Rio Grande Games Tzaar, (113278)

While this is not the first in the justifiably famous GIPF Project series by the brilliant abstract board game designer Kris Burm, it was nevertheless where I started. If, like me, you prefer the artful purity and unsullied intensity of purely abstract, un-themed games, this is a great place to start. (Note to the unconverted: pure abstracts are the highest order board gaming can ascend to, achieving the level of fine art in ways that themed games (especially RPGs) can not approach. Although themed games are at the moment far more “marketable” in the estimation of most game publishers, because they involve so many disparate neurological modalities - language/narrative, geometric/mathematical, social/relational, etc. - they tend to have a comic book appearance when compared to the high art of the abstracts. If you don’t believe me, and are philosophically inclined, read a bit of Kant’s third critique on aesthetic judgment, and there you will find a very cogent argument for what I am talking about ... “purposeiveness without purpose,” “abstraction without being conceptual.” While I don’t disparage the pleasures of playing themed games or RPGs, I am suggesting that this is of an entirely higher order. But I digress....)This game has extremely crisp mechanics, easily learned but hard to master, lending it to endless re-playing enjoyment. It also has an aspect common to all of the GIPF Project’s seven games: an extended nearly structureless opening phase, which can last for quite some time, as actionable patterns onto which tactics and strategies may deploy themselves slowly emerge. I take great pleasure in this quality of all the GIPF games. It introduces a nearly meditative sort of watchfulness which gives me the rare opportunity to observe how my brain moves through sequences of pattern recognition, a process I could actually call, at its deeper manifestations, “enlightening.”So what about chess, then, the supposed king of the abstract games? Well, first of all, it’s not exactly theme-free, with its courtly metaphors for the pieces’ names (and even their respective movements). Also, while technically abstract, chess has so many different movements and rules and move permutations that its higher, synthetic elegance is reserved primarily for those on the master player level (from which, sadly, I am leagues away... 🙁). Moreover, the density of the chess pieces’ movements’ interwoveness can give rise in some people to a peculiarly obsessive discomfort the German novelist Stefan Zweig describes and calls “chess sickness” in his 1941 novella “Chess.” The more stripped down minimalism of the GIPF project mechanics somehow sidestep this oddity. And there is another difference not at first readily apparent: chess with its classically Cartesian rectilinear grid ( ranks and files in checker pattern) is very familiar to us, as we generally employ some form of Cartesian orientation in our day to day perambulation of our daily lives. This and all the GIPF games employ the hexagonal grid (growing in popularity in many other gaming formats at the moment). The 30 degree rotational segments this creates are just disorienting enough to bump the experience a bit above the familiar, introducing both surprises and aesthetic delights rarely found in Descartes’ Flatland.My recommendation? Buy them all, recommend them to your local game sellers and spread the message: pure abstracts are awesome, truly an art form for the 21st Century!

Tzaar is my new favorite game! It has all the gaming essentials: easy to learn, difficult to master, and as bonus it is tangibly a very pretty, well constructed game. The game pieces are so satisfyingly hardy. I love the clink of each chip as they stack. Timing: it's not a very lengthy game (unless you draw out each turn while overthinking your moves) so its great to leave out on the coffee table to play a round on a whim. Concept: abstract, strategy game. It can be described as "advanced checkers" or something of the like, but that sounds so boring, and it's actually a lot of fun!

If you've played any of Kris Burm's "Gipf Project" games you know they are all exceptionally enjoyable strategy games for both young and old. It needs to be accepted though that "Tzaar" was designed to substitute for the sadly unpopular "Tamsk." As a result it brings with it a lot of what is familiar and only a few surprises. "Tamsk" was designed to evoke a sandstorm and further served as an allegory about time. If a player was caught abusing that time, his opponent was then given two moves instead of one. This then carried into the "Tamsk Potential" within "Gipf" which provided two moves. "Tzaar" picks up at this point, using the exact same shape as the "Tamsk Potential" for the game piece. "Tzaar" also uses two moves, but the interesting twist is that EVERY move is two moves as opposed to just a rare occurrence. You can spend your second move either making your opponent's family weaker or your family stronger. The latter is accomplished by stacking your pieces which for me is too evocative of "Dvonn." Your pieces can also move the length of any open space which is rather evocative of "Yinsh." "Tzaar"s only significant difference is that the center of the hexagonal playing area, which when controlled in the other games typically lends you an advantage over your opponent, is actually a void that can serve as a defensive barrier from one side of the board to the other. All in all, it is still a good game and a significant improvement over "Tamsk" but inasmuch that it is not as uniquely original as the other games in the series, I can only give it four stars.

Each side has three types of pieces. Each type has a different number available. On your turn, you must eliminate one piece from your opponent. Then you can choose to eliminate another piece from your opponent or stack your piece, making it less vulnerable to attack or do nothing. What makes this difficult is there are so many ways to lose. If you can't make a capture, you lose. If you lose all of a type on the board, you lose. The play starts simple and rapidly becomes difficult. The rounds are not that long. If you like strategy games, this one is great.

I got this game for my husband because he loves strategy games. HE LOVES IT!I play it with him and I have to admit that even though he kicks my butt it is alot of fun and very strategic.It's deceptively simple but that's good because as long as the players are of similar skill it keeps it fun and challenging for both. At a basic level it is fun and at an advanced level it is even more fun.It would be great for kids to teach higher level thinking skills and encourage "out-of-the-box" thinking.We purchased some of the other games in this series and will eventually get them all.