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Description Of Blokus
Blokus is a colorful and elegant game. A very simple looking game
with extremely easy rules, Blokus guarantees fun for both
children and adults. Blokus has been the recipient of a MENSA
award for its stimulation of players’ spatial awareness.
Blokus consists of a board with raised edges that keep the pieces
contained inside the grid, and, 84 playing pieces of four different
colors. The goal of Blokus is to fit all the Tetris-like pieces
held by the players onto the game board as per rules. The game board has
a total of 400 squares in all. Blokus can be played by 2-4
players. Four players is ideal, three players need the fourth color to
be played by each player in turns and two players means that each player
can play two colors. One game of Blokus typically takes 20 - 30
minutes to complete.
The player who gets rid of all his pieces first is the winner. If play
ends due to there being no possibility of a suitable placement and
players are left holding pieces, then scores are arrived at by totaling
the remaining pieces and the one with the least number of pieces wins.
The rule for every player’s first turn is to start by fitting a piece
from a corner. Then at each turn, players try to control as much of
space as they can. Any new piece that is placed has to touch a
previously placed piece of the same color but only at a corner. Other
colors may make contact at the sides.
Several variants of Blokus rules have been developed to overcome
problems posed by less than four players. Draft Blokus is one
such variant that allows players to play with different colors. Reverse
Blokus is a variant in which the player, who manages to place the
least number of tiles on the board, wins. A popular two-player variant
is using only half of the board and one color per player. Obstacle
Blokus is another interesting variant in which each player chooses
one color and the remaining ones are obstacles for him. A travel version
of Blokus is also popular and has its own set of rules. Blokus
trigon is an innovative offshoot and uses triangular pieces and places,
on a hexagonal board. This layout lends itself well to a three player
game.
Review Of Blokus
While the initial moves in Blokus may appear to be very tame and
easy, as the game proceeds players have to move in both defensive and
offensive ways. While placing their tiles, players try to block others’
movement with the same move. It is precisely this kind of spatial
reasoning that MENSA found worthy of recognition with an award. It is
possible for a player to be blocked after just six or seven moves. Young
children my find Blokus frustrating if their opponent blocks
their moves too quickly. Fortunately Blokus has a quick playing
time and children recover equally fast. Blokus is a colorful game
and attracts people by its very looks. Players are known to get addicted
to Blokus and the temptation of ‘just one more game,’ seems to be
ever present.
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