by Jaffer Batica, Rosedale Manager

I know I've already touched on the subject of tile games like Dominoes and Ingenious, but we just got this new game in called Qwirkle and I couldn't resist writing about it because it's that enjoyable. Now, normally I don't go in for flashy components (what we gamers call "chrome") but let me just say that I liked Qwirkle right when we opened the box: black wooden blocks that have one of thirty-six color and shape combinations (six shapes by six colors) that have that lovely clack-clack that all tile games share. I said to myself right when we opened the box that there must be an excellent game attached to these components and there is.

Qwirkle is one of those games like Othello, Blokus, or Checkers that has an elemental set of rules: set down one or more tiles down into the array and score points depending on where they're put. A tile has to match either in shape or color the line it is set down in and it can score for multiple lines, if possible, and must be unique in the line that it is connected to, that is, there can be, for example, only one green circle in a line of green tiles or one green in a line of circles. After that set of basic rules, it's all a question of playing the tiles from your hand into points. Qwirkle has a lot in common with Dominoes, but with more simplified scoring and symbols, but it also has a lot in common with Scrabble, we found, by the way that a tile can score on multiple lines depending on how you place it, something like the equivalent of a double word score. The only thing about Qwirkle was the size of the tiles - about an inch on a side - which made playing the game on the counter somewhat tight, but at home, you'd probably be playing on the floor or a table.

I would think of Qwirkle as a sort of Ingenious Junior, for the Junior Geniuses in your family. That's not to say that only kids could enjoy Qwirkle. The game has a pleasant lightness as far as its rules and strategy, while at the same time being enough of a challenge to adults to keep it from becoming a War or Candyland with blocks. I await anxiously the adult expansion rules for Qwirkle that will add even more depth and strategy to the game because these blocks are cool enough to become a game system instead of just a game in no time.

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