Patrick Rothfuss's Tak

blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2016/04/tak-a-beautiful-game/

So this looks interesting. A guy from Cheap Ass Games has created rules to the board game that is played in Patrick Rothfuss's novels. I really enjoyed his books and I took a peek at the rules for the game and they look like a neat abstract. Plus making pieces and your own board would be pretty easy.

I also enjoy his write up and how it came to be here is a quote:

“Tak is supposed to be my world’s version of Chess or Go or Mancala,” I said. “I can’t ask you to make a game like that. It’s like saying, ‘you know those games that have stood the test of time for hundreds or thousands of years? The best games ever? Do that, but in my world.’ So first off, it’s unreasonable for me to ask. Secondly, you can’t do it. No one can. And thirdly, if you did somehow manage to pull if off, nobody would give a shit. We’re living in the golden age of board games right now. Nobody cares about strategy games like chess anymore.”

I've never read any of the books -I have no idea who the guy is - but the game looks fun - They have a video demo here :

www.twitch.tv/nycc2/v/59564589

boothwah wrote: I've never read any of the books -I have no idea who the guy is - but the game looks fun - They have a video demo here :

www.twitch.tv/nycc2/v/59564589

Rothfuss is a fantasy novelist who wrote the first two installments of a trilogy, before coming down with a crippling case of George RR Martin Syndrome. I read the first one, "Name of the Wind," and found it pretty dull. It's about a young orphan who goes off to wizard school. Sound familiar??

However, I love the idea of making real games out of games found in fantasy novels!! There was one in Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" series that would be neat. I forget the details, but I remember that the point of the game was not in winning or losing, but simply in HOW you played it, and what you could learn about yourself. That would really fuck with the heads of the super-competitive Eurogamers.

I've been caught up trying to learn Cyvasse (Game of Thrones reference) to have any room left in my life for another game based on a game in a book. I am trying to break the game by employing a strategy dubbed "Volantis reach around". It's kinda like Halifax Hammer. The difference being your opponent is smiling the whole time before you finish him quickly. It helps if you ask yourself, "what would Littlefinger do?"

Hehe.

Anyhoo - I find myself really interested in this game. I love abstracts. Yinsh is always set up in my office. This really looked simple and elegant and deceptively deep. I could care less about it;s origin in fantasyland. I'll probably wait until retail copies show up somewhere. I think this is gonna be huge and it will have nothing to do with the license.

Joebot wrote:

boothwah wrote: I've never read any of the books -I have no idea who the guy is - but the game looks fun - They have a video demo here :

www.twitch.tv/nycc2/v/59564589

Rothfuss is a fantasy novelist who wrote the first two installments of a trilogy, before coming down with a crippling case of George RR Martin Syndrome. I read the first one, "Name of the Wind," and found it pretty dull. It's about a young orphan who goes off to wizard school. Sound familiar??

I had a tough time getting into the first book, but once I did I found it excellent and devoured the second book in a few days. Now I rate Rothfuss up there with Martin as an excellent world-builder who pisses me off by not writing / writing too slowly and blogging about other bullshit other than their books.

BUT the game does look really clever a mix of twixt and mancala.