Abstract Strategy

The game is played on a hexagonal board. Each player is given six hexagonal tiles of one color (twelve, in a two-player game). In turn, players put one of their tiles on the board, with the goal of getting four-in-a-row, in a straight line. Each new tile must be placed adjacent to another one (not necessarily of their own color).

When a player has no more tiles, they can move a tile of their own color to another position.

If a group of tiles is isolated due to moving a tile, all isolated tiles (of the smallest group) return to their respective owners, to be used again.

The first to have four pieces in a straight line wins the game. (In this game, a player MUST block the player to their left if that player is in a position to win - even if more than one player is able to win on their next turn.)

Selection #1 of The Games Collection by Pin International.

This game is similar to Quixo by Gigamic, but more fiddly during setting up as there are 6 symbols, and can accommodate up to 3 players. Players pick up their piece or a neutral piece from one end of any column or row of a 5x5 grid of cubes, and replace the piece to his/her own symbol at the other end by sliding the rest of the row. The first to form 5 in a row of his/her own pieces wins the game. Form 4 in a row for a three players game.

Alexandros is an abstract strategy by Leo Colovini, thematically inspired by the military expansion of Alexander the Great. It includes the "triggered scoring for all" mechanism, which can be considered a trademark of the designer, implemented in many of his games. It forces players to evaluate their actions in relation to what other players can earn.

The goal of the game is to have more points than other players when the trail/border markers are depleted or someone scores 100 points first.

Gameplay is driven by cards, used for all actions. Clockwise, players are first obliged to move the figure representing Alexandros across a triangular grid. They do this by playing cards with symbols matching those on destination spots. This is the core concept of the game - when the figure of Alexandros is moved, it leaves a trail of borders behind it. Soon, these borders begin to form provinces composed of triangular spaces: either with symbols or empty.

After moving Alexandros, players either build their hand of cards by drawing them, take over provinces or trigger scorings if the situation on the board suits them.

Players can occupy provinces by playing cards from their hand and placing tokens representing their leaders on spaces with corresponding symbols. When a scoring is triggered, provinces earn points equal to the number of empty spaces in them. Players can take over empty provinces and/or those occupied by other players. Each player has only four generals and placing them costs valuable cards - the game requires careful hand management and point-to-point movement - to create worthy provinces for scoring.

Awarded title of "Best Family Strategy Game" by Games Magazine in 2005.

The Concept:
Scientists in a lab are trying to create new elements, and they get it all wrong! In Wrong Chemistry (W.C.) you change a molecule in order to create new elements out of it. A fun, easy to learn, but hard to master, game, with funny references to the real elements from the periodic table.

Gameplay:
Players alternate rounds, during which they try to change the pieces on the board, in such a way that they can be the same shape represented by the cards in their hands. The cards represent new elements that the players discover, and when the board has the proper form, the player reveals from his hand the element he/she discovered and adds the card to his/her pile of earned points.

Game End:
The game ends when a player can no longer draw more cards.
The winner is the player with the most points or, in case of a tie, the one that discovered more elements that are next to each other in the Periodic Table of the Elements (chairs not included).

Pizza Theory, designed for exactly three players, has no randomness and simple turn actions, but the outcome each round is unpredictable since each cook has his own idea for the best way to create the pie.

To set up the game, each player takes his pizza cutter (a wooden stick) and the die and topping counters that match. Each player places two toppings on the game board in the spaces designated with an X.

In each round, the three players take turns placing one topping on the game board; that topping cannot be placed adjacent to any of that player's other toppings. Each player then secretly chooses a number (1-6) on his die; players reveal the numbers and lay their pizza cutters on the board in the space matching their number. The cutters divide the pizza into one of 216 possible outcomes, creating a number of slices. In each slice if a player has more toppings than each opponent, he replaces those opponent's toppings with his own; if two players tie for the most toppings, the toppings of the third player are removed but not replaced; in a three-way tie, nothing changes. (NB: If a player has at most one topping in each slice, then his toppings cannot be removed or replaced this round.)

Whoever first places his 16 toppings on the game board wins.

With only two players, the cutter and toppings of the third color are still used, with players taking turns placing those toppings on the board. If all 16 toppings of the third color are on the board before either player gets his toppings on the board, then both players lose.