By turn three, you know: Upwords isn’t just like Scrabble. Someone plays CAR or TEA (a flat word), and another player puts a letter atop the A. Now that word’s twice as valuable. The game changes from spelling to spatial reasoning, specifically three-dimensional geometry. It catches people off-guard who don’t understand how important it is … Read more

The seemingly simple hexagonal board that Abalone plays on actualy makes for a very complex spatial geometry and momentum management game. With only fourteen marbles to begin, you need to figure out how to knock six of your opponents’ pieces off the rim. There is no straight line solution, as you have to learn what … Read more

In most games of Blokus, the endgame can become a frantic struggle to fill in all the gaps. Your board is packed full. There’s one turn left. You need that wonky pentomino to fit in a spot where it no longer can. As the last piece drops into place, everyone holds their breath. That’s usually … Read more

If you’re doing math in your head while playing, then Dominoes isn’t as fun anymore. You might be trying to decide if Player A gets a blocked round because there was fewer pieces? Or does Player B get it because their tiles has lighter pips? The competition becomes a discussion on house rules and you’re … Read more

Mathematical Trap: From across the table, Ingenious looks like child’s play: “Place a tile, get points. Place a tile, get points.” It sounds easy enough, but beneath that honeycomb of hex tiles lie a clever math trap. Yes, you feel good about placing a tile for points. But while you’re doing that, your opponent is … Read more

Qwirkle looks like an easy little kid’s game with its colorful tiles and uncomplicated shapes. But any player who’s ever given it a try will tell you: the action lie in its scoring system. On the surface, the rules are clear. Just lay down the tiles and draw a line from those with matching colors … Read more

What sounds like a game of dominoes plus a geometry class is actualy quite straightforward, except when it comes time to count scores. Because there are bonus points for shapes, penalty points for what’s left in your rack (which no one else can see), and point totals that fluctuate wildly even within rounds as they … Read more