Customer Reviews

Gigamic Quoridor Classic Game

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this game for my 11-year old son, and now I find myself asking everyone in my family if they can spare 15 minutes to play a game with me! The game play is simple: on each turn, either move your pawn one space closer to the finish line, or use one of your two-square wide tiles to block your opponent's progress (you start with ten of these), but you can't completely block them in. Whoever gets there first, wins! Each game takes on its own personality, as new strategies constantly evolve. We also handicap the grownups when they play the kids by allowing them to only use 7 or 8 of their tiles, which gives the kids a fair chance to win. Games take anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes to play, and the beautiful wooden gameboard and pieces are fun to use. Like chess and checkers, it's all skill and no luck. This has become my favorite game! I'd recommend it for anyone age 7 or older who likes thinking games.

The game concept is very good. In fact, I give the game concept 5 out of 5 stars. Unfortunately, the execution of the game board is a bit lacking.

First, the board is small. The squares are much smaller than a traditional chess game board. This, combined with the fact that the pieces are a bit wobbly, makes the game somewhat frustrating because the pieces often fall over.

Second, the game is designed for two or four players, but the board is really only designed for two players. The board should be symmetrical for all four players, but there is only a "bank" to hold the fences for two of the players. Even more frustrating, the board is sized symmetrically for all four players, but for two of the players, the space is just left empty.

If they ever come out with a larger, truly four player edition, I will get it and rate it a five.

Quoridor is quite a bit of fun, particularly if you enjoy games that require more thinking, like Mastermind. Game time is short, so even young players can play and then play again without feeling like they're tied to a game of chess. The game does require some strategy-sense, so not sure if 8 and up is appropriate, maybe 12 and up. Adults will have the most fun however since you can easily play 4 or 5 games an hour.

Elegant execution of an elegant fundamental concept. Simple rules. Room for very deep strategy, yet fun strategic discoveries are accessible even at beginner levels. Beginners correctly feel they understand enough to make respectable moves and to create problems for the opponent. Surprising turns of advantage can occur.

Both players get 11 pieces: 1 pawn plus 10 fences. Each turn you move your pawn of place a fence. To win, get your pawn from the north edge to the south edge, while your opponent tries to get his pawn from south to north. You are not allowed to create an impenetrable complete chain of fences. Thus sometimes you place a fence to seal all but one remaining opening for your pawn, making it illegal for your opponent to block your pawn's path out -- which sometimes takes you unstoppably to your winning destination!

At times you can make a move that looks terrible for you to the eye yet is a winning move. What is visually happening on the board translates very well to an impression of the strategic effects of the moves, somewhat like Twixt.
Chess players will immediately recognize a loose analog of king opposition in chess endgames, and will feel similar issues surrounding immobility. Unlike chess or Khet, you never suffer a discouraging and probably permanent material deficit.
Playing Quoridor gives me a feeling that is a hybrid of what Twixt and Chess make me feel.

Khet is another great game I have yet encountered with this elegance and the other attributes at the same superb level as Twixt and Quoridor. Quoridor has fewer blunders than Khet (blunders in Khet feel much less forgivable than in chess, yet are more frequent in Khet than in chess). Quoridor is a Wow.

My wife knows nothing about games. Yet as a gift for me, my wife chose Quoridor over Quarto, even tho the games shop owner slightly recommended Quarto over Quoridor. She said Quoridor looked more like a board game with some animation to it.

My wife and daughter both immediately wanted to play a second game. Excellent durations of approx 15-20 minutes. Pleasant to touch, made of wood, not plastic. Opportunities of clever moves. For 2 or 4 players (not 3, not "2-4" as the game box misleads).

At www .quoridor .net you can play against a computer in pseudo-3D, for free. Play against its strongest level.

Terrific, original boardgame -- beautiful wooden construction, simple rules lead to a surprisingly complex game for 2 or 4 players, small pieces are easy to lose but company said they will replace at no charge if necessary. We love it!

The rules for Quoridor are a paragraph long. You can understand everything you need to play the game in just a few minutes of watching someone play. The whole game takes five, maybe ten minutes. And yet it's completely absorbing, deeply challenging, often surprising, uniquely compelling.

The game is played on a 9x9 grid. Deep channels separate the squares. These channels are deep enough to hold a "wall" - a thin wooden rectangle wide enough to span the border of two squares. Each player has a wooden pawn. The object of the game is to be the first player to advance her pawn to the opposite side of the board. Each player, in the two-player version, also gets ten walls. On your turn you can either move your pawn one square horizontally or vertically, or you can add a wall. These two choices seem remarkably familiar, elegantly embodying a fundamental political dynamic: to advance our own cause, or to prevent the opposition from advancing. The result of this debate is the creation of an evermore complex maze, again depicting something remarkably familiar to anyone engaged in political discourse. Republicans, democrats, lovers, parents, children.

As Rob Solow reports, Quoridor is such an elegant game that it can be easily played (with some minor modifications) with a 5-year-old. And that is another important thing to note about Quoridor - because it is so easy to understand, because it's components are so few and so functional, it is also easy to modify. Like tic tac toe, Quoridor invites you to come up with new ways to play. Rob talks about giving the weaker player more walls. Since you can play several games in a half-hour, it is easy to create a handicapping system where the losing player gets two more fences for the next round.

Quoridor comes with four different-color pawns. In the four-player version, each player gets five wall pieces, and the pawns start out in the center of the board rather than on the opposite ends. This points to yet another variable - the starting position of the pawns. Then there's the rule for what happens when two pawns meet. In the standard rules, they get to jump over each other. But that, clearly, is only the beginning. And one can't help but gleefully contemplate the implications of a two-player version with four pawns.

Quoridor exemplifies the kind of thinking game that prompted the creation of the Major FUN award. It can be intensely competitive, but its elegance and brevity make playing the game itself fun, no matter who wins.

Designed by Mirko Marchesi, Quoridor is another beautifully rendered wooden game from Gigamic, available in the US through the wise auspices of Fundex Games.

I first discovered Quoridor on Big Brother 4 when I was channel-surfing. The house guests were playing this game I had never heard of which consisted of moving pawns from one end of a board to the other end, while their opponent was putting up fences to impede their progress. I became fascinated with the game and began searching all the local toy stores before finally finding it on Amazon.com.

I was very pleased with the quality and workmanship of the game. It took less than a minute to learn the rules, which are very simple. Simple rules, yet challenging game play.

This game has brought my family and friends many, many hours of enjoyment and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Easy to learn (only 2 rules!), easy to teach, this is an excellent game for ages 5+. Despite the easy rules, there are so many different strategies you can try that it's never the same game twice. Quoridor is a favorite of both my son who loves games and my teenage daughter who is reluctant to play anything. Because the game itself is beautifully made and because it takes only a few minutes to play a round, we've taken to leaving it out on the coffee table, ready for a spontaneous game at any time.

Quoridor is one of those games that comes under the title, "Classic". Simple rules, endless strategy and made well. Can really be played by anyone 5 and up. 2-4 players and enough game strategy to keep you entertained for a long time.

I ordered this game on the recommendation of a coworker and not only did I receive it in a timely manner, both the children and I love playing this game. I highly recommend it as a way to help stimulate critical thinking skills in children and adults.

I love the wood design which means it will be around for a long time.