FULL REVIEW

Don Kirkby
Abstract Games Magazine
August, 2003
Canada

First there was Trax, with square tiles and the two possible path combinations on opposing sides of each tile. Then there was Tantrix, with hexagonal tiles, three or four colors, and a separate tile for each possible combination. Now comes Octiles, with octagonal tiles. The designer has kept the complexity manageable, making all paths the same color, and has changed the goal to that of Halma or Chinese Checkers: exchange positions with your opponent. Also different is the fact that octagons cannot tessellate the plane—they leave square holes that are filled by "stepping stones."

The tiles start out face down. On each turn you take one tile and use it to replace a tile on the board. Then you choose a path for your man to follow from one stepping stone to another. The path can take you across a single tile, across the whole board, or anywhere in between; it could even loop around to where you started. Then your opponent takes the tile you just replaced and uses it to make his move, and so on.

The game's strategy involves building two paths with the same tiles: one to use immediately for short hops, and one to build up for another piece's nice, long run. You must also try to avoid leaving good paths behind for your opponent to use. (The worst thing is to make an amazing sprint across most of the board only to have your opponent immediately jump on the same path and switch places with you.)

I really enjoyed the first few games I played, making "whoosh" and "beep beep" noises as I zipped along the paths, but thereafter games slowed down as players tried to look at every possible combination in the midgame. The use of a Chess clock (or egg timer!) would solve this problem..

The designers have put in lots of effort, and they include a second game, with different winning conditions, as well as a solitaire. The game has the same attractive look as all the games in the Masterpiece series, but the design has a couple of minor playability flaws—the inner tiles are held in place by the stepping stones, but the outer ones kept getting knocked loose; we also knocked the men off the stepping stones several times. Despite these issues, Octiles is an interesting and original game.

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