Super Duper Games (2005–2023)

This is a simple game of shared pieces where forming lines of 3, 6, or 9 pieces in length wins you points. When the board is full, the player with the most points wins.

55Stones is a one-rank Mancala game from Germany with simultaneous movement and perfect information. Players try to capture the most stones. Draws are not possible.

Thank you, spielstein for coding this game for us!

Abande is an original abstract game of connected pieces. Place or move pieces and stacks to generate the highest score you can whilst always keeping the board connected. Both the orthogonal and hexagonal versions have been implemented.

Thank you, spielstein for coding this game for us!

Accasta is an abstract board game for two players. Influenced by Dr. Emanuel Lasker's Lasca and Wladyslaw Glinksi's Hexagonal Chess, I tried to achieve a clean and original game using stacks and a hexagonal board.

This modern mancala game has several unusual features: capturing is compulsory, capturing is considered a complete move, and capturing occurs when you have an empty hole. Forced moves and sacrifices are the keys to success in this game.

Thank you, Lexicon for coding this game for us!

Alak is a close relative of the board game Go played on a one-dimensional "board". It was originally described in A. K. Dewdney's 1984 book The Planiverse; in 2001, Alan Baljeu modified the game to its present state.

Two player game where one plays the Builder, the other the Destroyer. Square tiles are place in 2x2 plots on a 4x4 grid. The object of the builder is to build up a set of two-story 2x2x2 "houses" (four in a row, four square or a majority) while the destroyer is trying to create the same array of empty plots. On each turn, the players select from a one-out-of-five tile placement or removal set (one on each of five different plots, one on each of one and two on one; two on two, three on one and one on one; four on one). Only three are available on any turn, as a player cannot pick one set that has been placed in the previous two turns. Once a plot is completely built or torn down, it is claimed by a player. The first player to claim four plots in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), four plots in a 2x2 square, have four more plots than his opponent, or to have claimed seven plots anywhere wins the game.

Alien City is a fascinating Piecepack/Icehouse game that is set in the far future and concerns the building of a city on a newly colonized world. Cities in this future contain two types of structures, towers and domes. Towers are owned by the various guilds. Domes are smaller structures used to house the citizens. As with the towers, domes are always associated with a particular guild.

The game-play consists of the players alternating turns, placing a tower or dome each turn until either all available towers and domes have been placed or until there are no legal construction sites remaining within the city. Then scores are determined based upon the relative positions of the towers and domes.

The game is played on a square grid. Each player starts with four queens (as in chess queens) placed in predetermined locations on their side of the board. On a players turn, they move a queen and then fire an arrow from that queen (the arrow piece moves like a queen also). The space that the arrow lands on creates a permanent block on the board. Arrows can not be shot through queens or arrows. The first player who can not make a legal move (move a queen and then shoot) loses the game.

When Roman ships attacked Syracuse, the mathematician Archimedes showed the soldiers of Syracuse how to focus the sun's rays with their shields on the wooden ships, causing them to burst into flame. The game Archimedes is inspired by this legend. Players destroy enemy ships by focusing imaginary rays on them, while trying to invade the enemy port. Destroyed ships, though, can be rebuilt later.

Aries is a game of pushing and shoving your way to your opponent's corner. Pieces move like Chess Rooks and can push opposing pieces off the board or into allies. The first person to occupy their opponent's corner wins!

Thank you, spielstein for coding this game for us!

Attangle is an abstract stacking game for 2 players. This last game concludes Dieter Stein's Stacking Game Trilogy.

Attract is a simple game in which pieces are placed on an initially empty board and they attract the pieces around them. Clusters of pieces in a certain formation are winners. If at any time one player has more winning formations than their opponent, they win!

Avalam Bitaka is a game of building towers and trying to control the most at the end of the game. Avalam Bitaka was a 1998 Mensa Select.

This is a game of pushing and shoving where you attempt to shove opposing pieces off the board and into your treasure stash. The game allows for 2-4 players (though only 2-player games are rated) and supports the Overloaded variant, where pieces exert a force equal to their strength.

Blockade is a Piecpack game of unequal forces where on player plays a runner and the other plays a blocker. The runner attempts to reach the far end of the board while the blocker attempts to trap the runner.

Branches and Twigs and Thorns (or "Barsoomite Go") is an elegant little strategy game for two or four players that uses Icehouse pieces. It is a turn-based game, unlike Icehouse or IceTowers; and there is no luck involved. Like Martain Go, it uses a chessboard, a set of Icehouse pieces for each player, and a collection of tokens (at least ten per player). Players seek to build chains of pieces of their own color and to force their opponents to branch off from opposing pieces of their opponent's colors, which results in a penalty determined by the sizes of the pieces involved.

Breakthrough has an extremely simply ruleset. Pieces move like Chess pawns and attempt to reach the opposite side of the board. The first to do so wins.

Byte is played with either a Standard or International Checkers set. It is not a variant, but a unique and robust alternative. Over the course of the game players create stacks of pieces. When a stack of 8 is formed, the stack is removed from play and the person who owns the top piece receives a point. The player with the most points at the end wins! No draws are possible.

Cage is a high energy game of annihilation. It's based on the Checkers jump and multiple jump, but there's no crowning race. The board starts out packed with "kings". When the checkers aren't jumping or moving adjacent to enemy checkers, they're moving toward the center of the board, assuring the total annihilation of one color.

Cannon is an elegant 2-player game of war. Soldiers attack an enemy city using individual prowess and cunning formations. This is a commercial game; hand-made copies of which can be purchased at the publisher's website. There also exists the Cannon Game Database where past games can be studied. An AI opponent is also available.

This is a shared-pieces game where players attempt to move their caravaneers to the edge of the board. One player is moving south, and the other east.

An unusual feature of Caravaneers is that one player is often able to take a number of turns in a row, while the other player can only watch and wait until a legal move is possible.

Some words from the author: For some time now [Apr 16, 2001] I have been toying with the idea of trying to model/abstract the flow of water carving out a mountainside. A related geometric pattern is the fractal on certain seashells. [...] The image in my mind is a root-pattern forming or tributaries of a river. [...] The game generalizes to any MxN board. Without more experience playing and "figuring it out" I don't know how M and N affect playability. My intuition suggests 8x8 (really 8x15 if you measured it at the bottom) is already nontrivial and 10x10 might be "tournament".

This is a simple game of trying to occupy your opponent's throne while protecting your own.

Castle Danger is a 2-player, turn-based strategy game. Each turn, a player gets to add another piece to his or her side of the board, move pieces, and shoot cannonballs at the opponent. Who will hit the other's King first?

This is a commercial game available for purchase from the designer's web site.

Cephalopod is a Mark Steere game that uses dice as the primary game component. The goal is to fill a board of various sizes with as many of your dice as possible. This is complicated by a capturing mechanic that keeps the board in constant flux. The game ends when the board has been completely filled. As with most Mark Steere games, draws and ties are not possible in Cephalopod.

Chase is a very unique game of movement and capturing. It may not be elegant, but it is certainly fascinating. You'll have to play it to understand. Prepare yourself for a real brain-burner!

Chess Cards is a strategy card game with a strong chess flavor. The rules were developed by Edward Lovett from the game Mate found in Gamut of Games.

This is a Connect-4 style game played on a narrower field and one whose columns never fill up.

This is another dice game with some allusions to Cephalopod. One attempts to promote one's own pieces and convert their opponent's to fulfil one of a number of victory conditions.

Copolymer is an ultra simple Mark Steere game for two players. A printed paper board, a pen of one color, and a pen of another color can be used to play. Any honeycomb patterned grid with an odd number of cells can be used, such as the regular hexagonal board used here. Players take turns coloring in cells on the (initially empty) board, at least one cell per turn. Once the board is full, the player who has claimed the most cells wins.

Crossway is an edge-connection game in which opposing pieces may not cross each other. Draws are not possible.

DareBase is a 2-player strategy game based upon the schoolyard team-tag game of the same name. It stirs in some capture-the-flag elements and uses interesting dice rules that give players a glimpse at near future possibilities. Several different scenarios are available to mix up how you play.

Delta is another 4-in-a-row game with an interesting movement/placement mechanic. It's fast-paced and aggressive.

Its time once more for Naval exercises on Lake Ashtapada to test what the new crewmen have learned about using sonar. They will be split into two teams red and black and will set targets to represent mines for each other to find. The first team to find the others mines wins the trophy the other will be scrubbing toilets.

This implementation is played on a 12x12 board, 5 mines, and allows for islands to be placed.

Similar to 3-6-9, you score points for completing diagonals. The person with the most points when the board is full wins.

This is an interesting game of territory claiming. Movement is done via spawning in diagonal directions and pieces are not captured, but transformed into walls.

Diffusion is a mancala game created by Mark Steere. Each player owns a block of pits and wins by emptying their block. As with most Mark Steere games, draws or ties are not possible in Diffusion.

Dipole is another excellent Mark Steere game and is played with either a standard or international draughts set. The object is to eliminate all of the opposing pieces through direct capture or attrition. Draws are not possible.

This is a game of enclosure and capture played on a circular board. This implementation has added support for 3 and 4 players as well. A variant has also been added called Blackout, where the cells in which pieces are captured are rendered impassable for the remainder of the game. To combat the inherently static nature of the opening, we have further implemented a number of alternative starting layouts.

Entropy is a 2-player game representing the struggle between Order and Chaos. The Order player tries to organize their board in such a way to score the highest amount. Chaos, of course, attempts to thwart Order whenever possible.

This implementation provides a simultaneous environment where each player has their own Order board. Each player places a piece on their opponent's Order board and then makes a move on their own board, both players acting as both Order and Chaos. The player with the greatest score wins!

Epaminondas is an elegant 2-player game of soldiers. The object is to start your turn with more soldiers on your opponent's home row than he has on yours. The primary movement mechanic is similar to the one seen in Cannon, namely by moving rows of pieces called phalanxes. This is a tremendously simple yet deep abstract that is sure to satisfy.

The capturing mechanic here is similar to Quadrature. When forming squares with your King and a Soldier, you capture opposing pieces. Destroy the enemy forces before they destroy you.

Fanorona is the national game of Madagascar, and it is believed to have been derived from the game of Alquerque. Alquerque is a game played in Arab countries, and archeological finds in Egypt suggest that it may date back more than 3,000 years. Alquerque could have been brought to Madagascar by traders and developed into Fanorona in the 17th century or even earlier.

Fanorona is a really intriguing board game. It has a long history, but it doesn't belong to a family of similar games like chess, draughts or mancala. Like Go it is a real one-off, with a unique method of capturing.

Fission is a game of mutual destruction. The idea, though, is to keep at least one of your guys left standing in the end.

Variants include: 'Random Start' which randomizes the starting position and 'Losing' which inverts the victory conditions.

One may move stacks of pieces as many spaces as pieces in the stack. Once stacks become higher than 5 pieces, the bottom-most pieces are captured. The last person able to move a stack wins.

Forms is a game of isolation where you attempt to force your opponent to capture all of your stones.

This is an abstract stragegy game for 2 players. The idea is to form 2 different formations using a custom set of cards to dictate movement options. This implementation also includes the Extreme variant which requires all 4 formations to win.

Frames is an interesting simultaneous placement game where you score points by enclosing sets of pieces in which you are the majority. Do this 10 times and you're the winner!

Froggy Bottom is another Piecepack game where competing frogs race to reach all of their lilypads and return home.

Generatorb is 2-player game played on a standard chess board. Players start in opposite corners and attempt to reach their opponent's generator core or occupy the majority of cells on the front line.

Golem won the 2004 About.com Board/Card Games / Abstract Games Magazine Shared Pieces Game Design Competition.

In the game, each turn consists of the following phases: (1) allocation, (2) orientation, (3) movement, (4) harvesting, and (5) regeneration. Players have 12 units to allocate per turn (to orientation, movement, harvesting, and regeneration). Points are earned for harvesting charms. Play continues until one player reaches 30 points.

Gorgon is a game of attrition where you attempt to deprive your opponent of any moves by slowly petrifying their pieces. The Gorgon board wraps around, so pieces exiting the far edge re-enter at your home row.

Using strategy and careful thinking, be the first to get through your opponent�s lines and place one of your pieces beyond the other side of the board.

Gravity is another 4-in-a-row game but one in which placed pieces gravitate towards the edges of the board.

This is a game where two populations compete for survival. Pieces have gender, can �mate�, give birth, age and die. The game is won by the player whose population lives longest or who connects two sides of the board. The longevity of pieces gets around the diagonal cut problem of playing a connection game using a board with squares. This has been solved elsewhere by going into three (physical)- dimensions, - here the extra dimension is time. The unusual theme of the game keeps it fun whilst also enabling considerable strategic variety and depth.

The goal is to move all your pieces such that they are all orthogonally adjacent to each other. First person to do so wins.

Guard & Towers is a stacking game where the goal is to either capture the opposing Guard or take over the opposing fortress by placing your guard on your opponent's starting square.

This game is available commercially from Clemens Gerhards (http://www.gerhards-holzwaren.de/). They do very nice editions indeed, with what appears to be metal bits.

Homeworlds is an abstract space exploration game for the Icehouse game system. This implementation allows for 2-4 players. The standard end-of-game condition is Last Man Standing but a variant also allows the game to end when you eliminate your left-hand oppoonent. Specific details regarding this implementation can be found on the wiki. Any ideas for expansion and variation should also be discussed there.

Impasse is another excellent Mark Steere game. Played with a standard checkers set, players attempt to bear off their pieces. A player who is deprived of any moves is said to be at an impasse and is rewarded by bearing off. This is a tense and exciting game with no draws possible.

Inchworm combines the piece capturing aspect of Go with the sowing/gathering aspect of Mancala into a new two-player abstract strategy game playable with pieces most people probably already have in their game closets.

Capture your opponent's pieces by surrounding them with your own, scoring a point for each piece captured. Pieces may move individually or as groups by stacking and unstacking them, mimicking the motion of an inchworm.

This is a stacking game in which the goal is to get a 1-stack to the opposing side.

Intermedium is a game of stacked towers that move along the diagonals attempting to surround their opponent's stacks and ultimately capture their city.

Ithaka is a game of shared pieces where one attempts to form a line of any given colour or of course stalemate your opponent.

Jostle is a game in which you try to block your opponent from making further moves. This is done by changing the adjacencies of the various checkers.

Have you ever watched one of those adventure movies where people are fighting on a rickety rope bridge? As they move, more and more of the bridge breaks and falls beneath them... Well, in those scenes, I found the inspiration for a board game! Players take turns moving and attacking each other on a more and more dangerous board!

Kingdom is a game in which you attempt to capture the opposing king or occupy his throne. Your pieces consist of stacks of fixed sizes that may jump over enemies according to certain rules.

Linear Progression is a 2-player game of territory control where as your pieces move, they claim the spaces through which they travel. The winner will control the most spaces on the board when the last space is filled. A 'Blocked' variant is also available which introduces special pieces through which no other piece can move. One additional board layout is also provided in which the center 4 cells are rendered impassable.

Pieces move based on the number of pieces along a line of movement. The object is to gather all your pieces in to one connected whole.

This is a basketball-style game where one tries to score a goal against their opponent.

Mad Bishops is a two player game. The 10x10 board is initially set up with 15 red and 15 blue checkers. The two players, Red and Blue, take turns moving checkers of their own color, one move (or kill) per turn, starting with Red. Passing is not allowed. Draws cannot occur in Mad Bishops. To win you must kill all enemy checkers.

This is another game for 2 players. Players place their pieces in an attempt to connect four in a row. The problem is, as pieces are placed or moved, they exert magnetic forces on surrounding pieces (likes repel, opposites attract) thus the lay of the land is in constant flux. It will take planning and foresight to succeed.

I have implemented a "Weak Force" variation which will only attract/repel other pieces one space at a time, instead of as far as possible.

Mak-yek is a board game played in Siam and Malaysia (under the name Apit-sodok). It is a game of custodial capture. An 'Edges' variant is available that uses the edges of the board in captures.

This game looks like one of those sliding puzzle games at first. The idea is to capture opposing tiles by sandwiching them between your own. The first person to reduce their opponent to fewer than 2 tiles wins.

The rules were unclear about how many spaces a tile can move. I have coded it so they behave like Chess rooks. Playtesting may show that to be incorrect. We shall see.

Martian Chess is another Icehouse game created by Andy Looney. It is a chess-like strategy game in which location, rather than piece color, determines which pieces you may move. Like Chess, each type of piece has its own way of moving, and you capture by moving onto an opponent's square; but unlike Chess, you can only move pieces sitting in your own quadrant, and only attack those in other quadrants which may include your own former pieces. The game ends when someone runs out of pieces, and the winner is the player who captured the most points. A variant called 'Of Knights and Kings' changes the way Pawns and Drones move to create a very different strategic game.

Mastery is a unique and original chess-style game designed by S. John Ross. It uses only 3 piece types but allows for the temporary control of opposing pieces under certain circumstances. Two starting layouts are implemented. The goal is to either remove your opponent's masters, or to remove all the other pieces.

In this game for two, the players invent a pattern, and then one player tries to build it while the other tries to prevent him from doing so. It is played with stones of two (or more, optionally) colors on any tiled surface.

Mirador is a connection game which can be played straightforwardly on graph paper, by marking out a 27 x 27 square and using colored pens to indicate the placement of 2 x 2 squares (on most graph paper the units would be 1/2 CMs) to represent watchtowers.

Several factors combine to make this a very fast and exhilerating game. These factors are line-of-sight connection (which is a feature in Sid Sackson's unusual game, Network); graded placement; and, finally, equivalent goals---either player can win by connecting North to South *or* West to East.

This is a unique 1-dimensional abstract strategy game involving checkers-like movement and captures.

Neighbours is a game of stalemating and blocking. The first person to have no moves left loses.

Numeri is a game of neutralization. Replicate stacks of pieces in an attempt to neutralize any one class of opposing stacks.

This is a game of capturing for 2 players. The game is interesting in that the board is different every time. Try to capture 3 of any one of your opponents piece types, or 4 opposing pieces in total. This game has great potential for variation by adding different tiles and piece types/powers. Post your suggestions on the Wiki!

This implementation is currently testing Bishop and Rook tiles. Pieces on these tiles can currently move like the chess piece but cannot capture.

Ordo is a "get to your opponent's home row" game in which you must always keep your pieces connected. Pieces can move singly, but also as a group in certain situations.

Oust is played with a Go set. The board starts out empty in Oust, and the object is to capture all of your opponent�s on-board stones, a paradox. Draws and ties cannot occur in Oust.

Owlman is a game of unequal forces. Doc and twelve helpers are trying to infiltrate Owlman's lair. Doc needs at least one helper to set up his cryptozoolgical camera to gather photographic evidence of his existence! Owlman is trying to thwart Doc by scaring off all of his helpers. And whatever you do, don't let Owlman make it to the church bell tower. From there he can fly anywhere!

Pah-Tum is an ancient game which is played on a 7x7 grid. An odd number of cells are then marked as unplayable. The players then take turns placing a piece until the board is full. Points are scored for the longest lines of pieces. The one with the most points wins.

This implementation will randomly mark 5, 7, or 9 random cells as unplayable. A pie rule is also implemented to balance out possible first-move advantage.

Palisade is a game of territory capture using a Go board. Draws are not possible.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that everybody loves seeing penguins sliding around on the ice. And soccer is the world's game, right? So take some cute families of penguins, give them an icy soccer field and a ball, and watch the slippery goodness that ensues. . .

This is a game of transformation where the goal is to have the most pieces on the board when the game ends.

Thank you, MrStickman for coding this game for us!

Phutball (short for philosopher's football) is a two-player board game described in Elwyn Berlekamp, John Horton Conway, and Richard Guy's Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays.

It is a soccer-esque game for 2 players where you attempt to get the ball across your opponent's goal line.

Phwar (short for Phase War) is an abstract game of war for two or three players. The board is a hexagonal grid of hexagons. Each player owns four negative particles (electrons), four positive particles (positrons) and one neutral particle with zero charge (neutron). Aim: The game is won by the last remaining player.

A fundamental change to the victory conditions has been implemented here. The first person to occupy the central hex (F6) with their neutron will also win the game.

Players hide "letterboxes" somewhere on the board and write clues for the other players. Everyone then attempts to find as many letterboxes as possible. A player gains victory points both when she finds other letterboxes and when other players find hers. The game ends when one player has found all other letterboxes. The player with the most victory points is then the winner.

Pikemen is an Icehouse game. Pieces are warriors with long spears known as "Pikes." Each turn a Pikeman may charge in the direction he is pointing and then reorient his pike in a different direction, including straight up for defense. The player who captures a number of enemy Pikemen first wins.

This implementation also provides for longer games by allowing one to choose 15 and 20 point games.

Praetorian is a more light-weight game of unequal forces. One player takes on the role of police trying to hunt down an assassin. The other player is the assassin and tries to eliminate his two marks before the police catch him. It's a game of deduction and double-guessing that, like Numica, has some degree of chance, introduced by the random starting positions.

This implementation also includes the variant we call 'Uncooperative' where the police can only interrogate one civilian per turn instead of two.

Pulling Strings is a simultaneous movement game for 2 players. It is played on a 5x5 grid and players manipulate 'strings' to shift stacks of game pieces. Win by being the first to shift at least 5 pieces on to any combination of your home spaces.

This implementation uses numbers as string labels instead of letters, simply because the web interface obviates the need for finger-spelling.

This 2-player abstract is played on an 11x11 board. Attacks are initiated by 'squaring' your opponent, or in other words, forming a rectangle with 3 of your pieces and one of your opponent's. Doing so converts the squared piece to your colour. You win by either converting all but two of your opponent's checkers or by occupying the three centre squares on your opponent's far row. This game won the Mensa Society's "Mensa Select" award in 1993.

Qyshinsu is played on a circular board. When you place or remove a stone from the board, your opponent must place or remove one of their stones (# of spaces - according to the value of the stone you placed or removed) away from your stone in either direction on the board - to the right or left of your stone. The three additional rules that govern this dynamic are known as the Precepts. Your intention in Qyshinsu is to "Return to the Way". This occurs when your opponent is unable to place or remove a stone.

In this fast-paced game, suggestive of basketball meets Chess, two players try to move their marble to the opposite side of the board, using 5 wooden "blocks" as passing instruments. A player may either pass the ball or move a block like a Knight in a game of Chess. The ball may be passed in any direction but the block with a ball may not be moved. It is competitive, it is strategic and it is quick. So get ready to razzle-dazzle your opponent.

Both the standard and tournament rules are implemented.

Realm is a wonderful and unique two-person abstract strategy game. It involves capturing territory and blocking and immobilizing the other player's pieces. New pieces are generated and added to the game as the game progresses, and strategy and objectives dramatically change through the course of the game. A few rules generate a game of great complexity and depth.

Robo Battle Pigs is a game of robot combat where you program a series of moves in an attempt to destroy all opposing pigs. SDG implements the Continuous Feedback variant only! This is a more controlled and deliberate game and fits well within the SDG paradigm. This implementation supports 2-8 players.

Rush is a territory game which is played with a Go set. Any size board with an odd number of rows and an odd number of columns can be substituted for the Go board. Play begins on an empty board, each player takes possession of a colour of stone, and places them on the board according to the rules until the board is full. The player with the most stones in the end wins.

SanQi is played on an initially-empty hexagonal board. Both players share a pool of red, blue and yellow stones.

The first player wins if there is a complete circle of six stones of one color, regardless of the condition of its center cell, at the end of that player's move. The second player wins if there is an orthogonal line of six or more stones of one color at the end of that player's turn. Either player wins if there is a simple triangle of six stones of one color at the end their particular move.

Scribe is a pen-and-paper game for 2 players created by Mark Steere. The board is comprised of 3 mini-grids which together form a larger super-grid. Players take turns claiming cells and thereby forming specific formations or "glyphs." The player that claims the most mini-grids wins. Draws are not possible.

Sicic is a game for two. Each player guides a group of Astronomers, aiming at copying the opponent�s Constellation. Sicic is played on two 8 � 8 squared boards, named the Earth and the Sky. Each player has 4 pieces that move on the Earth (the Astronomers) and 4 pieces to be placed in the Sky (the Stars). The Stars are the player�s Constellation.

Slings & Stones is a unique 2-player abstract played on a chessboard. Each player has 4 slings and 12 stones and tries to eliminate his opponent by hurling stones at opposing slings.

Sprawl is a highly original game of strategy, resource management, planning, and diplomacy for three to eight players. This is another Icehouse/Invisible City game. Like Branches, Twigs, and Thorns, Sprawl is not designed for early withdrawl. Resigning will prematurely terminate the game. Enjoy!

Slash is a connection game played on a Go board. Players try to connect opposite edges of the board but connections in the NW or SE directions do not count.

This 2-player game uses a unique movement mechanic of pivots. The idea is to force your opponent into a position where they cannot move.

You are a real estate developer competing with others to develop a new subdivision. Where you bUild is somewhat restricted and what gets built next to you affects your value. Bring down your competitors value while maximizing your own.

Tanbo is a game of roots. Played on a standard Go board, players attempt to constrict and kill opposing roots by expanding their own. Only one player's roots will survive. It should be noted that like BTT and Sprawl, an early resignation in the 4-player game will cause the game to be abandoned and left unrated. Please be courteous when joining such games, especially since Tanbo is a relatively lengthy game.

Terratain is another Warpspawn Game. Players lay tiles of various types on the board according to a very small set of rules. Once the board is full, scores are assigned based on things like: lines of similar colour, most pieces of a certain type, or patterns of controlled territories. You can play the game blind where scores are not displayed until the end, or you can choose one of the variants to get an idea of how people are doing throughout the game. Some minor modifications were made to the scoring rules and are described in the wiki.

Tonga was the second-place finisher in the 2004 About.com Board/Card Games / Abstract Games Magazine Shared Pieces Game Design Competition.

It's played on a 9x9 board, and players compete to build islands in their own color. The game stops when there is no room for a new piece. At this moment, each player totals the squares of his three biggest isles. The winner is the one with the highest total.

Tumblewords: It's like a cross between that game where you make words with tiles and that game where you drop checkers into a vertical grid. For two wordsmiths.

Available word lists include: English TWL 2006, English SOWPODS 2006, French ODS4.

Thank you, Lexicon for coding this game for us!

Volcano is a clever, puzzle-style game in which players move "caps" around on top of a group of volcanoes, triggering eruptions which cause colored streams of lava to flow out across the playing field. The object of the game is to capture as many pieces as possible, with bonus points awarded for special combinations. Each player attempts to accumulate the highest score and then bring the game to a close before another player has a chance to steal the lead away. This implementation supports 2-10 players.

A 2-player abstract strategy game in the vein of Pente or Othello. Four types of stones are arrayed on a 9x9 board: earthstones, suns, moons, and crowns. One player plays the suns, and the other player plays the moons. Players take turns removing stones or groups of stones from the board. A player may make one of three moves: (a) removing one earthstone, (b) removing one of their own stones, or (c) removing all of the stones in an unbroken line between two empty board spaces. Players score based on the type of stone removed: 1 point for an earthstone, 2 points for an opposing player's stone, and 5 points for a crown. The first player to reach 50 points wins.

Wizard's Garden is another Tim Schutz game for 2 players. It is a reversi-style game where players have access to both colours of pieces and attempt to form 4 in a row. This is an elegant game with a pleasing theme. Come try out your green thumb!

Zendo is an addictive game of inductive logic where one person takes the role of master and 2-5 others become students. The Master comes up with a secret rule and attempts to lead the students to enlightenment. Both text and image koans are supported.