From wardo@mindspring.com Mon Apr 29 21:23:30 CDT 2002 Article: 1738 of rec.games.abstract Path: news!husk.cso.niu.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.mindspring.net.MISMATCH!newsfeed0.news.atl.earthlink.net!news.atl.earthlink.net!news.mindspring.net!wardo From: Ward Batty Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract Subject: Re: What are the best CURRENTLY AVAILABLE abstract games? Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 17:44:39 -0400 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises Lines: 81 Message-ID: <290420021744391525%wardo@mindspring.com> References: <20020429093543.22010.00006361@mb-fh.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 42.20.71.5a Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Server-Date: 29 Apr 2002 21:44:38 GMT To: derekcvr@aol.com (Derek Carver) Posted-And-Mailed: yes User-Agent: YA-NewsWatcher/4.2.6 Xref: news rec.games.abstract:1738 [[ This message was both posted and mailed: see the "To," "Cc," and "Newsgroups" headers for details. ]] On the GIPF games, I recommend Zertz most highly. It is wonderfully original and can go so many ways. I guess that's what I like about it is it is so fluid. But the whole GIPF project is well worth mentioning. Blokus is also very good, but they may be out of business. Their website is gone. Siesta is an excellent game that got a bad rep because of poorly written rules. But it is a wonderful game where you have Suns, Roofs and shadow tiles. You score for having the longest shadow coming off your roof. Published by Goldsieber/Rio Grande http://www.riograndegames.com/ I'll second the recomdation on Octi. Quoridor is a good game. You each are moving a pawn across a board where you can move or erect a wall to create a straight path for yourself or a maze for your opponant. Great American Trading Company / Gigamic http://www.gigamic.com/jeuxanglais/quoridore.htm Funagain calls flowerpower an abstract so I'll recommend it. A very pleasent two player where you plant flower tiles into your field and a neutral field to maximum advantage and weeds into your opponant's field to block them. Published by Kosmos. They are a German publisher so try boardgame geek (see below) for more information. Ir Funagain games http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11611?AKCFsak4;;185 Abalone is definitely worth looking at. A game of pushing marbles to capture them. Very popular. http://www.abalonegames.com/cfm2001/accueil/accueil_gb.cfm M is a very interesting tile-laying game. Published by Abacus. http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11156?AKCFsak4;;237 Traverse is an excellent game where pieces move chinese-checkers like based on the shape (square, triangle, circle and diamond). Traverse should be a classic that is in every home but it has never been marketed to the best advantage. Published by Educational Insights http://www.lalalandonline.com/Educational_Games/gameTraverse/gametravers e.htm Billabong is a very nice game where players race chinese checkers like around a circular track. Published by Amigo. http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/00161?AKCFsak4;;252 Carat published by Queen is an interesting tile-laying game. http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/04162?AKCFsak4;;313 Meander is not cheap, around $75, but it is an extremely clever game of laying grooved tiles so your marbles roll to a good spot and your opponant's marvles roll into the gutter. Published by De Speelstijl. http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/11736?AKCFsak4;;388 5ive Straight is a very clever turn on pente where players are playing into holes numbered 0-99 by playing cards with numbers. You can play on that number or higher. Played singally or in pairs, 2-6 can play (ecept for 5) Published by Straight Line Products. http://www.5straight.com/ Bailiwick, a new game from R&R Games and due in May looks very interesting. http://www.rnrgames.com/content/products/bailiwick.php Hive is a very interesting new chess-like game, You have different insects that can move differently and you ate trying to surround the opponant's queen. http://www.hivemania.com/ For a card game, I like Drahtseilakt. Published by ASS (German publisher, must mean something else over there) A nice number game where you try to win red points and blue points equally. Themed as a tight-roap walker. http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/07680?AKCFsak4;;459 I highly recommend you check out http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ as well as the spielfrieks discussion group at Yahoo groups. Both are great sources for information. Good luck on your article! -- Ward