I know that game companies are always saying that they have tons of games in the works and I know that they aren't lying about that fact, but this game is IMHO, a little too close in timing, rules and mechanics to Deflexion to be coincidence. Anyone else?

I don't mind other companies "borrowing" new game mechanics and ideas from other companies and improving on them. That's what keeps the hobby moving forward. But, I personally don't see enough improvements in Laser Battle over Deflexion to justify giving my money to them over the Deflexion inventors. Just my .

The central idea is not particularly novel, having existed in computer games for years, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were developed independently.

I think it would be extremely difficult to design, develop, produce, and distribute a "me too" product in such a short time frame. Corporations (even small corporations) just do not jump that quickly. Sometimes, coincedence is coincedence.

I can't find the "hint" from an earlier post. Could you re-post it please?

I have Deflexion and looked at the box for Laser Battle when I was in a Target store today. There appear to be very significant differences between the games.

True, both games use lasers, but that doesn't make one a ripoff of the other any more than a game that uses auctions rips off another game that uses auctions in a different way.

I'm sure that the guys who did Deflexion (a fine game BTW) are disappointed, but it would be unreasonable to think that no one else could ever think of the idea of using lasers in a board game once the price of lasers got to an affordable range.

Thanks for commenting, Luke.

I was looking through the latest issue of Scrye magazine and they had a letter concerning a recent review they published of Deflexion. The letter was from someone involved with Laser Chess, a computer game that works on the same principles and first published in the late 80s, but in a virtual way. It compared similarities between Laser Chess and Deflexion. My guess is that many of teh same comparisons could be made between Laser Battle and Laser Chess. The letter also noted that there were many computer games using the same basic idea as Laser Chess.

I think that it is highly probable that Laser Battle is not a direct ripoff of Deflexion, given this information. The idea has been around for decades.

Laser Battle probably is at least inspired by both Laser Chess and Deflexion.

I have Laser Battle now, and it is a very pale shadow of Deflexion. On your turn, you move a mirror, placing it at any orientation, turn a mirror in place, or turn your laser. The elements can be turned at 22.5 degree increments. Winner is the one who takes out the immobile base.

An optional rules allow you to take out a mirror if it hits the back.

I suspect the real reason Target picked up Laser Battle is the price. $25. And the bits are very cheaply made. The mirrors and pieces are slightly fiddly, and a decent you have to periodically muck with the pieces to figure out what the laser path is supposed to be. The mylar mirror stickers defuse the laser, and the simple light detectors in the kings that make a explosion noise aren't very accurate--and also tend to go off when shadows fall across them.

So, basically, Laser Battle is a box of interesting pieces with a hand wave at a game. Deflexion is a very good game, and is far better production.

I actually own both of these games now and I can say they don't compare. It is like comparing Chess with Checkers. Shure they both use lasers and mirrors. OK thats it. Deflection is a strategy game on par with chess with long drawn out plots and ploys. With a pair of dedicated people drawing a game out to mythic struggles. Whereas Laser Battle is the "checkers" of the duo. I can play with my nine year old daughter and actually have lost to her. The wide open gameplay flying across the board can change a tactic in one move. Not the case with Deflection and its slow moving thought out pace. While my wife and daughter have played all four of these games with me... I prefer Chess and Deflexion...They like Laser Battle and Checkers. My "gamerness" wins out either way. Both of these products have earned spots on my top game shelf reserved for the most played games in our home.

P.S. As far as it goes they are different enough to own them both... but if you were to only get one... go for the Deflexion. The quality is head and shoulders above the mass market laser battle. Plus, when in doubt give you money to the small company who needs it, not a power house that owns the Bratz franchise for petes sake!!!

Laser Battle:
* Fast and furious gameplay.
* MUCH more configurable: The board can change shape, you can combine multiple boards, the laser doesn't always start out in the same position and orientation, you can change the direction of the laser as a move (BIG difference in gameplay here), and mirror orientations are available in 16 positions per spot rather than 4 as with Deflexion.


Deflexion:
* Slower to develop and more methodical in nature.
* More types of pieces than with Laser Battle, but can only be oriented in 1/4th of the possible directions.
* Generally higher quality components, but not substantially so. Also, it carries a notably higher price tag for this marginal increase in quality.


To me, the flexibility and ability to reshape the board makes for a MUCH more replayable experience with Laser Battle than with Deflexion. With deflexion, despite different starting configurations, it just seems like I'm playing the same game over and over. It's a darn good game, to be sure, but just not as fresh as Laser Battle is each time I play it.

Forget the whole "small company" versus "big company" mentality that some elitist gamers have on this site. When I'm playing a game, I don't give two shakes about who produced the game. The only thing I care about is how much fun I'm having. That's what it's all about. The sad sacks trying to turn this debate into a political/social commentary need to get a grip and realize that the whole point of a game is to have fun, not to "stick it to the man" by supporting smaller companies to the exclusion of great games produced by larger companies.

I own Deflexion...I like it...no reason to look any further! Sure, other companies will come out with similar products boasting some new style of play (look at the A&A line and all it's 'wanna-be's') but this one works for me! The game was what it set out to be, a good strategy game wth an ease of playability!

Having now played both I can safely say the only similarity during play is that a laser is used. If no laser were used (like you used your finger instead) then they would also draw comparisons to Black Box.

They really are unrelated.

The courts have ruled in favor of Deflexion. Ka-ching!

http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comment...

Cool, maybe they can use some of the damages money to send me out red pieces to replace my original gold pieces so that I can buy the expansions.