Tabletop Spotlight: Tak
As simple as Go, as elegant as Chess, Tak will have you playing in minutes but the hard part is winning…
The Tabletop Spotlight is on a board game that comes from a story. Tak is actually from the Kingkiller Chronicle and luckily for us, our friends at Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy brought over a copy for us to check out:
Tak is a game that taps into the same vein as classics Chess, Go, and Mancala. Every culture has a game that’s a classic that is passed down from generation to generation – one that anyone can learn quickly to play but games that take lifetimes to master. What’s unique about Tak is THAT but from a fantasy world. First introduced in the Kingkiller Chronicle Novel The Wiseman’s Fear – it was only briefly mentioned. That left fans wondering what this mysterious game was so, a Kickstarter later, the game is out now for everyone to enjoy!
The rules are simple:
- Tak uses a square board, which can be any size from 3×3 up to 8×8, but the most common sizes are 5×5 and 6×6 (the “Tavern” and “Classic” games).
- Each player has several matching pieces, or “stones,” and one special piece called the “Capstone.” The Capstone can be any shape, and the other pieces should be simple, stackable pieces in a matching style.
- The board starts empty, and the goal is to build a road (a connected string of your pieces) connecting opposite sides of the board.
- On each turn, you will either place a piece in an empty space, or move a stack that you control. Stacks must move in a straight line, dropping pieces as they go, and possibly covering other pieces along the way.
- You can play a piece upright. This piece is called a “standing stone,” or “wall.” It can’t be part of a road, but other pieces can’t stack on top of it.
- The Capstone is your power piece. It can be part of a road, it can’t be stacked on, and it can also flatten standing stones.
The full rules can be found HERE. What I like most about this game is that you can change the game board’s size to fit the game you want to play. That leads to lots of different iterations of things that can happen and can really change up the way the game can turn out. It’s delightfully simple and yet it can be a real challenge to win because it’s designed for a 1v1 experience.
If you’re looking for a game that can scale and will challenge you to think about more than your current turn then check out Tak – it’s in stores and available online now!
Tak
To win a game of TAK, a player must be the first to create a “road” of stones connecting opposite sides of the board.
Stones can be laid flat or stood on end. When played flat, they are called “flat stones.” In this orientation, other stones can be stacked on them. If they are stood on end, they are called “standing stones” or “walls.” Nothing can be stacked atop a standing stone, but these do not count as part of a player’s road.
Depending on the size of the game, players may also have capstones, which can can come in many decorative shapes. Capstones serve as both a flat stone and a wall, and can also flatten standing walls.
“My next several hours were spent learning how to play Tak. Even if I had not been nearly mad with idleness, I would have enjoyed it. Tak is the best sort of game: simple in its rules, complex in its strategy. Bredon beat me handily in all five games we played, but I am proud to say that he never beat me the same way twice.”
-Kvothe, The Wise Man’s Fear
