Leap
by Michael Keller
 


Leap board, vintage 1982

Leap (published 1982) is another production of Kadon Enterprises, Inc., which specializes in flexible sets of game equipment which can be used for a variety of both competitive games and solitaire puzzles.

Leap consists of a set of cylindrical pieces numbered from 1 to 36 (odd numbers are brown and even numbers are white), and a 6x6 grid. This serves as a framework for five two-player games and five groups of puzzles. The latter include classic peg solitaires, magic squares, and mini-chessboard problems, as well as two new problems—Kate Jones' Polyomino Ponies and Wade E. Philpott's 10-Leap Solitaire.

Knight's Quest is a game in which players construct a knight's tour and try to be the last player able to place a number legally on the board.

Knight's Tourney and Leap Over are games in the Halma/Chinese Checkers family; Knight's Tourney uses knight's moves, while Leap Over uses orthogonal and diagonal moves.

The two most interesting games, however, are Leap Plus and Numerical Criss-Cross. Leap Plus is a positional game combining placement and multiple leaps; the object is to be the last player able to play. In Numerical Criss-Cross, players place pieces on the board to form legal arithmetic statements (using either addition/subtraction or multiplication/ division), scoring points for the total of all numbers in each equation. This game is good for children learning arithmetic, but is also a highly tactical game.

If you like abstract games, peg solitaires, or other kinds of puzzles, you will enjoy Leap. The 32-page rule booklet includes a good bibliography (unusual for commercial games!). Solutions to all of the Polyomino Ponies and the Leap Solitaires are available from Kadon for 50 cents per puzzle.

Kadon is to be commended for their continuing efforts in providing gamers with high-quality equipment, and rule booklets full of intriguing games and puzzles.

[Editor's note:  Kadon sells Leap as a stand-alone set in a softpack version. Leap is also part of the deluxe expanded Six-by-Six family of games. See a profile of Six-by-Six in this issue.]

This review appeared originally in WGR No. 4
(February 1985), published by Michael Keller.