And so we arrive at the best abstract strategy games created since 2000.
It was looking at the number of recently created games of quality that started this four column arc idea more than a month ago, and even after several weeks have passed I am impressed with what game designers have managed in a period that remains shy of a full17 years.
It may be clichéd to suggest anything has enjoyed a renaissance, but I think in this case it is warranted.
Excellent games such as Coerceo and Pacru rate only an honourable mention the depth of quality games is so deep, and Cameron Browne’s fine 3-D game Margo which builds off the classic Go rated making the list only be suggesting a ‘baker’s dozen’ so it was the 13th game.
Spartan Chess, with its alternate array element from designer Steven Streetman made it as number 12, largely because I love chess variants, and I may have been the first in Canada to fashion a set, and had the pleasure of making one and sending it to the designer a half dozen years back.
Santorini by Canadian designer Gordon Hamilton, Cannon, Catchup, Dameo and Yinsh a part of Kris Burm’s outstanding gipf series climb the ladder to fill in the 11th through seventh seeds.
Canadian Corey Clark starts the final six with Slither, a game played in a full 19X19 board using Go stones. While no game will likely top Go as far as abstract strategy games go, this one is a darned fine use of the same components in a fresh approach to a connection game.
Newcomer Tak slots in as number five. More on this outstanding 2016 release from designers James Ernest, and Patrick Rothfuss will be in an upcoming review.
The lovely, easy to transport, easy to learn Hive comes next. The tactile element of the bakelite pieces and the periodic addition of new pieces, three expansion additions since the core game release back in 2001 make this John Yianni designed game a lasting winner.
Burm returns to the list with Dvonn at number three and Tzaar at number two. For those following, that puts four of the six games in the gipf series on these lists, three post 2000, and one making it among the 12-games from the 1900s. Yes board game fans this series is that good.
And that brings me to number one, Arimaa, a game by Aamir Syed and Omar Syed created back in 2002.
There is a simplicity to Arimaa, all pieces move the same, but a piece needs to be stronger than an opponent’s piece to push and pull it into traps to be removed from the game, make this a delight.
It has a look of chess but is less about planning several moves ahead, and more about reacting on the fly. Lots of depth, and lots of fun; a definite classic.
Certainly any of the games listed here today, or over the past three weeks of lists, are highly recommended. Try them all and enjoy hours of fun.
