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Lowell Kempf
United States
Chicago
Illinois
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Branches and Twigs and Thorns is one of those quirky little abstracts that I find myself regularly wandering back to. It’s not an amazing game and has some definite limitations and flaws. It’s not a game I’d really recommend to anyone. And yet, every year, I always manage to log a few plays in.
Branches and Twigs and Thorns is a relatively early Looney Pyramids game, dating back to when most of the games designed for the system were abstracts with no random elements. To be honest, I think that’s where the system is at its strongest. Zendo and Volcano are two shining examples of amazing abstracts using the pyramid system.
But, in all honesty, I would really rank Branches and Twigs and Thorns as a third tier pyramid game.
The game itself is a very simple. Each player has a stache of pyramids in their own color and the game is played out on either a checkers board or a ½ checkers board, depending on the number of players. In theory, you could use other shapes, just as long as you have 16 spaces per player. You set up the board by taking turns placing nulls and roots in empty spaces.
Then, you take turns placing your pyramids in empty spaces. They have to be lying down so they are always pointing at something. And that’s where the actual game comes in. Your pieces need to either point towards a root or towards another pyramid. If it’s one of your own pyramids, that’s all fine and nothing interesting happens.
But if your pyramid is pointing towards an opponent’s pyramid, then they gain points equal to the size of your pyramid and you lose points equal to the size their pyramid. In a two-player game, that’s a static delta but when you add more players, the ebb and flow of points becomes more dynamic.
The game ends when you fill up the board (which will incidentally use all your pyramids) and whoever has the most points wins.
Branches and Twigs and Thorns is also known as Martian or Barsoomite Go, which I don’t think does the game any favors. A Branches and Twigs and Thorns board is very cramped and restricted. Once patterns start to form (which they do very quickly), it becomes very hard to break them. A 19 x 19 Go board, on the other hand, is a vast amount of space where patterns form and grow very organically and much of the game is about developing and changing those patterns.
The comparison highlights some of what I think are the weaknesses of Branches and Twigs and Thorns. I think (but I’m not convinced) that there is a bias towards the first player, particularly in a two-player game. I also think that most of the game plays itself. Once the patterns are started, you usually have an obvious, single best move.
So why do I keep on going back to it, other than the fact that it is really easy to get a game going online?
Well, the game only lasts sixteen moves per player and that includes placing the nulls and roots. Let’s be honest, finding the time to play a full game of Go is tricky at best. Finding the time to play Branches and Twigs and Thorns is trivially easy. And, if you’re playing by e-mail, it is simple to look at the small, cramped board and read what is going on. If I had to go back to a Go board after a day or so, it would take me a while to figure out what was going on again.
However, what keeps me interested in Branches and Twigs and Thorns is that, while most of the game tends to play itself, there always comes at least one point in the game where you have to make a choice to break the pattern that is forming. Such a move is almost always going to be a sacrifice, giving point to your opponent. But, if you can break their pattern, you can box them in and force them to give you points.
In the end, every game I play seems to be about trying to figure out when and where to make that sacrifice. And so far, I haven’t made the best choices  But the fact that Branches and Twigs and Thorns keeps challenging me keeps me coming back to it. I keep on coming back to find that one crucial decision.
As I said in the beginning, Branches and Twigs and Thorns is not a great game or a great use of the pyramid system. It’s not even a game I’d really recommend. However, it is a quick little game that makes me think at least once per game.
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