Alas, some abstracts won’t convert non-lovers

I have been spending perhaps an unhealthy amount of time dwelling on abstracts and abstracts I that folks who get hives from abstracts will still enjoy. Well, at least in my own arrogant opinion. Nine times out of ten, my reasoning probably breaks down to ‘I like it so you should too!’

However, there are some abstracts that I like that I’m absolutely convinced that only abstract lovers would enjoy. None of ‘Hive is the abstract for abstract haters’. Some games are ‘you don’t like abstracts? Yeah, you won’t like this’.

There doesn’t seem to be a formula to this. If simple and accessible were what it takes, Edward de Bono’s L-Game would be the gift for converting folks to abstracts. Each player gets one piece and there are two neutral pieces. Block your opponent from making a move and you get to win. But the game is so dry with the potential for the endless stalemates, I consider it more of an intellectual exercise in minimalism than a game.

Amazons, on the other hand, is a game that I think is cracking good. (I don’t actually know where that phrase comes from. I just stole the adverb from Bertie Wooster.) You move your queens on a ten by ten board, blocking off squares with every move. The board grows smaller and smaller and if you can’t move, the other guy wins. 

Amazons is a head cracker of a game and a really smart design. But it seems to be only the darling of abstract lovers. I can’t put my finger on exactly why I know but I can’t see myself trying to convert someone to abstract games with Amazons.

(Okay, maybe the fact that it is such a brain burner is a reason)

Then, there is the likes of games like Alfred’s Wyke, which is a weird abstract lover’s weird abstract. You either remove or add tiles in order to control a grid and there are five different types of moves. And you can’t use a move that’s been used in the last two turns.

Honestly, I have never found a game even remotely like it. It’s never been published outside of a magazine article and the website Super Duper Games has probably given it any exposure it’s had. It’s brilliant and almost unheard of and just plain weird. This is a game I’d struggle to get other abstract lovers to like.

A lot of the abstracts I’m interested in are games that I think folks who aren’t into abstracts can still enjoy. I’m an Everyman of abstracts for the most part. But apparently there are some exceptions.

Minimalism in an L-Shape

Very, very early in my explorations of boardgames, I came across the L-Game. It was Edward de Bono's first exercise in minimalist game design. I know that he later revisited minimalist game design with 3 Spot but the L-Game was the one that I first discovered. 

To be fair, those are the only two games I have played by de Bono but they also are the only major games I understand he designed. Well, for certain value of major.

The L-Game consists of five pieces, including the board. It is a 4 x 4 board with two gray neutral pieces in each player has one piece, shaped like an L, in their own color.

The game is super simple. You must first move your piece. You may then move one of the neutral pieces. If you can't make a move, you lose.

Perfect play in the L-Game will result in the game never-ending. Usually, a game being solved means either the first or second player can force a win. Never ending is a bit different.

Now, for me, that's not a plus. The L-Game is an example of a game that can reset itself over and over again, instead of developing. Early when I was getting back into board games, part of rediscovering Othello was realizing how the board filling up acted as a timer and meant the board was always changing.

I am still fond of the L-Game. Part of that is nostalgia. Part of it is that every game I've played of it has had someone win, although the game effectively resetting itself is kind of annoying. 

But a lot of my fondness comes from the unique and unusual feel of the game. It may not be the most minimal game I've ever played but between the small size, small number of components and simplicity of the rules, it marries minimalism with a classic feel. 

The small size, fond memories, the unusual feel and the fact that my

dad likes it has kept the L-Game in my collection. It definitely isn't for everyone, not even for abstract lovers. But it can make you scratch your head.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6474/l-game