to stick to the alternating light/dark pattern of the fields) results in a board that’s very natural looking. The cardboard itself is high quality and sturdy, complete with a white backing.

Then the rulebook. It’s a good quality booklet that explains how to play the game in 5 languages (English, German, French, Dutch and Spanish) and also uses the universal language of pictures. The saying ‘a picture is worth a 1000 words’ definitely applies to the Coerceo rules booklet. Seldom, if ever, have I seen pictures been put to such good use as in the Coerceo rules booklet. The accompanying texts further enhance the excellent way in which you are informed of how to play the game. If this rules booklet can’t make you understand how to play the game, nothing will.

What’s noteworthy is that they decided to name the starting position (the one starting position described in the rules booklet is called the ‘Laurentius’ starting position). This lead me to ask the Coerceo Company whether they were planning on ‘releasing’ other starting positions. They said that there are other layouts possible (using only the components that come in the ‘base’ game) but that for now their main focus is on the game as it is. Being a game designer myself (mainly of abstract games like Coerceo) I think I understand why they did it this way.

You pretty much always want there to be a single ‘variant’ that constitutes The Game. Other variants are okay too, but there’s got to be ‘one ring to rule them all’… It wouldn’t surprise me if we’ll be seeing other starting positions being made public by the Coerceo Company in the future. They’ll probably name those too!

All in all, the quality of the components is truly excellent. The playing pieces and board tiles are the same for the standard and the deluxe versions of the game. The only difference between the two is the box. The standard version comes in a cardboard box whereas the deluxe version comes in a stylish black wooden box that has golden Coerceo logos on both the outside and inside of the lid.

Rules
The rules to the game are really quite few and also very straightforward. They flow naturally from the components that make up the game. The (tetrahedron-shaped) playing pieces go well with the triangular fields that are on the board tiles. It’s also quite easy to imagine the light pieces being allowed to be on only the light fields of the board. And dark pieces to be on only the dark fields of the board.

The way pieces are allowed to move is also really simple; a piece can only move to a similarly coloured triangle that is connected to one of the corners of the triangle that it currently sits on. Of course, there can only be a single piece on any single triangle also; more pieces simply wouldn’t fit.

Next is capturing. As the title implies (Coerceo means ‘to enclose’ in Latin) you need to enclose pieces with your own pieces in order to capture them. Enclosing a piece that’s in ‘the middle’ of the board takes 3 of your own pieces (there’s 3 sides to a triangle…). Capturing a piece that’s at the edge of the board only takes 2 pieces since you don’t need to cover the side that’s on the outer edge of the board. You can even capture 2 opponent pieces with a single move if the situation allows.

If it’s your turn to move, your own pieces can never get captured. This means that you can move your own piece to a field that’s enclosed by opponent pieces, and not get captured.
Besides capturing your opponents pieces, you can also capture board tiles. Board tiles are captured in a different way from pieces.

If you MOVE your piece off a board tile while there aren’t any other pieces left on it, AND the board tile is connected to the board with 3 or less adjacent sides, then you get to collect the empty board tile. You can even collect multiple board tiles in a single move; if collecting a board tile leads to other empty board tiles becoming connected to the board with only 3 or less adjacent sides, then you get to collect these too, and so on and so on…

But what to do with all the pieces and board tiles you’ve captured or collected? Well, captured pieces don’t do anything once they’re off the board. Collected board tiles do though. On your turn, instead of moving a piece, you could also trade 2 collected board tiles for a single opponent piece.

Discard 2 board tiles, and remove any one opponent piece from the board. Simple as that. Isn’t that a good way to regain balance should you be down in material? Or to get ahead even further if you’re already ahead? If the opponent piece you remove from the board happens to be last piece on a board tile, then the board tile is removed from the game (if it’s connected to the board with 3 or less adjacent sides, that is).

You, as a player, don’t get to collect board tiles that are removed from the game in this fashion.

As far as board tiles are concerned, the ’3 or less adjacent sides’ rule is a pretty important one. Another important rule is that the board can’t get broken up into multiple parts. Even though you might be entitled to collect a specific board tile, you can’t take it if it would mean it’d break up the board.

This rules is somewhat similar to the ‘one hive rule’ in Hive.

And that’s it really. Well, maybe knowing the win condition would be nice too: The player that manages to capture or remove (as part of an exchange) the opponents last piece wins the game. So that’s what the game is really all about!

There are two additional rules that players can choose to play by. The first one being the ‘Cura’ rule. This states that if, after a move, one of your pieces threatens to capture an opponents piece, you must say ‘Cura’ (which means ‘attention’ in Latin). The other additional rule states that instead of trading 2 collected board tile for an opponent piece, you can trade a single collected board tile for an opponent piece. I’ve not played the game with any of the additional rules in effect.

I guess the ‘Cura’ rule is good if you want to play in way that’s a bit less ‘serious’. Giving your opponent a heads up on the threat of a capture alleviates some of the concentration that needs to be put into the game. The ‘trade 1 for 1′ rule seems to be quite a powerful move ability. It certainly will lead to the board becoming emptier and smaller sooner, so perhaps it’s good for reducing the overall duration of games. Now onto what I think of the actual gameplay itself. Thus far I’ve only played games by the basic rules (without using any of the additional rules) so the remainder of this review applies only to such games.

Gameplay
A game ‘begins’ with setting up the board and pieces. With Coerceo this is a bit of work because you not only have to place the pieces, but also the board tiles. It’s really not that bad though, especially if both players go about setting up the game. What most influences the time needed is probably how neatly you want to do it.

You can set it up quickly (and still have a ‘tidy’ enough board to play) or you can be really meticulous about it and spend a lot more time on setup. With components this good-looking, I often found myself wanting to spend some extra time on doing a spotless setup! As did the various people I played with. It sort of comes naturally to want it to look as good as can be.
Threats of capture will often come about after just a few moves have been made. So you have to be on your toes from the get-go.

You shouldn’t only focus on trying to do captures. Early on in a game it’s often better to bring one of your pieces to safety rather than to capture an opponent piece. Captures are inevitable though. The ever decreasing size of the board means that the pieces in play will always be relatively close to one another. This ensures a good constant tension throughout the entire game.

The challenge is in finding a good balance in attacking and defending. If you can chain attacking moves together, repeatedly forcing your opponent to perform defensive moves, you stand a good chance of gaining an empty board tile. It’s always good to have those (given that you can trade 2 collected board tiles for ANY ONE opponent piece).

Trading off board tiles at the right time can really thwart a carefully planned attack! So use trades wisely and also always keep and eye on the number of board tiles your opponents has collected and stands to collect.

Don’t underestimate the power of removing board tiles as a means of attack either. Tactically reshaping the board can greatly help you prolong an ‘attack streak’, which is pretty much always a good thing. Pieces that were previously centralized and thus relatively safe can become real pains to defend the moment one or more tiles are taken away.

In general, you will always want to be on the lookout for weak spots. Both in the position of your opponent but also in that of your own. Then try to exploit your opponent’s weaknesses and at the same time strengthen your own position.

Coerceo is very easy and intuitive to play and has enough depth to make you want to play several games in a row. The game is also pretty forgiving; losing a single piece doesn’t mean instant death because all pieces are equal. So blundering moves like the ones that are possible in chess (those that cause you to loose a high-value piece) aren’t really possible here. But it is possible to make multiple smaller blunders of course, and that will costs you dearly against more experienced players.

Forking moves are possible, so if you don’t start defensive manoeuvres soon enough you will be losing material. If you get too far behind in material (3 of 4 pieces), you will have a hard time trying to not get beat.

I’m personally a fan of abstract games, so Coerceo does go nicely with my taste in games. However, I truly believe that Coerceo appeals to a much broader audience. I find Coerceo to be light and accessible enough even for people that don’t necessarily like abstract games in general. This is a result of everything about Coerceo feeling natural.

You’re not so much playing by some set of ‘abstract rules’ as you are looking at a board with pieces on it that practically show you how to play. The game has plenty of depth and the learning curve is gentle enough for everybody to easily come to appreciate the many nifty ways in which you can get at your opponent.

Players of equal strength stand a good chance of having a game end in a draw. You need quite some advantage in material in order to be able to deliver the final blow to your opponent. I don’t think this is a problem for casual players though. Probably not even for more avid players. But two players at ‘expert level’ are likely to have lots of draws. The rest of us can simply enjoy this as the engaging game that it is!

I give it an 8.5 (out of 10). Which in BGG terms means it’s smack in the middle of ‘Very good game. I like to play. Probably I’ll suggest it and will never turn down a game.‘ and ‘Excellent game. Always want to play it.‘.

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/686584/coerceo-review

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