Game Reviews
Raft & Scupper and Bridget are two games published by ET Games. In addition to these two abstracts, the company puts out a variety of original dexterity games. Their games are made in India by Asha Handicrafts, a fair-trade partner for ET Games. The games are all manufactured from the attractive sheesham wood, which is grown locally in India and harvested sustainably.
For neither of these games do I have a really in depth review. I did play quite a lot of Raft & Scupper with Ai Ai, and this has been teaching me the basics. Bridget is a brilliant conception that immediately stands out as worth investigating. We would welcome submissions from enthusiastic players: game scores, puzzles, thoughts about strategy, and so on.
Raft & Scupper
A game by David Vander Laan
Raft & Scupper (2019) is a game played without a board, but with 36 square tiles, 18 light and 18 dark, and two "pirates" of each colour—the game has a very loose pirate theme. Half the tiles of each colour are marked with square-rigged sails, and half are marked with round-rigged sails. The two light pirates are "round-bellied Yellowbeards," corresponding to the round-rigged sails; the two dark pirates are "square-jawed Blackbeards," corresponding to the square-rigged sails.
To start the game the tiles are arranged in an oblique square, with a mechanism to guarantee that the starting position is precisely balanced between the two sides. A starting setup is shown in the title image above. A smaller setup is possible using only 16 tiles. One player places the four pirates on four different tiles. Throughout the game, pirates can only occupy tiles with their colour or tiles with sails of their shape, which gives them access to three-quarters of the tiles. Pirates are not able to occupy tiles with the opposite colour and the opposite shape of sail. After the four pirates are placed, the other player decides which side to play.
On a turn, a player can move a pirate to an adjacent tile ("jump ship"), destroy (or "scupper") a tile, or move (or "sail") a tile occupied by one of the player's pirates to any other position around the connected group of all tiles. The set of all tiles must remain connected, despite any scuppering or sailing that goes on. In addition, a player may pass a turn at any time.
The objective of the game is to manoeuvre the tiles so that either all tiles of your colour are in an orthogonally-connected group or all tiles with sails of your shape are in an orthogonally-connected group. This is called "rafting up." Otherwise, you win if you can accumulate four more scuppered tiles than your opponent, a win by "scuppering." Lastly, if both players pass their turns consecutively the game ends, and the last player to scupper a tile is the winner, a win by "vengeance."
Raft & Scupper has some similarities with Lines of Action (AG1 and other issues) in that the objective is to unite your pieces into a connected group. Lines of Action, too, has a shrinking collection of pieces as they are captured one by one. The shrinking board mechanism is reminiscent also of Zèrtz (AG6 and other issues), which despite its quite different objective, also features a declining playing area. In all of these games, this mechanism leads to tight and exciting endgames. Raft & Scupper's objective of scuppering four more tiles than your opponent gives further scope for a wide variety of threats. Despite similarities with Zèrtz and Lines of Action, Raft & Scupper is very much its own game.
I am too inexperienced with the game to suggest workable strategies with any confidence. However, it seems clear that it is good always to have one of your two pirates in a position to scupper a tile. I have been caught with my opponent scuppering tiles, where I have to scramble to reposition pirates to catch up. It is surprisingly easy to lose by scuppering, at least for a beginner.
You have to be careful which tiles of opposing colour and shape you are scuppering, because with too many of these off the board you make it easier for your opponent to raft up the remaining pieces. On the other hand, scuppering tiles of your own colour and shape may make rafting up easier for you. But then, if you scupper tiles to which you are not able to move, in other words those with opposing colour and shape, you may give yourself some extra manoeuvrability. Clearly, there are several factors to balance when deciding on a move, and I suspect that achieving the right balance is the essence of Raft & Scupper strategy.
Raft & Scupper is published in a polished wood edition, with a solid box that holds the tiles. Raft & Scupper is playable on Ai Ai, but the physical game is worth having. I recommend Raft & Scupper.
For neither of these games do I have a really in depth review. I did play quite a lot of Raft & Scupper with Ai Ai, and this has been teaching me the basics. Bridget is a brilliant conception that immediately stands out as worth investigating. We would welcome submissions from enthusiastic players: game scores, puzzles, thoughts about strategy, and so on.
Raft & Scupper
A game by David Vander Laan
Raft & Scupper (2019) is a game played without a board, but with 36 square tiles, 18 light and 18 dark, and two "pirates" of each colour—the game has a very loose pirate theme. Half the tiles of each colour are marked with square-rigged sails, and half are marked with round-rigged sails. The two light pirates are "round-bellied Yellowbeards," corresponding to the round-rigged sails; the two dark pirates are "square-jawed Blackbeards," corresponding to the square-rigged sails.
To start the game the tiles are arranged in an oblique square, with a mechanism to guarantee that the starting position is precisely balanced between the two sides. A starting setup is shown in the title image above. A smaller setup is possible using only 16 tiles. One player places the four pirates on four different tiles. Throughout the game, pirates can only occupy tiles with their colour or tiles with sails of their shape, which gives them access to three-quarters of the tiles. Pirates are not able to occupy tiles with the opposite colour and the opposite shape of sail. After the four pirates are placed, the other player decides which side to play.
On a turn, a player can move a pirate to an adjacent tile ("jump ship"), destroy (or "scupper") a tile, or move (or "sail") a tile occupied by one of the player's pirates to any other position around the connected group of all tiles. The set of all tiles must remain connected, despite any scuppering or sailing that goes on. In addition, a player may pass a turn at any time.
The objective of the game is to manoeuvre the tiles so that either all tiles of your colour are in an orthogonally-connected group or all tiles with sails of your shape are in an orthogonally-connected group. This is called "rafting up." Otherwise, you win if you can accumulate four more scuppered tiles than your opponent, a win by "scuppering." Lastly, if both players pass their turns consecutively the game ends, and the last player to scupper a tile is the winner, a win by "vengeance."
Raft & Scupper has some similarities with Lines of Action (AG1 and other issues) in that the objective is to unite your pieces into a connected group. Lines of Action, too, has a shrinking collection of pieces as they are captured one by one. The shrinking board mechanism is reminiscent also of Zèrtz (AG6 and other issues), which despite its quite different objective, also features a declining playing area. In all of these games, this mechanism leads to tight and exciting endgames. Raft & Scupper's objective of scuppering four more tiles than your opponent gives further scope for a wide variety of threats. Despite similarities with Zèrtz and Lines of Action, Raft & Scupper is very much its own game.
I am too inexperienced with the game to suggest workable strategies with any confidence. However, it seems clear that it is good always to have one of your two pirates in a position to scupper a tile. I have been caught with my opponent scuppering tiles, where I have to scramble to reposition pirates to catch up. It is surprisingly easy to lose by scuppering, at least for a beginner.
You have to be careful which tiles of opposing colour and shape you are scuppering, because with too many of these off the board you make it easier for your opponent to raft up the remaining pieces. On the other hand, scuppering tiles of your own colour and shape may make rafting up easier for you. But then, if you scupper tiles to which you are not able to move, in other words those with opposing colour and shape, you may give yourself some extra manoeuvrability. Clearly, there are several factors to balance when deciding on a move, and I suspect that achieving the right balance is the essence of Raft & Scupper strategy.
Raft & Scupper is published in a polished wood edition, with a solid box that holds the tiles. Raft & Scupper is playable on Ai Ai, but the physical game is worth having. I recommend Raft & Scupper.
Bridget
A game by Stefan Kögl
Bridget (2014) is a connection game, developed from the designer's earlier game, Caminos (2010).
Bridget uses an 8x8 board, and a set of 14 three-dimensional tetrominoes for each player. The tetrominoes consist of four cubes each rather than four squares, and they are of four types: square, T, L, and Z (or "skew"). The long, straight tetromino shape is not used. The objective is to connect either pair of opposite sides of the playing board with a line of your own pieces. Pieces can be placed so that one piece stacks on or overlaps another piece, but all pieces must actually touch the playing board, and you cannot create empty spaces underneath your pieces when you place them. The winning line connects either of the two pairs of opposite sides. It is not enough that a connection exists when viewed from above; the connecting line may necessarily include vertically-oriented squares. And that is it, the game is that simple.
The three-dimensional aspect of Bridget is fascinating, and it reminds me of Akron (AG14). With Bridget, however, the requirement that a piece must always touch the board sets a limit to the game's upward growth.The L-shaped pieces are particularly valuable because they are the only pieces that can rest over the top of an an opposing line that is two stories high, potentially breaking the opponent's connection. The ability to connect either pair of opposite sides is a second unusual feature among connection games, which Bridget shares with Gonnect (AG6), Tak (AG17), and Mirador.
Like Raft & Scupper, Bridget is constructed of the attractive sheesham wood. The board disassembles into four pieces, and the whole game fits into a carry bag. In my opinion, Bridget stands with Akron, another connection game in which the the pieces climb over each to construct the winning line. The additional dimension is a very appealing feature of games, and I certainly recommend Bridget.◾️
A game by Stefan Kögl
Bridget (2014) is a connection game, developed from the designer's earlier game, Caminos (2010).
Bridget uses an 8x8 board, and a set of 14 three-dimensional tetrominoes for each player. The tetrominoes consist of four cubes each rather than four squares, and they are of four types: square, T, L, and Z (or "skew"). The long, straight tetromino shape is not used. The objective is to connect either pair of opposite sides of the playing board with a line of your own pieces. Pieces can be placed so that one piece stacks on or overlaps another piece, but all pieces must actually touch the playing board, and you cannot create empty spaces underneath your pieces when you place them. The winning line connects either of the two pairs of opposite sides. It is not enough that a connection exists when viewed from above; the connecting line may necessarily include vertically-oriented squares. And that is it, the game is that simple.
The three-dimensional aspect of Bridget is fascinating, and it reminds me of Akron (AG14). With Bridget, however, the requirement that a piece must always touch the board sets a limit to the game's upward growth.The L-shaped pieces are particularly valuable because they are the only pieces that can rest over the top of an an opposing line that is two stories high, potentially breaking the opponent's connection. The ability to connect either pair of opposite sides is a second unusual feature among connection games, which Bridget shares with Gonnect (AG6), Tak (AG17), and Mirador.
Like Raft & Scupper, Bridget is constructed of the attractive sheesham wood. The board disassembles into four pieces, and the whole game fits into a carry bag. In my opinion, Bridget stands with Akron, another connection game in which the the pieces climb over each to construct the winning line. The additional dimension is a very appealing feature of games, and I certainly recommend Bridget.◾️