Blokus Duo

Blokus Duo is an abstract strategy game designed by Bernard Tavitian and is the two player variant of the award winning game "Blokus".

Each player starts with twenty one unique pieces, made up of squares (think Tetris) and take turns placing one of their own pieces onto the 14 x 14 square game board. However there are a few caveats to placement:
1) The first piece a player places must touch a certain starting position on their half of the board.
2) It cannot be placed adjacent to one of their own pieces on the game board, although placing adjacent to an opponents pieces is perfectly acceptable.
3) It must be placed touching at least a corner of one of their own pieces (corner to corner).

Play continues until one player cannot place. The opponent may then place as many pieces as possible. The winner is the player with the least number of unplaced "squares" totalled up from their un-played pieces.

What soon becomes apparent when playing is that each piece has its own role to play. Some pieces are excellent for attacks and counter-attacks, whilst other pieces are better held in a defensive reserve. As a piece is unique to that player some thought must be put into deciding what piece to use and where to play it. Once that piece is used there's no going back, play it in a bad position and you will find yourself in a compromised position. Be careful however when reserving pieces, you may find that you've held onto a piece too long and it is now unplayable. The canny player will not only keep track of their own pieces, but also their opponents.

The game can be over fairly quickly (30 mins) and you could therefore play a number of games in an evening if you so desired.

Although I'm not a huge fan of abstract games I found that I enjoyed this game. It achieves the right level of complexity for a quick two player game. The rules are simple but the strategy requires some forethought. It leaves you with the satisfaction that you've given your brain a quick workout, but not feeling exhausted from the effort.