Number of players: 1-4 players
Age group: box says 5+, others say to wait until 6 but we've played with 5 yos and it's been fine
Easy Game
playing time: 20 - 30 minutes
Tile laying game
Can be found in (niche) gaming stores and Toys R Us
.
Pieces:
84 plastic tetris shaped pieces (divided into 4 colors of 21 tiles each -each color has the same shapes)
1 board
1 rule book/sheet
Objective: Stay on the board, get the most points.
Many gamers pronounce this game as "blow-cus," but the correct pronunciation is "block-us."
This is a VERY EASY game to learn, but it can prove to be challenging.
This game has been honored:
2002 Spiel des Jahres Recommended
2003 Australian Games Association Game of the Year
2003 Mensa Select Winner
2003 Vuoden Peli Family Game of the Year Winner
2004 Årets Spel Best Family Game Winner
2005 Årets Spill Best Family Game Nominee
More below the squiggle.
.
DailyKos Face to Face Gamers is a community of kossacks who play (or would like to learn to play) board and party games, card and dice games(non gambling), table top sans computer - role playing games(RPGs), LARPs, and LAWGs.
For definitions, genres, in face to face gaming, and/or additional information, please visit this diary.
Game introduction and explanation (teaching) diaries are published on Thursdays at 6pm.
Diaries about game days, a great game played, gaming conventions, etc. are posted at any time. Please kosmail the group to let admins know there is one there. List of local and national gaming conventions (wikipedia | Upcoming Cons)
Please do not highjack the diary. If you'd like to write at length about a game, please write a diary for us! Dairy schedule below, in the comments.
Support your local game store!
|
At the beginning of the game everyone chooses their piece color. While there are compartments for each color in the game box, many people have bagged each color in zipping sandwich baggies to keep tile pieces from getting lost.
Shape of the pieces:
The rules say that blue starts followed by yellow, red, and green. In turn each person places ONE piece of their color on the board. (though I nixed this rule because it caused some arguments with kids and, alas, certain type "A" adults)
How you place the pieces IS important. Your piece MUST touch another piece of the same color. Other than the first piece, a piece cannot be placed ANY WHERE on the board. It has to touch another one of your game pieces. However it can ONLY touch another piece of the same color at the corners.
It cannot touch another piece of the same color on the straight edge. Further along in the game you can touch a piece of another color along the straight edge, you just CANNOT touch your own along the straight edge. Only at the corner.
To start each player takes a corner of the board and chooses a game piece.
You can place the game piece anyway you want with the only rule being that a corner of the game piece must fit into the corner of the board. (circled in cyan)
Then place, in turn, from there. There will come a time when you meet up with other player's pieces (circled in magenta above). Pieces of different colors can touch each along the straight edge.
When you can no longer place a piece, because none of your pieces will touch it's corner, even though there is space on the board, or there is no space on the board that can handle the pieces you have left, or there is space left on the board but the only way you can place is to have two pieces of the same color meet along the straight edge, you're out.
When I teach this game to kids I use the term "jumping." It's not really jumping another color or colors per say, but it helps people to think around what looks like a "block in."
It may look like someone, or the other players have conspired to block you in, but if you can place on the other side of their piece, so that your piece is touching the corner of another piece of yours - you've "jumped."
This is a territory and blocking game.
I have generally not played a points game when playing with just kids. Getting them (and adults) to think spatially, getting them to turn the pieces in their hands (and heads) is a great thing. So we generally play "last one standing"
But if you want to play a points game:
When a game ends, the score is based on the number of squares in each player's unplayed pieces; a player loses one point for each square (e.g. a tetromino is worth -4 points). If a player played all of his or her pieces, he or she gets a bonus score of +20 points if the last piece played was a monomino, +15 points otherwise
-- wikipedia
There are other variants, a two player travel game and other variants and extensions.
Questions? Comments? Story or anecdote about a Tsuro game you played?
.
boardgame geek
Wikipedia
Blokus game review - The Games Journal
Dad's Gaming Addiction - Blokus
Blokus group on facebook