A strategic two-player abstract with a heavy deduction element. At the start of the game, neither player knows how their own pieces move. Via performing attempted moves, each player tries to deduce the movement of their own pieces. As you determine how to move your pieces, your goal is to capture the neutral piece, initially located in the center of the board, and deliver it to your opponent's side of the board.
From the new Stronghold Games version, Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War:
The Cold War. A dangerous time for the world. A dangerous time to be a spy... but that is exactly what being a spy is all about. As the shadowy clouds of intrigue and subterfuge settle across the globe you have been called upon by your country to obtain the Top Secret information that will ensure your country's safety and supremacy. But not all is as it seems; your spies are difficult to control on a global scale, and even worse, there's a Double Agent in your midst who threatens the entire mission!
At the start of a game of Confusion, players aren't aware of the talents and skills their own spies possess! Your opponent can see what your spies can do, but you cannot. Your job as a wise leader is to first deduce exactly how each of your spies move, then employ your knowledge by using each spy for maximum effect. But be on alert, because your opponent has placed a double-agent in your team of spies! The first player to take the Top Secret Briefcase from the middle of the board and deliver it to his opponent's capital is the winner.
Can you achieve your goals at the expense of your opponent, or will the entire operation collapse in a sea of Confusion?
Confusion is game #1 in the Stronghold Games "Castle Line".
- Fantastic game
- Highly strategic with deduction
- Hoping for a reprint
- Espionage and deception
- Cold War
- Strateggo
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deduction — Players deduce their own pieces' identities by observing legal moves and opponent feedback.
- Hidden Information — Players do not see their own pieces, only the opponent's.
- Objective Completion — Objective is to move a briefcase to the opponent's side, sometimes passing it to teammates.
- Piece upgrading — Pieces can be upgraded to allow for more movement options.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is where we're taking a look at old classic board games, looking at the mechanisms of those games, and then seeing how those have been inspired and re-imagined into newer, more modern board games, sometimes even doing bigger, grandio things with those mechanisms.
- It is very strategike, but in reverse with lots of deduction.
- Strateggo is what pretty much inspired the mechanisms of this game.
- So, there's a lot of strateg strateges mechanisms here.
- So it's almost like Strateggo on steroids.