Tag: Abstract Strategy

Abstract strategy games are games that typically have a very limited theme. These types of games are known for providing players with perfect information and having no randomness.

Gods Love Dinosaurs

| T3d-1978
Gods Love Dinosaurs

Gods Love Dinosaurs

How do you make an ecosystem flourish with just enough of every life form in the chain to supply you with dinosaurs to dominate the lands? Resources are scarce, animals can go extinct in an area, and everyone must eat to survive — so moves must be cunning. Life hangs in the balance…

In Gods Love Dinosaurs, a cheeky, wild, and timeless take on the scientific tale as old as life itself, you are a god who has been tasked with designing an ecosystem with a sustainable food chain of predator and prey animals. But you just love dinosaurs, so all you really want to do is to make as many of them as possible!

Each turn, you’ll add one tile to your ecosystem, which will add new animals and give them room to grow. Every so often, your dinosaurs will tromp around your ecosystem eating all the animals. The more they eat, the more eggs they lay — and the more points you score! Just be careful not to overeat, or there won’t be enough food to keep your dinosaurs alive the next time.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Grid Movement
  • Open Drafting
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.38

Coatl

| T3d-1978

The election of the Aztec High Priest is imminent. In order to prove their value and merit, the contenders engage in a race for prestige to win the favor of the gods. Will you be able to make the most beautiful sculptures of feathered snakes (called Cóatl) to stand out and gain access to the coveted title of High Priest?

In Cóatl, players work to build the most beautiful and valuable serpents. The serpents, or Cóatl, are constructed with a head, a tail, and a number of body tiles, each made from chunky, colorful plastic. On a turn, players will either take tiles from the central board to their personal board, or work to construct one of their Cóatls with the different tiles they’ve collected.

The game end is triggered when one player finishes their third Cóatl. Players receive points for fulfilling objectives, and the one with the most is named the new High Priest!

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Pattern Building
  • Puzzle
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.07

Babylonia

| T3d-1978

The Neo-Babylonian empire, especially under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 B.C.), was a period of rebirth for southern Mesopotamia. Irrigation systems improved and expanded, increasing agricultural production. Urban life flourished with the creation of new cities, monuments and temples, and the consequent increase in trade.

In Babylonia, you try to make your clan prosper under the peace and imperial power of that era. You have to place your nobles, priests, and craftsmen tokens on the map to make your relations with the cities as profitable as possible. Properly placing these counters next to the court also allows you to gain the special power of some rulers. Finally, the good use of your peasants in the fertile areas gives more value to your crops. The player who gets the most points through all these actions wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Area Control
  • Hand Management
  • Network Building
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.40

Zensu

| T3d-1978
Zensu

Zensu

This is an abstract game played on a 6×9 board using flat pieces with their possible moves marked on them.

The aim is to cross your opponent’s border before they can cross into yours but, with pieces moving in four directions you have to keep your wits about you!

The way to win the game is to get one of your pieces to your opponent’s back line.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Pattern Movement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • ~10 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Tuned

| T3d-1978
Tuned

Tuned

In Tuned, you want to get your animal band in order so that they’ll be ready to play — and although you’re competing for space in the practice room with another band, you can incorporate all the musicians in your quest for the right arrangement.

To set up, each player takes two donkeys, two dogs, two cats, and one rooster. Place the rooster on the “move a figure” action space on your side of the 3×3 game board, leaving your two “add a figure” actions exposed.

On a turn, move your rooster to an open action space on your side of the board. If you choose “add”, then place one of your figures on the board by following the placement rules:

  • Place a donkey only on an empty space.
  • Place a dog on an empty space or on an unencumbered donkey.
  • Place a cat on an empty space or on an unencumbered dog.

For a “move” action, choose an animal on the game board and move it to a new location while following the placement rules. You can move a portion of a stack; you cannot reverse the opponent’s previous move.

As soon as a player creates an orthogonal or diagonal row with three of the same animals on top, that player wins. If a player is forced to add an animal (because their rooster occupies the lone “move” action) but cannot, they lose.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Pattern Building

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Tsuro of the Seas

| T3d-1978
Tsuro of the Seas

Tsuro of the Seas

The basic game play of Tsuro of the Seas resembles that of Tom McMurchie’s Tsuro: Players each have a ship that they want to sail — that is, keep on the game board — as long as possible. Whoever stays on the board the longest wins the game.

Each turn players add “wake” tiles to the 7×7 game board; each tile has two “wake connections” on each edge, and as the tiles are placed on the board, they create a connected network of paths. If a wake is placed in front of a ship, that ship then sails to the end of the wake. If the ship goes off the board, that player is out of the game.

What’s new in Tsuro of the Seas are daikaiju tiles, representing sea monsters and other creatures of the deep. Notably, daikaiju can move: each tile has five arrows, four for moving in each of the cardinal directions and another one for rotation. On the active player’s turn, he rolls two six-sided dice; on a sum of 6, 7, or 8, the daikaiju will move, while on any other sum they’ll stay in place. To determine which direction the daikaiju tiles move, the player then makes a second roll, this time with a single die. On 1-5 in the second roll, each daikaiju moves according to its matching arrow. On a 6 in the second roll, a new daikaiju tile is added to the board.

If a daikaiju tile hits a wake tile, a ship, or another daikaiju tile, the object hit is removed from the game. Another way to be ousted! The more daikaiju tiles on the game board, the faster players will find themselves trying to breathe water…

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Network Building
  • Player Elimination
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 8 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.43

Tsuro

| T3d-1978
Tsuro

Tsuro

A beautiful and beautifully simple game of laying a tile before your own token to continue its path on each turn. The goal is to keep your token on the board longer than anyone else’s, but as the board fills up this becomes harder because there are fewer empty spaces left… and another player’s tile may also extend your own path in a direction you’d rather not go. Easy to introduce to new players, Tsuro lasts a mere 15 minutes and actually does work for any number from 2 to 8.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Hand Management
  • Network Building
  • Player Elimination
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 8 Players
  • 15 – 20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.23

Thrive

| T3d-1978
Thrive

Thrive

Thrive is a two-player abstract strategy game with incredibly simple rules that grows in complexity as you play.

You play as one of two lotus flowers, competing to control the pond. Be the first to capture all but one of your opponent’s seed pods and win this game of tactical decision making!

Each turn you move a piece, then add two additional pegs to any of your pieces, giving them more possibilities for movement on future turns.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Grid Movement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.56

Sequence

| T3d-1978
Sequence

Sequence

Sequence is a board and card game. The board shows all the cards (except for the Jacks) of two (2) standard 52-card decks, laid in a 10 x 10 pattern. The four corners are free spaces and count for all players equally.

The players compete to create rows, columns or diagonals of 5 connected checkers placed on the cards that the player has laid down. Two-eyed Jacks are wild, while one-eyed Jacks allow an opponent’s checker to be removed. The game ends when someone has reached a specified number of connections.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Card Game
  • Hand Management
  • Pattern Building
  • Take That
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 12 Players
  • 10 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.33

Seikatsu

| T3d-1978
Seikatsu

Seikatsu

In Seikatsu, players take turns placing tiles into a shared garden area, with each tile showing a colored flower and colored bird. Players score for groups of birds as they place them, but they score for rows of flowers only at the end of the game and only for the rows of flowers that exist from their perspective, i.e., that are viewable as lines from where they sit at the game board.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Hand Management
  • Pattern Building
  • Puzzle
  • Set Collection
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 15 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.58