Best Two Out Of Three

We had some errands to run on the west side of town which meant we were doing lunch at Café Yumm!. Liz really loves that place. And for entertainment we brought...

The Duke 2 players
This is an abstract game loosely similar to chess. You play on a 6×6 grid. Each players starts with 3 pieces on the board: one duke and two footman. On your turn, you can take an action with a piece or draw a new piece out of your bag to add to the board and place next to your duke. Each piece has a different collection of actions it can take. This is why the pieces are tiles; the actions they can take are illustrated on the tile. Actions range from moving, sliding, jumping, striking, and commanding. If this were the whole game it would be pretty good, but there is still more. After you take an action with a piece, you must flip the tile over. On the flip side is a different set of actions the piece can take. This makes the game intense. The goal is to get the other player's duke.

I tend to make a lot of mistakes while playing this game. I don't break the rules. I just make stupid moves. At least 3 or 4 times during a game I will make a move and then immediately realized I've just trapped my own duke. I try to hide my nervousness and hope the other player doesn't catch my mistake. Most of the time I get lucky. Other times I don't.

We started the first game and I won in about 5 moves. We started a new game and Liz won in about 5 moves. We started a third game and we really made sure to pay attention. I almost had it in 5 moves again, but Liz caught wind of the danger she was in and changed her plan. Liz was on the run for the first half of the game. I'd put her in check and she'd move. She'd add a piece to the board and I'd take it. Soon she was able to get me in check. I was smart enough not to trap myself this time. I scared her duke again and she moved it off into the back corner. I now had a plan. I got my troops in just the right places, poised to strike. Only one thing could mess it up and that was if she was able to add a piece that would foil my plan. I though she pulled a piece that would. The piece allowed her to essentially teleport her duke. I went with the plan anyway and things went as expected. She then teleported her Duke and realized anywhere she was allowed to place it was a place I could attack. Thank goodness for my extra footman. We both had a jolly good time with it.

We both like the game better than chess for the same general reason, but for opposite reasons. Liz likes that the moves are on the tiles, because she has a hard time visualizing the move in chess. It's all one big mess in chess to her. The Duke just tells it like it is. I like the game because of the moves on the tiles as well, but not because it make it easier than chess, but because it makes it harder than chess. Each piece in chess has one movement rule, expect the pawn and the king/rook. In The Duke, every piece has a number of actions it can take and another different set after it takes one. You not only have to plan for what you see, but what you don't see. The Duke may tell it like it is, but it doesn't tell you the whole story. You have to do some snooping.

Tally: 50/152  Bonus: 12/50