 |
Transpose was chosen by Games as the best abstract strategy game for the year 1997. Here's Burt Hochberg's write-up from the December 1996 "Buyer's Guide to Games":
TRANSPOSE (1 or 2 players)
The respect that Kate Jones, the founder of Kadon Enterprises, has for game inventors and game lovers is evident from a single look at any of her productions. Think of The Game of Y, Octiles, Quintillions, and many others. The craftsmanship and uncompromising attention to detail that distinguish Kadon's games are characteristic of the best artisans who work in wood. Luckily for us, she loves to play with mathematical and strategic ideas, and makes games instead of knick-knacks.
Transpose is one of eight two-player games (several of them invented and crafted by Christopher Clark) that can be played with this magnificent set. In Transpose, players try to move their pieces off the edge of the board, but each piece can move only in the direction specified by the arrow at the end of its row and the number of spaces indicated by a die roll. When a piece lands on an opposing piece, they trade places, and the player who initiated the trade goes again. In this engrossing and highly positional game, where players try to block opposing pieces or get them onto rows going in the wrong direction, good judgment is needed more than lucky dice.
The other games are: Upper Hand and Queen's Tower, both strategic stacking games; Peregrine, a game that appears simple but reveals surprising depth; Amazons, in which pieces shoot imaginary arrows at the opposition; Bishop's Bond, a connection game; Rookery, in which you try to gather all your pieces into a single "flock"; plus a variation of halma ("Chinese checkers") and a few solitaire puzzles.
This is a set you'll be proud and happy to own. —BH
|
