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"My next several hours were spent learning how to play Tak. Even if I had not been nearly mad with idleness, I would have enjoyed it. Tak is the best sort of game: simple in its rules, complex in its strategy. Bredon beat me handily in all five games we played, but I am proud to say that he never beat me the same way twice." ~ Kvothe, The Wise Man's Fear ~
A pure abstract game in the same family as Chess, Go, and Mancala, Tak is a two-player, strategy board game dreamed up by Pat Rothfuss in "The Wise Man's Fear" and made reality by James Ernest.
In Tak, each player has several matching pieces, or "stones," and one special piece called the "Capstone." The Capstone can be any shape, and the other pieces should be simple, stackable pieces in a matching style. The board starts empty, and the goal is to build a road (a connected string of your pieces) connecting opposite sides of the board. The game also ends if either player runs out of pieces, or if the board is completely full. In that event, the winner is the player with the most flat stones on top.
On each turn, you will either place a piece in an empty space, or move a stack that you control. Stacks must move in a straight line, dropping pieces as they go, and possibly covering other pieces along the way. You can play a piece upright. This piece is called a "standing stone," or "wall." It can't be part of a road, but other pieces can't stack on top of it. The Capstone is your power piece. It can be part of a road, it can't be stacked on, and it can also flatten standing stones. Click Here for a more comprehensive look and overview of Tak from the gatefold featured in GTM #205!
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