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Game Info
Year
2000
Collection
Mechanic profile
Not enough video data yet
Vibe profile
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Description
Blokus (officially pronounced "Block us") is an abstract strategy game with transparent, Tetris-shaped, colored pieces that players are trying to play onto the board. The only caveat to placing a piece is that it may not lie adjacent to your other pieces, but instead must be placed touching at least one corner of your pieces already on the board.
There is a solitaire variation where one player tries to get rid of all the pieces in a single sitting.
Goal of the Game:
Each player has to fit as many of his/her 21 pieces on the board as possible.
Components:
Blokus Game Board (400 squares)
84 game pieces (four 21-piece sets of red, green, blue, and yellow)
Each color inlcudes:
1 one-square piece
1 piece with 2 squares
2 pieces with 3 squares
5 pieces with 4 squares
12 pieces with 5 squares
Featured Videos
Rules Teach
Fearless - Tutorial & Playthrough
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 2
This page: 2
Sentiment:
pos 2 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–2 of 2
Video SaLC02LEhmE
Rules Teach at 2:07 sentiment: positive
video_pk 67654 · mention_pk 163836
Click to watch at 2:07 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Clever and different trick-taking spin
- Shifting dynamics make the game interesting
- Cute artwork and good production quality
- Accessible design with clear iconography
- Strategic depth despite being quick
- Interactive player screwing
- Fun and quick to play
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Scaring players
- A cabin
Comparison games
- Power Grid
- Fishing
- Stickham
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Follow suit — Players must play a card of the lead suit if possible.
- set collection — Players take out certain cards from the deck depending on the number of players.
- Trick-taking — Players play cards to win tricks, with the highest card of the led suit winning, but the total value of cards played affecting the score.
- Wild cards — Zeros are wild cards that can always be played and can win a trick if they are the highest value.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- It's basically how far you are away from zero, and that's how many points you score. And you don't want to score points. You want the lowest points possible in this game because I think the points represents how scared you are.
- The twist in the game is normally in trick taking games. It's the player uh who No, it's it's still the same rules. You have to play a card of the lead color in order to be able to win, but the value of the card still affects the total.
- Friedman Preer, I've played a lot of his games over many many many years, designer of Power Grid. Um, but he's one of the most versatile designers. Uh, and I am a fan and I think he is a genius.
- This is lighter. This is easier. This is more accessible. I think this is more fun as well.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 7F8jRBi2DAY
Top List at 9:50 sentiment: positive
video_pk 66582 · mention_pk 162256
Click to watch at 9:50 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Abstract geometric gameplay
- Minimalist art and graphic design
- High replayability and fun
Cons
- Requires molds for unique polyomino shapes, a considerable upfront cost
Thematic elements
- Abstract
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area denial — Players try to make it harder for others to place pieces.
- polyomino placement — Players place unique polyomino shapes on a board.
- spatial reasoning — Pieces lock into place by corners touching, but not flat edges.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- games don't need no necessarily need a huge art budget to be a great game.
- I think this is one way for some games, not every game, but some games to really shine with a much lower sunk cost budget than other games.
- You don't need necessarily a bunch bunch of fancy components, dozens and do dozens of illustrations to have a really great game.
- We can all have slightly different definitions of this.
- It all leads to subtle and interesting choices.
- When everything feels like it's on fire around me, it's nice to find a bit of rest by respit in a gentle rain.
- This game is a chaotic good time, but in the best way.
- the components fit into a small box. They're they're very sparse components.
- But uh but they come across they end up having a fairly big table presence and I've gotten a lot of replayability out of multiple oint games.
- you can get a lot out of these games that rely on a wide variety of rules of words just by having words in the game. You don't necess you don't need
- By this I mean games with minimal components and or art.
- I think it's a great reminder for me and maybe you as a designer that games don't need no necessarily need a huge art budget to be a great game.
- So I think this is one way for some games, not every game, but some games to really shine with a much lower sunk cost budget than other games.
- there's a huge emergent narrative that comes through in Rumble Nation with very minimalistic components.
- I kind of thought of it as a combination of all those different things with some variances.
- investing in a really beautiful box cover is really really important for the game and investing in great graphic design is really really important for the game.
- I think valuing and investing in great graphic design is can can elevate a game even when you don't have much of an art budget at all.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–2 of 2