100 Strategic Games (Paperback)

by Walter Joris (Author) "This is a distant derivation of the ancient Fox and Geese game..." (more)
Key Phrases: bordering boxes, squared paper, neighbouring boxes, Black Hole (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
For all those who thought Tic-Tac-Toe or Battleships & Cruisers represented the outer limits of pen and paper games. This collection of 100 games will fill serious hours for years to come.

About the Author
Walter Joris is an illustrator with a penchant for puzzles. He lives in Antwerp in Belgium.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Carlton Books LTD. (October 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1842227270
• ISBN-13: 978-1842227275
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,004,120 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best games bargain I know of, January 27, 2004

By	dissembler (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This book just came today. I haven't read through all of it, but I can definitely say that it delivers what it promises. 100 strategic games for pen and paper. Only 1 or 2 rely on players hiding information from each other (such as a "Battleship" game, which isn't included here), and another 1 or 2 where the opponents have unequal powers (like "fox and geese", a version of which is included). The rest will appeal to players of PBEM abstract strategy games. Pen/Paper versions of Lines of Action, Fanorona, Halma, Blobs, Mancala and Connect 4 are all included, as well as many variations of Dots and Boxes--I've seen none of these anywhere else. And at the current price, it works out to a dime a game.

I agree the writing suffers from poor sentence construction. Worse, there are a handful of instances where the rules are not explicit enough. However, the gaps are so minor that you can come up with your own rule easily enough. What's important is the idea--that so many games can be played with paper and pen, with no erasing. Some of the original games might even be adapted to board play. Sid Sackson would have been happy to read this book, I think, and there should be more like it.

And if you're still not satisfied, it even comes with a few pages of graph paper.

3.0 out of 5 stars Good ideas poorly presented, February 25, 2009

By	Adam vanLangenberg (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book contains some fantastic games. I have used quite a few in my high school classes and the kids really enjoy them. I particularly like the fact that as exercises in logic, pattern recognition and planning they are great in the maths class, but are not obviously "maths games".

My main complaint is that the instructions are very poorly written. There were quite a few games that left me completely confused. After reading a few I started to get the hang of the author's sparse language but it took a while.

4.0 out of 5 stars Flawed masterpiece, November 17, 2003

By	Terence Tan (Singapore) - See all my reviews

A great book with many good games. However,as an experienced wargames player, I can see that the author is not familiar with writing good instructions or rules. I even suspect that his first language is not English. For example, he uses the word "randomly" to suggest that a player may place his mark anywhere on the board. Overall, still a very good book, comparable to that classic work - Sid Sackson's Gamut of Games.

Walter, in spite of my criticisms, yours is one of the best games books ever.