Issue 22 - Autumn 2021
Entrapment (1999) is a game by Richard Gowell (1968 - 2020). I had some discussions with Rich about his game from November 2019 to January 2020. We planned to use Entrapment on the cover of one of the issues, and so here it is. The image shows the original Gowell Classic Games version. Sadly, Rich passed away later in 2020. This issue is dedicated to the memory of Rich Gowell, designer of the great game Entrapment.
Entrapment belongs to a small genre of games in which pawns occupy the squares and maze-like formations develop as barriers are placed on the boundaries between squares. The earliest of these games that I know of is Cul de Sac (1975), by Philip Slater, which was republished in several editions as Blockade (1979). Quoridor (1997), attributed to Mirko Marchesi, has many similarities to Cul de Sac, and I would be very surprised if one game did not inspire the other. Another game which belongs to this genre is Fendo (2014), by Dieter Stein. The objective of Fendo is to build territory; the objective of Cul de Sac and Quoridor is to move pawns across the board through the growing maze to specific locations. Entrapment is more aggressive, with the objective to trap and thereby eliminate opposing pawns, called "Roamers."
Entrapment is played on a 7x7 board with three Roamers and a collection of barriers for each side. The game starts with an empty board, and players take turns to place their Roamers on vacant spaces. Each turn, players must complete two actions. (In the first move, the first player takes just one action to account for first-player advantage.) The first action is to move a Roamer; the second action is either to place a barrier or to take a second move with a Roamer. Roamers move one or two spaces in a straight line orthogonally. Roamers can jump friendly Roamers and barriers, although a barrier once jumped is turned on end and becomes impassable for both players. When a Roamer is completely surrounded so that it cannot move, it is captured and removed from the board. The objective is to capture all three of the opponent's Roamers.
In my conversation with Rich, he strongly recommended to play with a 6x7 board, with one row of squares marked out of play with a pencil or some other such device. According to Rich, "It's a tighter more aggressive form of the game that I particularly enjoy."
Entrapment is playable on Boardspace.net, which contains a large number of archived games, some played by Rich himself, and many with the 6x7 board. To investigate Entrapment strategy, one route would be to play through the old games by Rich himself. On my querying him about strategy and tactics, Rich replied,
"At some point I'd love to see enough serious interest that an article might be published on the topic. I developed the game about 20 years ago, when I had the idea for a labyrinth-style game and built a prototype to test it. It was interesting but a bit too complex and convoluted. As I sat there staring at the prototype, the key idea of entrapment, jumping a friendly wall one time, struck me. In relatively short order my brother and I were playing a crude version of the game. Rules were refined over the coming few months till it was in its current form. A partner and I self-published the [Gowell Classic Games version] for a few years a decade ago. More a labor of love than anything else. Hoping that this next edition comes to fruition so the game can reach a larger audience."
We would love to have some further analysis and discussion of Entrapment in Abstract Games magazine. If you are a keen Entrapment player, and you are interested in writing about the game, please let me know. ~ Ed.
Entrapment belongs to a small genre of games in which pawns occupy the squares and maze-like formations develop as barriers are placed on the boundaries between squares. The earliest of these games that I know of is Cul de Sac (1975), by Philip Slater, which was republished in several editions as Blockade (1979). Quoridor (1997), attributed to Mirko Marchesi, has many similarities to Cul de Sac, and I would be very surprised if one game did not inspire the other. Another game which belongs to this genre is Fendo (2014), by Dieter Stein. The objective of Fendo is to build territory; the objective of Cul de Sac and Quoridor is to move pawns across the board through the growing maze to specific locations. Entrapment is more aggressive, with the objective to trap and thereby eliminate opposing pawns, called "Roamers."
Entrapment is played on a 7x7 board with three Roamers and a collection of barriers for each side. The game starts with an empty board, and players take turns to place their Roamers on vacant spaces. Each turn, players must complete two actions. (In the first move, the first player takes just one action to account for first-player advantage.) The first action is to move a Roamer; the second action is either to place a barrier or to take a second move with a Roamer. Roamers move one or two spaces in a straight line orthogonally. Roamers can jump friendly Roamers and barriers, although a barrier once jumped is turned on end and becomes impassable for both players. When a Roamer is completely surrounded so that it cannot move, it is captured and removed from the board. The objective is to capture all three of the opponent's Roamers.
In my conversation with Rich, he strongly recommended to play with a 6x7 board, with one row of squares marked out of play with a pencil or some other such device. According to Rich, "It's a tighter more aggressive form of the game that I particularly enjoy."
Entrapment is playable on Boardspace.net, which contains a large number of archived games, some played by Rich himself, and many with the 6x7 board. To investigate Entrapment strategy, one route would be to play through the old games by Rich himself. On my querying him about strategy and tactics, Rich replied,
"At some point I'd love to see enough serious interest that an article might be published on the topic. I developed the game about 20 years ago, when I had the idea for a labyrinth-style game and built a prototype to test it. It was interesting but a bit too complex and convoluted. As I sat there staring at the prototype, the key idea of entrapment, jumping a friendly wall one time, struck me. In relatively short order my brother and I were playing a crude version of the game. Rules were refined over the coming few months till it was in its current form. A partner and I self-published the [Gowell Classic Games version] for a few years a decade ago. More a labor of love than anything else. Hoping that this next edition comes to fruition so the game can reach a larger audience."
We would love to have some further analysis and discussion of Entrapment in Abstract Games magazine. If you are a keen Entrapment player, and you are interested in writing about the game, please let me know. ~ Ed.