Cube Quest

Cube Quest

OK, before we get into particulars: this is the kind of game that if you’re a grown-up will remind you of something you almost invented that long, rainy day, when you were, say, 8-years-old – the kind of game you would have played with toy soldiers if it didn’t hurt so much to flick them at each other with your fingers. Skillful? Easily as profound as marbles. Strategic? Just as strategic as you can or want to make it. Demanding deep thinking – not so much. But enough. O, yes.

You get 50 dice (OK, cubes), 25 of each color. They’re light enough to flick without impairing your flicker and small enough to be considered a choking hazard (sorry, little brother). There are seven different kinds: Grunts, Strikers, Helms, Skulks, Freezes, Healers, and one King. Each of these has different attributes. The Grunts, for example. You see Grunts on only two sides of the die. The other four sides indicate a state “captured”-hood. You get a lot of them (12), but if they end up on your opponent’s field captured-side up, they are lost. On the other hand, there are your Healers (2), with no captured sides at all. Healers and Freezes are, as you might assume, never flicked. They are used so that you can, instead of flicking, choose to help revive your pieces or immobilize your opponent, respectively. A hard call, considering that you have to forego flickery.

Major Fun AwardAnd, no, you really don’t have to know what all the different cubes do to enjoy the game. And yes, eventually you’ll probably learn what each one does, and the strategic subtleties of each, and even go so far as to ascribe yet further powers as you play the game again and again.

There are two felt game boards that are set up adjacent to each other. On each, there is a fort. Your king regally resides within the boundaries of your fort.

The object: be the first to flick your opponent’s king off the board.

You spend the first part of the game preparing – deciding where to put each of your cubes to maximize their offensive and defensive potentials. And then there’s the flicking.

Our first round lasted one flick each. And then we learned. O, yes, we learned. It’s all about protecting the King (wouldn’t you know it), cunningly surrounding him with walls of loyal subjects. But not to forget that this is war.

Great fun. Not deep fun. But great. Major, even.

For two players, ages 8 and older, designed by Oliver and Gary Sibthorpe, with art by Jonathan Kirtz, from Gamewright .

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