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Abalone  BUY NOW  $29.98

Abalone takes only a few short minutes to learn--and it's never the same game twice. Just move your marbles toward your opponent, outnumber him, and force him off the board! Although Abalone can be learned easily by players of almost any age, advanced game players can enjoy the challenge of its strategies. And Abalone can be played anywhere--indoors or out. A great-playing strategy game like this comes along only once in a lifetime! Also available: Abalone Travel Edition.

This terrific German import is like two player Chinese Checkers but with a very nasty twist. You have to get your ten marbles from the far side of the board to your side so that they occupy the places your opponents marbles started on. A marble can jump in any direction over any number of marbles of any color to the first vacant space beyond. But a marble may only move horizontal to the next adjacent space. The board rests on a fulcrum, and before each move, the Balanx board is tilted in the direction of the opponent. As a result, the 20 solid glass marbles roll into new and interesting positions. The winner will be the player who can keep his eye on the rapidly changing situation, and move his marbles to his finishing corner.

Blokus is a maddeningly simple game! The basic strategy is to place all your tiles on the game board while trying to block your opponents from placing their tiles. The rules are simple: blue goes first, followed by yellow, then red and finally green. The first player (blue) places any piece of their choice in it’s home corner. Each color plays in turn. Two pieces of the same color must touch at their corners, but they cannot touch along their sides. When there is no piece left of a color that can be played, that color is considered “abandoned”. When all the colors are abandoned, the winner is the person (or team) with the highest score. Players score one point for each square covered, 15 bonus points if they manage to use all their tiles, and 5 more points if the last piece played is the single square. Also available: Blokus Travel Edition.

Imagine yourself living during Medieval Times, the period of history referred to as the Middle Ages. The Roman Empire had recently collapsed and the Renaissance era had not yet begun. Medieval towns cropped up throughout Western Europe. The Cathedral, a place of sanctuary and worship, was the focal point of the city and located in the center of town. Shops and various trading stores surrounded the Cathedral, while residents and shop keepers lived within the stone walls which formed the town boundary. What went on within these walls was dictated by rich and powerful landowners. In the game of Cathedral, you are such a landowner. The playing board represents the site of the walled city. Two sets of playing pieces symbolize both the buildings and the two opposing forces who battle to gain control by strategically positioning their building pieces back on the board. In this award-winning game of competition and rivalry, victory goes to the player who is best at blocking and out-maneuvering their opponent. Also available: Cathedral - Wooden Edition.

Build to make your view of the city match your aspirations. Secretly plan the shape of this city from its primary view on your side. Then take turns building it to meet your plan, and/or thwart your opponent. This is a game of correctly anticipating other players' hidden agendas. A quick family game to play over and over again. It challenges you to achieve your secret goals and second-guess your opponent's actions, as you build competing views of a city.

Simple to the eye, but perhaps a lifetime in mastering, Dao is a pure game of strategy that plays out with opposing sets of four pieces on a 4 X 4 playing square. At each turn, move any one piece in any direction of your choosing—vertically, horizontally, or diagonally—as far as you can go until you reach the end of a playing square or another play piece. Win by arranging your pieces in a vertical or horizontal line, by occupying a 2 x 2 square, by occupying all four corners, or by becoming trapped in any one corner by three of your opponent’s pieces. This elegant, endlessly challenging game is great for all ages 8 and up, and includes game mat, 8 play pieces and drawstring sack, instructions, storage tube, and game tin.

Da Vinci's Challenge is the ancient game of secret symbols! This classic strategy game contains mysteries as old as the pyramids. The pattern of circles on the game board forms the ancient symbol called the Flower of Life, inscribed on Pyramid walls by the Egyptians over 6,000 years ago and studied in depth by Leonardo Da Vinci. The timeless symbol that has inspired artists and thinkers over the ages creates a playing surface that is both beautiful and intriguing. Players take turns placing game pieces on the board to form 9 different patterns. The more complex the pattern, the higher the point value. The player who scores the most points in the end wins!

DVONN is a challenging stacking game with very simple rules. It is played with 3 red DVONN pieces, 23 white pieces, and 23 black pieces. The players must try to control as many pieces as possible by building stacks, preferably by jumping on top of their opponent's pieces. While doing so, pieces and stacks must remain linked to the red DVONN pieces. If not, they are out of the game! When no more moves can be made, each player puts their stacks on top of each other. The player with the highest stack wins the game!

A Mystic Struggle for a Great Line of Power! Capture three islands in a row, by controlling three points in a row on each. A strategic, move-and-place game with shifting strategies, that increases in complexity until one player wins. There is a minimum of 9 moves each, and a maximum of 24 moves for each player. A new move gives depth and fluidity to this game of few rules, on a board of extraordinary symmetry.

Ingenious is an amazing game for one to four brains! Are you ingenious? You are when playing this extraordinary game! Combining fun game-play, great components, and real strategy, Ingenious will have you quickly addicted. Developed by acclaimed game designer Reiner Kniza, this game features simple rules, quick playing time, and a clever scoring system that makes this one game you won't want to miss. Ingenious is a Mensa Mind Game of the Year Winner for 2005.

In Isolate players can experience the strategy of separation! Grab your color tiles, arrange them on the game board, and isolate your tiles first to win! Simple to learn, but challenging enough for experienced competitors. Isolate is perfect for the entire family! Contents of Isolate: 16 tiles, Gameboard, Instructions.

Khet is the game that combines lasers with classic strategy! Players alternate turns moving Egyptian-themed pieces having two, one or no mirrored surfaces. All four types of pieces can either move one square forward, back, left, right, or diagonal, or can stay in the same square and rotate by a quarter twist. Each turn ends by firing one of the lasers built into the board. The laser beam bounces from mirror to mirror, and if the beam strikes a non-mirrored surface on any piece it is immediately removed from play. The ultimate goal is to illuminate your opponent's pharaoh, while shielding your own from harm! Batteries are included.

King's Table is a 1,500 year old forerunner of chess! It is an exact replica of the game played in A.D. 400, as found in Lapland in 1732. It was played by Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Finns, Icelanders and Russians. The Vikings carried the game all through Europe down into India/Persia and as far south as Baghdad. This Viking game consists of 25 pieces divided between two unequally matched sides. It is a game of attack and defense. Either side can play an aggressive game, or can suddenly switch tactics. The problems for each side are different, so try playing alternative games on different sides and see who wins the most games. The game board is made of wood with a hinged top for storage and measures 9" by 9" by 2".

Nine Men's Morris (also known as Mill) has been played for some 3,000 years. The pattern of the board is found twice, as graffiti, in the 1300 BC Egyptian temple, the Ramesseum in Egypt. Each player has nine pieces which move between the twenty-four intersections of three interlocking squares, and the object is to strategically reduce your opponent down to only two marbles. This version of Nine Men’s Morris includes a handsome solid oak board (7 1/2" by 7 1/2"), glass marbles, and a drawstring bag to store the marbles when not in use.

Win the Race Across a Growing Maze... Replace tiles to create paths for your runners and send them in a punctuated journey across the board. Place your pieces, plan your paths and race to the finish! Fascinating and fun for the family.

Outfox is an easy-to-learn game with a twist. The goal is to form a row of three pieces, either three shapes in one color, or one shape in three colors. The twist is that as each piece is placed the piece next to it must slide to a new position. Each move presents a whole new set of possibilities!

The aim of the game is to line up 4 of your balls in a row. But hold on a minute! A player cannot move a ball individually or with a ball of their own color. Moves MUST be made with an adjoining ball of their opponent's! The two balls are then moved together as a single unit, in any direction. Simple rules, intricate play.

Pentago is a fast and fun strategy game that is both simple and sophisticated at the same time! The object of the game is to create a row of five marbles, in any direction. But the mind twisting part is that you will also twist one of the four game blocks as part of your move. This causes the game board to constantly change, making for a perpetually challenging game experience, both for beginners and masters alike! The Pentago board measures approximately 5 3/4" by 5 3/4".

Pillars of Plato is a great two player strategy game! It is easy to learn but hard to master. Start with all the pieces in the reservoirs and the poles clear. Players take turns placing one piece at a time on a pole, trying to line up four in a row of their own color. The line can be diagonal, horizontal or vertical. Four in a row wins the game! This lovely hardwood game would be at home on your coffee table or your desk.

Utilizing the forces of magnetism, players take turns placing hovering magnetic discs on the board in order to impose chaos on their opponent. This chaos, which causes discs that are in play to come together in a flash of magnetic frenzy, results in scoring opportunities. Stacks of more than one disc (towers) are counted as points and the player with the most points at the end of a game wins. Polarity is easy to learn, exciting to play, and strategically challenging enough to keep you playing for many years to come. Polarity is suitable for beginner players, but will also provide a deep, intriguing and ongoing challenge to more advanced players.

Shift the Spheres to Form a Triangle in the Ruins of the Pyramids. A fun and easy to learn game in which a winning triangle pattern is formed by moving balls along passages under the Great Pyramids. Quadtria is a casual, easily understood, yet compelling game, where strategy shifts like desert sand and a watchful initiative is essential.

A 2-person strategy game with 3- and 4-player variations, the rules take 2 minutes to learn, while the play variety is endless. Games average 10-20 minutes, and the wooden board and playing pieces are strikingly handsome. Easy for children to learn and play, opponents create a maze to impede but not trap their opponent. A good game is a series of strategically crucial moves, often leading to an exciting race to the finish. Also available: Quoridor Magnetic Travel Edition.

Quarto has received a Parent's Choice Award, Game of the Year award in Italy, MENSA's Top 5 Games Award, Toy Testing Council Award and a Prize of Excellence award. This game moves along quickly. You win by getting four in a row of color, shape or height of pieces. The twist is your opponent picks which piece you must play next. A game for two players. A wonderful gift for the thinking person. A Software Version of Quarto is also available, as well as Quarto Travel Edition.

This is a simple-to-play but hard-to-master strategy game. Players place and move cubes in order to rearrange the play area, so they have 5 of their own cubes in a row. Quixo plays like a very advanced version of Tic Tac Toe where one tries to get five in a row. The game can be learned in a few minutes and moves along quickly. Quixo has received a Parent's Choice Award, Games Magazine Best Strategy Game Award, a Gold Award from the International Festival of Games/Cannes and a MENSA's Top 5 Games Award.

Rhumb Line is a strategic nautical game for two pirates played on a compass rose! Players place markers at coordinates to create a radius, an arc, or a spiral to navigate their position and block their opponent. By definition, a rhumb line is the shortest distance between two points on a compass appearing straight on a chart but actually curved due to the shape of the Earth. The Rhumb Line game includes 1100 years of nautical history covering Fluer De Lis, mercator charts, sailing routes from Europe to America and sailors pastimes during ocean voyages. Includes polished stone playing pieces, playing mat, drawstring bag, rules and history of the game.

Surround your opponents to win the most territories in Ringgz! In this exciting strategy game, players challenge each other to win the most territories using colorful wooden rings. Find the right balance between gaining majorities and controlling your opponents to capture victory. Fast paced and addictive, this beautifully crafted game will be sure to please the whole family! Includes 1 wooden playing board, 1 starting base, 48 wooden rings, 12 wooden bases, and illustrated rules.

Rumis is an exciting game of three-dimensional strategy based on the amazing architecture of the ancient Inca! In the game of Rumis (meaning "stones" in ancient Quechua) players begin constructing a building one stone at a time, strategically placing their stones to prevent opponents from having the most visible colored stones. Construction is limited by the shape and height of the building and by the number of players. Each stone placed must touch at least one face of the same color, but not extend beyond the plan’s height limitations. The player with the most stones visible from above at the end is the winner! Rumis is a winner of the National Competition Award from Mensa Select.

The stakes are high with Skybridge! With simple rules and quick games, you will want to play this 3-D strategy game again and again! Players take turns using the wooden pieces to construct their buildings higher and higher. All you have to do is be the best builder to win Skybridge! Includes wooden gameboard, 44 wooden playing pieces, and complete game rules.

What's your angle of attack? In Spectrangle, you angle for the best spot on the board in this fast-paced game of skills and numbers. Strategically place your game pieces where they will earn you the most points . . . while making it harder for your opponents to place their pieces. The more sides you match, the more you mulitply your score. Score the most points to win the game!

Spin & Trap is a unique strategy game where both offensive and defensive strategies are required for victory. On their turn, players try to trap one of the three green marbles on the game board so that it is surrounded by their colored marbles by using either the 3-marble rotator or the 6-marble rotator. The first player to successfully trap and capture two green marbles wins.

Test your strategic skills in this ancient and mysterious game. You can play alone or compete online to win rare artifacts. As you increase your skill, you can unleash the power of the Norse Gods on your opponents. There are 7 different unlockable variations and over 50 rare items to collect. An emphasis on simple strategy and gameplay makes Tablut ideal for both beginners and advanced players. Windows download.

Draw a glass stone from the pouch and play it onto the beautiful solid wood board of this Mensa Award Game. You must play in the same row or column as your opponent's last stone. Get three stones of your color in a row and you score. This game is an innovative variation on the classic 3-in-a-row challenge; create a complex strategy of offensive and defensive moves to form 3-in-a-rows while trying to prevent your opponent from doing the same. Winner of the Parents' Choice award and the Games Magazine "Games 100" award.

The Ur game board is a reproduction of a game board found in Mesopotamia's Biblical city of Ur of the Chaldees. It is from this city according to ancient scriptures, where God "called" Abraham. Explorers were unable to locate the city until the 1920's when Sir Leonard Wooley, leading a joint British Museum-University of Pennsylvania expedition unearthed this 5,000 year-old city revealing an advanced pagan civilization and a hoard of treasures. Handcrafting this game board reproduction from the original display at the British museum was difficult, and it then took years to develop the Ur Game for adults (using strategy) and a second game for children (a race game). Both versions are for two players and are easy to learn, yet challenging to master. The Ur Game board is made of handcrafted wood and measures 13" by 5" by 1 3/4". The game comes with three different types of game pieces which store easily in the hidden drawer at one end of the game board.

Zčrtz is played with 5 white, 7 gray and 9 black marbles and 37 round tiles. The tiles are used to assemble the board; the marbles are in a pool. Each turn you must place one marble on the board and then remove a free tile. The aim is to capture 3 white, 4 gray, 5 black marbles or 2 marbles of each color. To capture you must jump with a marble over another marble. It sounds easy, but both players play with the same marbles and the board gets smaller with every move. Thus, the players are forced toward a situation where every move is a crucial one... when you create a trap for your opponent at the wrong moment, you may find yourself caught in the trap.