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ABSTRACT GAMES

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GAME INDEX

ABSTRACT GAMES

No luck.  No draws.  No themes.  Simple, two player games.  No hidden information.  Generic equipment: the Checkers set, the Go set, dice, printed game boards and highlighters.  The dice are used as playing pieces, not rolled, since there are no elements of luck in these games.

OUST	Intense game of annihilation.  Oust is one of my very best games.  It has both magnificent architecture and outstanding quality of play.  See also square Oust.  Same rules but played with a Go set. Oust strategy guide.  Equipment: Hex hex game board, Go stones. Played at: ig Game Center, games.wtanaka.com.
CEPHALOPOD (board)	Unique capture-from-within mechanism.  The dice in Cephalopod are not rolled.  Instead they're used as playing pieces.  You can place a die to capture up to four immediately surrounding, orthogonally adjacent dice.  No draws possible. Equipment: Printed board, 25 red dice and 25 blue dice. Played at: ig Game Center, games.wtanaka.com, Boite a Jeux, Games By Email, Gamerz Net, Super Duper Games, Vying Games.
CAGE	Checkers variant.  Unlike hundreds of other Checkers variants, Cage is a game of annihilation. The game will never end with one player frozen. The game will end with one player wiped off the board, every time. Equipment: 10x10 board + 100 checkers, or 8x8 board + 64 checkers. Played at: nowhere yet...
FLUME	Simple territory game.  Similar to Dots and Boxes. Equipment: Go stones, square grid. Played at: ig Game Center, games.wtanaka.com.
DIPOLE	Attacking game.  Stacks of like-colored checkers capture enemy stacks.  Gameplay is tense.  Equipment: Checkers set. Played at: ig Game Center, Jij Bent, Your Turn My Turn, Games By Email, Gamerz Net, Super Duper Games, Brettspielnetz, Gold Token.
TANBO	Game of roots.  Root-like formations of like-colored stones dominate the boardscape in Tanbo, played with a Go set.  Roots grow, get constricted by surrounding roots, and die. Equipment: Go set. Played at: ig Game Center, games.wtanaka.com, Its Your Turn, Games By Email, Gamerz Net, Super Duper Games, Igfip.
SCRIBE  (board)	Pattern forming.  Mysterious non-occurrence of ties.  Form patterns on an array of 3x3 grids.  Points are totaled for patterns formed, and there will never be a tie, though it isn't obvious why not.  Tie scores were "designed out", so to speak.  Scribe is extremely portable.  You can play it on a cocktail napkin, sharing a pen with your opponent. Equipment: Blank sheet of paper and at least one pen to share with your opponent. You can print out the provided board if you like, but otherwise it's an easy board to draw. Played at: Games By Email, Gamerz Net, Super Duper Games.
COLONNADE	Combinatorial stacking game.  Equipment: 1x8 board, 12 red, 12 blue checkers. Played at: nowhere yet...

COPYRIGHTS AND TRADEMARKS - All of the games presented here were designed solely by me, Mark Steere.  I retain all of the rights to all of my games, including copyrights and trademarks.