Game Review: Blox

By Greg J. Schloesser
August 30, 2008

Publisher: Ravensburger
Designers: Wolfgang Kramer, Hans Raggan & Jürgen P.K. Grunau
Players: 2-4
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 45 minutes
Rules Language: German
Link:

When the finalists for the 2008 Spiel des Jahres were announced, there was one game that I had never even heard of: Blox. Now, I don’t pretend to be familiar with every game that is released during the year, but I usually have some knowledge of games that ultimately receive a nomination for one of the major awards. My interest was naturally piqued, but quickly turned to frustration, as I was unable to find the game at any stateside game stores. Eventually I was able to secure a copy from overseas.

The game arrived just in time for me to bring it to the Gulf Games convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Honestly, I didn’t expect much, as it appeared to be an abstract design, which usually doesn’t excite me. The fact that Wolfgang Kramer was one of the co-designers, however, did give me some hope, as I tend to enjoy most of his creations.

There was a big clamor to play the game, as like me, no one had previously had the opportunity to do so. I must have played or taught the game a dozen or more times during the five day convention – and I loved every minute of it! Blox is an original, challenging game that is highly addicting. From my perspective, it would have made a far better selection as the recipient of the Spiel des Jahres than the actual winner.

Building Blox

Blox is played on a 9x9 board that is constructed from four pieces. The eighty-one squares on the board are a mix of four different colors, matching the construction blocks and cards in the deck. A collection of towers containing one-to-four blocks apiece is pre-arranged on the board, and a scoring token equal to the number of blocks in the respective tower is placed atop each one. The thick blocks are made of sturdy plastic and come in four colors: gray, white, black and pink. Players each receive a set of four pawns (which have the appearance of small, inverted cocktail glasses), a joker tile, and five cards. The cards are devoid of fancy graphics and depict one of the four different colors.

The ultimate object of the game is to earn points and blocks by tearing down towers, then re-build towers with the blocks you have collected, thereby earning more points. Along the way you can even be nasty by zapping an opponent’s piece to earn points. This is one instance where I’m actually happy the designers and developers did not attempt to paste a thinly-attached theme to the proceedings, as it would have been difficult to properly fit the theme. It works just fine as an abstract.

Each turn, a player may choose one of six possible options. These include placing or moving a pawn, tearing down or constructing a tower, zapping an opponent’s pawn, or swapping cards.

To place or move a pawn, a card is played and a pawn is moved in a straight line to the first square that matches the color of the card played. Intervening pawns or towers cannot be leapt. The purpose of moving is to position a pawn so that a tower can be destroyed or constructed, an opponent can be zapped, or an opponent’s plans can be thwarted. Proper positioning is important.

To tear down a tower, a player must have a pawn that is in the same row or column, with no intervening pawns or towers. Further, there cannot be any intervening spaces that match any of the blocks in the tower. The player must then discard one matching card for each block in the tower. He takes the blocks in the tower into his supply and keeps the token in his score stack. The player’s pawn is then moved to the tower’s former location. An astute player can take advantage of this by planning ahead to maneuver his pawn into position to tear down another tower on a subsequent turn.

One factor to consider is that if a player possesses seven or more blocks in his supply, he cannot destroy any further towers until his supply is reduced below seven. To accomplish this, a player must construct one or more towers.

Constructing a tower is accomplished in a similar fashion. The blocks for the new tower must come from a player’s personal supply, which he collected by tearing down towers. Cards are played matching each block used in the construction, and a player earns points equal to the height of the tower. His pawn is removed from the board and returned to the player’s supply.

A player can zap another player’s pawn by playing three or more cards matching the color of the square occupied by the opponent’s pawn. Again, the player must be in the same row or column as his opponent’s pawn, and there can be no intervening colors matching the square upon which the opponent’s pawn rests. The pawn is returned to the owning player, and the active player’s pawn is moved to the vacated space. In addition, the active player receives points equal to the number of cards he played in the attack. I have seen a player concentrate on this aggressive tactic, and he actually came very close to winning. Grabbing some extra points in this fashion can easily spell the difference between victory and defeat.

The final option on a player’s turn is to swap cards for an equal amount from the deck. Not only is this tactic useful in flushing one’s hand of undesirable cards, it also restores a player’s joker if it had been previously used. The joker can substitute for any one card, but it then becomes unusable until reactivated in this fashion.

Now here is the kicker: the game is played in four phases, and each phase regulates the size of the towers that can be destroyed and constructed. For example, during the first phase of the game, only towers with a height of one can be destroyed, and only towers with a height of two can be constructed. By the time the fourth phase arrives, towers with a height ranging from one to four can be destroyed, but only towers consisting of five blocks can be erected. This mechanism continually drives the game to a conclusion.

When there is only one tower of height four remaining, the remainder of the round is played and the game ends. Players tally their scoring tokens to determine the winner. The game generally takes about 45 minutes to play to completion.

Stack, Attack, Come Back for More

One of the things I really admire about Blox is that there is usually something constructive to be done on every turn. Sure, it is possible to have a series of turns wherein the cards in your hand do not suit your plans, but that is rare. Usually, cards can be used to construct or destroy towers, and even if a player gets a handful of identical cards, he can find an opponent’s pawn to eliminate.

As in many games, choices abound and timing can be important. One must keep a careful eye on when the game phase will change, as timing this correctly can allow a player to construct or destroy a tower that will earn the player more points. Aggressive players can also make moves to thwart the plans of their opponents, either by zapping their pawn or moving one of their own pawns into a blocking position. I find there is a nice mix of pursuing one’s own strategy, aggressiveness and interference.

Blox is one of those gems that I would likely have overlooked had it not been named as a finalist for the Spiel des Jahres. It also verifies that old adage: Never judge a game by its cover!

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Comments:

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Is any American publisher planning on picking this up? Everything I’ve read makes me think I’d like it a lot, but I don’t really want to get it from overseas. Posted by Mark Wilder on Aug 31, 2008 at 01:39 AM | #

I haven’t heard anything about an American publisher.  I sure hope so, as the game deserves a wider audience. Posted by Greg Schloesser on Sep 1, 2008 at 10:39 AM | #

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