Gyges

Reviewed by Herb Levy

(Gigamic distributed by Back Alley Traders, 2 players, ages 8 to adult, 10-20 minutes; $30)

Back in 1985, Claude Leroy (for Swiss Games) came up with an idea for a rather clever abstract game and clever it was. Still, despite its originality, the game soon vanished from gaming stores making it hard to find. But Gigamic has solved that problem and returned the game to the marketplace with a new look to appeal to the current gaming audience. The game? Gyges.

Gyges consists of a wooden board with a play area consisting of a six by six grid with a “goal” at either end. In addition, there are two identical sets of six wooden pieces: 2 each of triples, doubles and singles. Each player takes a set of pieces and places them, one by one, anyplace on their starting line (that is, the line of the board closest to them). The idea is to get one of YOUR pieces into the goal of your opponent. But the pieces that are yours can and will change for what makes this game different is that you do not have your own set of pieces. Rather, you can only move pieces that are the CLOSEST to you (and that means, farthest from your goal). That’s where the movement abilities of the pieces come into play.

Pieces are moved based on their size (a single piece moves one space, a double two spaces, a triple three spaces). A piece may move forward, backward and sideways but NEVER diagonally. It may change direction during a move but must ALWAYS move the FULL number of spaces. A piece may only move over empty spaces. Occupied spaces may not be crossed or jumped over. Should a piece end its move and land on another piece, that piece moves again – but this time, the amount of spaces that piece can move is determined by the number of the piece it has landed upon. (So, for example, should a double piece end its legal move on a triple, it can move again a total of THREE – not two – spaces!) This is an amazingly effective way to cross the board and barrel into the goal if an unwary opponent fails to spot a potential winning path. (Advanced rules allows a piece to move as in the standard game OR REPOSITION the landed on piece to an unoccupied space on the board. This does raise the challenge level of the game but we find the basic rules to be quite satisfactory.)

Goals can be reached from ANY space on the final bordering row of the game board. The first player to manage to land a piece onto the opposite goal (and that means land on the final space by an exact count – no jumping over it) wins!

Gyges is a surprisingly addictive abstract. It looks good (as to be expected with games from the Gigamic line) using wood to good advantage. As with most exceptional abstract games (and themed games too, for that matter), rules are simple. (Don’t let the size of the rulebook fool you. The rules are given in no less than 24 languages! The actual entire rules set takes up only two pages! ) Yet tactical options abound. Looking to create a “chain reaction” to catapult your farthest pieces from the goal to “close and personal” positions is the key to victory and that challenge will keep you on your toes. But you need to think defensively too. Make a faulty play and you will pay for it. Still, Gyges plays quickly (10 to 20 minutes is an accurate appraisal) allowing you to try it again and again. And you will.

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