Let's awake the child within. Let's play Tic-Tac-Toe. Just with a little twist.
Let's play Squava
Category : abstract strategy, combinatorial, 2 players
Mechanics : placement, line-building
Basically, Squava spatially extends the popular Tic-Tac-Toe child game.
The Squava game rules are strikingly similar to Tic-Tac-Toe rules.
Tic-Tac-Toe rules :
Your classic Tic-Tac-Toe game. It's a draw.- The board starts empty.
- Two players take turns adding a piece of their colour to an empty cell.
- Players are not allowed to pass.
- Win by making a line-of-3 pieces of your colour.
- Draw if the board otherwise fills up.
- Lines can be orthogonal or diagonal.
Squava rules :
A Squava game.- The board starts empty.
- Two players take turns adding a piece of their colour to an empty cell.
- Players are not allowed to pass.
- Win by making a line-of-4 (or more) pieces of your colour.
- Lose by making a line-of-3 pieces of your colour.
- Draw if the board otherwise fills up.
- Lines can be orthogonal or diagonal.
You can play Squava using pencil and paper :
Nice circles and crosses. Circle wins.You can play Squava using colored pawns :
Nicely colored pawns. White wins.Move numbers allow to track the game progress :
Nicely numbered colored pawns. White wins.Not only Squava is fun to play but it also breeds smart puzzles.
Let's play some Squava puzzles
It's just like chess puzzles.
You are given a board and you must force white win in a limited number of moves.
Use the spoiler until you are confortable with the idea.
puzzle #1 : White to play and win in 1 move.
solution #1 :
Spoiler (Sélectionnez le texte dans le cadre pointillé pour le faire apparaître)
puzzle #2 : White to play and win in 1 move.
solution #2 :
Spoiler (Sélectionnez le texte dans le cadre pointillé pour le faire apparaître)
puzzle # 3 : White to play and win in 1 move.
solution #3 :
Spoiler (Sélectionnez le texte dans le cadre pointillé pour le faire apparaître)
puzzle #4 : White to play and win in 1 move.
solution #4 :
Spoiler (Sélectionnez le texte dans le cadre pointillé pour le faire apparaître)
Enjoy.
puzzle 5# : White to play and win in 2 moves.
solution 5# :
Spoiler (Sélectionnez le texte dans le cadre pointillé pour le faire apparaître)
puzzle 6# : White to play and win in 2 moves.
solution 6# :
Spoiler (Sélectionnez le texte dans le cadre pointillé pour le faire apparaître)
puzzle 7# : White to play and win in 3 moves.
solution 7# :
Spoiler (Sélectionnez le texte dans le cadre pointillé pour le faire apparaître)
puzzle 8# : White to play and win in 2 moves.
solution 8# :
Spoiler (Sélectionnez le texte dans le cadre pointillé pour le faire apparaître)
puzzle #9 : White to play and win in 2 moves.
solution #9 :
Spoiler (Sélectionnez le texte dans le cadre pointillé pour le faire apparaître)
puzzle #10 : White to play and win in 3 moves.
solution #10 :
Spoiler (Sélectionnez le texte dans le cadre pointillé pour le faire apparaître)
Ha, thank you for making me learn about a game building on the useless Tic-Tac-Toe and still being interesting.
I enjoyed guessing the puzzles over very much
I like ! And click on heart
The game designer himself kindly replied to me with his own contribution
puzzle 11# : White to play and win in 4 moves.
solution #11 :
Spoiler (Sélectionnez le texte dans le cadre pointillé pour le faire apparaître)
The 4×4 square is a powerful shape because it opens 6 attacking lines (4 orthogonally and 2 diagonally).
So i guess the solution is to force a 4×4 white square :
Ooooh, tricky. I can't mentally keep track of each moves, I'll have to write down the moves somehow.
You have to use a checker board and pieces.
).
It's a plus if you can stick numbers on the pieces (on both sides so that stickered pieces don't hide in the crowd
I only have a copy of Civilization the Board Game and 7 Wonders