Introduction

When you start in on a hobby, there are certain things that seem like grails. Universal yardsticks of cool. In the car hobby, it’s the Shelby 427 Cobra. In the world of computers, it’s Sun servers. But in the world of boardgames, there’s one yardstick for coolness that seems, for me at least, to rise above them all. That yardstick is Polarity.

Polarity is a game unto itself. Completely different from almost anything else in the world, it stands on its own as a monument to one man’s vision of a game controlled by magnets. Fortunately, it has gone from obscure out-of-print holy grail to reprinted and widely available. So, is it just cool to watch, or is there a game here?

Bits

The bits in Polarity are pretty straightforward. You get a box (maybe), a canvas sleeve, a leather tie-shut for the sleeve, a canvas mat that forms the board, a rulebook, and a bunch of little black and white magnetic discs, and one red one.

The red disc has a dash and a dot, indicating its north (dash) and south (dot) magnetic poles. This disc goes in the center of the table and is “lava”, that is, causing any disc to touch it makes you lose.

The rest of the discs are the player discs, and are north on the black side, south on the white. They’re plastic and fairly heavy, but mostly, they’re magnetic. The field the generate is relatively strong, and they can levitate off one another, forming “Leaners”, which are the heart of the game.

They all sit on a big square canvas mat with a circle drawn on it, defining the edge of the board.

The rulebook provided in my 2005 copy is rather ambiguous…in fact, the rules themselves are pretty vague, backed up only by examples. Some things happen during the game that you’re not sure about. It’s not a great rulebook, but a trip to the forums here will sort you out.

It’s Freaking Floating!

Polarity is, despite appearances, a dexterity game. The majority of the game is spent trying not to screw up. The red disc is flipped, and whoever wins the coin toss chooses their color…white always goes first. But there may be tactical advantage in going second, or being one side of the magnet or the other.

White places 5 discs, then black does the same. These initial foundation discs form the start of a game of Polarity. On your turn, your job is to place another disc next to a disc of your own color such that the magnetic field makes it levitate, creating a Leaner. Once you’ve placed a successfully standing leaner, your turn is over.

That would be the end of it, except if you create a fault, your turn ends immediately. A fault, basically, is causing any pre-existing part of the board to change, including:

Making a leaner fall (which, if it’s your leaner, can be a good thing)

Moving any disc by more than it’s diameter
Making a disc jump into your hand

Making discs stick together in “Towers”

If you cause a fault, you pull your hand back with disc still in hand, and your turn is over. There is one type of intentional fault, “Conversion”, or converting a leaning disc of your to a foundation disc of your own color. You may do this only by pushing the disc down using the magnetic force of the disc in your hand.

Anything else is probably something you didn’t want to happen. If you caused an opponent’s leaner to fall, it becomes a disc for them (which is bad). If discs jumped into your hand, they stay in your hand. If you caused discs to clump together into towers, the towers remain on the board. If the tower flipped so your color is up, the opponent gets to place it anywhere on the board. If it flipped their color up, it stays. If you accidentally convert a leaning disc of your opponents, it stays theirs no matter what side is up. Like with towers, if it lands your side up they put it where they like. If it lands their color up it stays. Basically you want to play so that your opponent will create towers, accidentally convert your discs, and have discs jump in their hand.

If on your turn you created a fault, the opponent gets to capture towers and foundation discs that did not land their color up. They may create a fault when attempting to capture, with similar consequences to faults when placing a leaner. They then take their turn.

So, during the game, you make towers, place leaners, and wait for your opponent to mess up. It’s really great fun. Points are scored by having discs in towers of your color.

The game ends when one player runs out of discs. Then, you score points in towers, minus discs in hand if you’re the one with discs left. Winner is the one with the most points.

My Thoughts

Polarity is quite a game. Polarity is absolutely unique in how it looks, how it plays, and how others view it. Even total non-gamers see the floating discs and are spellbound. Polarity has a cool factor that is absolutely off the chart.

Playing Polarity is an experience unto itself. No other games can prepare you for the feeling of balancing the magnetic fields. You can feel the fields interact and work as you place leaners and convert discs. On a crowded board, placing a leaner can make dozens of other discs twitch just slightly or change orientation as they sense the new disc. The way the fields merge and shift is just awe-inspiring.

Polarity, really, is zen. Playing polarity is both tight and intense, while being calm and relaxing. It’s like boardgame meditation. You don’t just look at the board and think about the board. You feel the interactions in your fingertips as you hold your piece, and your piece tells you where it’ll be happy to stay. I’m not a Jedi, but playing Polarity must feel pretty close.

Most games let you play by an arbitrary set of rules made up by a designer. Polarity’s rules are simply a way to quantify your ability to play with the forces that control the universe itself.

Pros and Cons:

PROS:

Extremely high “Cool Factor”
Very, very interesting to watch, even to non-gamers
It’s floating!
Zen-like gameplay
No 2 games of polarity play the same way

CONS:

Fumblefingers won’t like it
Messes up magnetic stuff if let too close to sensitive items (In theory, anyway)
Confusing rule-book

Conclusion

In short, Polarity is simply amazing. Maybe not the best abstract, maybe not the best dexterity game, but so completely unlike anything else that you have to love it. I think everyone needs to play Polarity at least once. Reach out with your feelings, trust in the force, and place your disc.

Polarity earns a solid 9 out of 10.