YORKTON - There is something about wooden games that just add so much to the aesthetic.
So it is going to be a joy exploring some games from newventuregames.com.
The games company has a rather large catalogue of games – most made with wooden boards and pieces. That is the case with this week’s review game: Quaro.
Quaro is actually a rather old game having been released more than a half century ago by notable designer Alex Randolph.
Ardent board game fans will know Randolph was a highly prolific designer with a bunch of rather well-known games – at least for the era – including Ricochet Robots, Twixt, Buffalo Chess and Breakthru (this one is on the future review schedule).
Quaro is one of those games that ‘feels’ like an abstract strategy game, but isn’t quite perfect information since you are always replenishing your supply of pieces from a bag, so you have no idea what you might get.
The game will play two-to-four players, although like almost every abstract strategy ‘like’ games it falters at three, because board control of any kind gets lost, and generally one player has advantage and one will struggle mightily.
When playing four you are in teams, so now you can try to set up your partner for better plays, although no discussing strategy in game. This option has potential for family and friends play.
At two Quaro is at its best, although you can get thwarted by bad draws from the bag.
The game is rather simple.
Pegs of four different colours are used – wooden here which is nice.
On your turn you place one peg, attempting to create an orthogonal or diagonal line of four with one peg of each colour to score one point.
If you succeed you get to play again, and so on.
Games often start very defensively, and then suddenly a placement might be forced, and one play might score two, three, four points, and that opens the door to other score options.
The trick part is staying focused, especially looking for diagonal points which can seem to get lost on the compact board amid the multi-colour pieces.
Quaro is not the world’s greatest game – even among the ‘in-a-row’ family, but the New Ventures Games edition does have an ‘heirloom’ quality to it which means it would look nice on the office desk, is fine fun for family gatherings, or a rainy day option at the cabin.
