Game: GemBlo

Thread: Re: What are the box dimensions please?

Nazhuret — 2008-05-15T06:29:27+00:00

I just got in to Seoul last night. My friend had picked up a copy of the game for me and had it ready when I got here.

It's nowhere near the "stop sign" size that I was envisioning. As a matter of fact it will easily fit into my suitcase for the trip back. I just need to get the coffee pods and deflated kickballs I brought over for my friend...

I think it could easily pass as a carryon item too. A guy brought his guitar on board and put it in the overhead. This box is ceartainly smaller than a guitar.

Hopefully we'll get a chance to play it tonight when he gets off work.

Image

Shaun L — 2008-04-15T04:06:19+00:00

GemBlo box front

Thread: Re: What are the box dimensions please?

wwscrispin — 2008-03-08T10:42:38+00:00

Love my copy of Gemblo. Great production and my favorite placement game. It is definitely a great addition to a collection.

Thread: Re: What are the box dimensions please?

skytostar — 2008-03-08T05:29:18+00:00

For the place to shop in seoul, see this website --->http://www.interhobby.co.kr/

The easiest way to buy the game in Seoul is to shop online,because of better price( lowest online pice is about $35. The interhobby gemblo price is about US$40- 39,800won). Interhooby is online and offline store.

I have never used the shop before. However, the shop is well-known place to Korean boardgamers.
There might be better big stores in Seoul, but the above store has pretty good price.

You 'd better to contact the shop manager at help@interhobby.biz first to know the location. They have a map in the site, but all in Korean. The website says you can go there by subway. Seoul subway system is excellent and pretty easy to use.

For the choice of games, i strongly suggest gemblo dexluxe version,far better pieces than light one, more space though..

Maybe,Lexio also might be another good one to buy in Korea.

Good luck!!

Thread: Re: What are the box dimensions please?

HDTVDave — 2008-02-22T04:54:20+00:00

It is a hexagon 9.5 inches on a side and 2.4 inches tall (about 16.4 inches face to face).

Dave

Thread: Re: What are the box dimensions please?

dakarp — 2008-02-22T04:50:33+00:00

You might check out Gemblo Light. Same game, smaller box.

Thread: Re: What are the box dimensions please?

Nazhuret — 2008-02-22T04:46:44+00:00

Thanks.
I had an idea that I might be. I can't really tell exactly how big it is from the pictures but the one on the poker table shows it's not small.

Thread: Re: What are the box dimensions please?

chaddyboy_2000 — 2008-02-22T04:39:14+00:00

You'll be checking it, as the box is pretty darn big.

Thread: What are the box dimensions please?

Nazhuret — 2008-02-22T04:35:39+00:00

I am traveling to Korea in May and am definately planning on picking up a copy of Gemblo. I would like to know if it's of a size that I could take it as a carry-on or if I should package and check it as baggage,

Also, if anyone can give me the address of a good place to pick this up in Seoul that would be cool.

Thread: Re: [Review] Gemblo

glsonn — 2008-01-12T05:20:42+00:00

TomVasel wrote:
http://www.gemblo.com/6.htm

Shows some of the maneuvers. Pieces CANNOT move, When I say "jump", I mean placing the next piece - it's like the pieces are a continuous path...

The page above no longer exists.

Thread: Gemblo as a party game (5 newbies and a novice)

origamifreak — 2008-01-01T15:38:01+00:00

I brought GemBlo over to a friend's house on New Year's Eve, and after the teenagers had run off to play Game of Life - 40th Anniversary Edition upstairs (poor things), the other 5 adults agreed to try Gemblo. We're all in our 40s and 50s, to give you an idea of our demographic.

I'd only played the 3-person version twice, the week before, so I was a relative newbie as well. None of us are hardcore gamers, but we enjoy the odd game of Rummikub, etc. and recently I've turned some of them on to Zendo (to the point that the teenage daughter asked, "did you bring that triangle game with the stones?" - and the son reported having played Jewels in the Sand with his friends at school - but they were upstairs playing LIFE (?!) so nevermind.)

Anyway, after convincing my friend to yank out the extra leaves of the table to make it round, I put the board on, took the clear stones (because I think they're hard to see, and therefore hardest to use), and everyone chose a color. I explained the rules and we started play with Henry, to my left. (Since I'd played before it seemed more fair to give myself the hardest position in the game.)

Play continued to Greg, Nita, Jay, and Deb, and then to me. Since this was the first game, we didn't use the GemBlo Expansion Set cards, because I wanted to get everyone used to the normal placement rules. They picked these up very quickly, and before the end of the game Nita was already pointing out moves that I was missing! In the end Nita and I were tied each with 11 stones remaining, while the others varied from 12 to 20 (!)

For our second game I broke out the GemBlo Expansion Set cards, distributed them as instructed, and we discarded all but two. Play started with Henry again, and right away everyone started getting rid of the most annoying pieces (either the "V" or one with a "Y" type branch in it). Nita rapidly colonized across to the other side of the board, while Henry started filling in his area, optimally packing his pieces with the minimum of space in between. The rest of us tried to spread as well as we could, but without as much obvious strategy between these extremes.

There was much good-humored snarking when we got to the point that people were getting in each other's way. We started trying to use our cards, and discovered that they are pretty specific, yet we had to resolve some possible ambiguities about whether we were allowed to connect to one existing piece, or two. More about that, below.

This time we managed to get many more pieces on the board, and the winner was Greg, with 7 stones left. I had 9. Everyone commented on how pretty the board looked, when filled in, and Deb took a picture with her new digital SLR.

At this point the teenagers reappeared, and one accidentally knocked a wine glass off a table, which promptly shattered into a million tiny shards, and necessitated a complicated vacuuming maneuver as we were all wearing socks, and Deb wanted to get it all up before it got ground into her brand new hardwood floor (the glass, not the teenager).

By the time we had stopped playing "statues" in our stocking feet while Deb vacuumed around us, it was about 11pm, and we were too tired to play anything more challenging than CrackeD ICE.

Some observations about dynamics:

- There are definitely game phases; an opening, early when you can place just about any piece, and then BAM! suddenly you're in near endgame at a point at which you have severely restricted moves. I find the transition to endgame interesting in that it happens so suddenly.

- Because of the placement rules, alternating players end up getting in each other's way first (1,3,5 and 2,4,6). In some ways it's almost like two separate 3-player games going on in the same physical space, until you get to endgame.

- There is a slight but definite disadvantage for the last players, and the cards even that out very well.

- The question came up about whether the Unification 2 & 3 cards allowed you to connect to more than one existing piece (after having played a Unification 1 earlier) We decided to allow this, but I'm tempted in future games to say it has to be a single piece, as shown on the card. I think I'll go ask over at the forum for the expansion.

Overall it was a very satisfying game for this scenario, and I think any of us would be willing to play it again.

Thread: Re: Gemblo Light Dimensions?

Barkam — 2007-12-27T04:20:48+00:00

Yes it does. Thank you.

origamifreak wrote:
Barkam wrote:
What are the dimensions of Gemblo Light?

Does this help?
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/128799

Thread: Re: Gemblo Light Dimensions?

origamifreak — 2007-12-27T04:00:52+00:00

Barkam wrote:
What are the dimensions of Gemblo Light?

Does this help?
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/128799

Image

Capitaine Grappin — 2007-11-15T14:53:33+00:00

Box detail

Thread: Re: GemBlo Point Calculation

Barkam — 2007-10-02T21:47:02+00:00

We set up our own scoring method.

Each hex that your left over pieces are made of will give you a point. Whoever has the least amount of points, wins!

Nice and simple. This lends very well for multiple game scoring.

Thread: Gemblo Light Dimensions?

Barkam — 2007-10-02T18:48:15+00:00

What are the dimensions of Gemblo Light? I am trying to figure out if I should trade in my regular Gemblo for Gemblo Light.

Thank you in advance!

Thread: Re: GemBlo Point Calculation

mikey384 — 2007-10-01T23:13:13+00:00

I'm not sure what the point is in adding the other players' scores. Why not say the person has ZERO points after placing the last piece? What about the event of a tie (i.e. two people finish off their last pieces)?

Thread: Re: gemblo - where to find?

zx80 — 2007-09-12T06:02:54+00:00

Boards'n'Bits have it advertised to arrive in October.
Actually it's both the original and "Light" versions.

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

zx80 — 2007-09-11T05:56:39+00:00

The rules are essentially very similar between the games, AFAIK.
In Gemblo a piece must be played one vertex away from pieces of the same colour.
In Blokus, pieces are placed with cornes touching.
Neither game allows colours to be placed adjacent to the same colour.
Haven't played Trigon, yet, so can't comment on that.

Some of things I like about Gemblo:

1) Very easy to teach (like Blokus).
2) Games are reasonably quick (though with 6 players and some AP...)
3) Much nicer pieces than Blokus, lots of tactile enjoyment.
4) Probably more strategic opportunities with Gemblo.
5) Supports up to 6 players.

Do you have a specific question?

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

zx80 — 2007-09-11T05:50:50+00:00

Obviously the game is hard to obtain, at least in the US.
From time to time Gemblo Light is available though personally I prefer the larger version as it has "nicer" pieces.
Recently I've ordered games directly from the designer, Dr. Justin Oh.
He's been extremely helpful about shipping games to the US. However, some points to bear in mind:

1) Shipping from Korea is slow and expensive. If you order a reasonable quantity, say 5 at a time, it works out to be aout $50 per game. Not too bad considering there's no tax to be paid. More games would probably lower the cost a little.
2) Dr. Oh gave me a discount for ordering 5 at a time, as well as throwing in some extras for free (e.g. expansion sets.
3) Shipping will take 5 or 6 weeks to the US.

I've been passing the games onto friends, etc. at cost but it's a good idea to get payment ahead of time just in case.

I'm thinking of placing another larger order and bringing some to BGG Con. I really want this game to succeed!

Anyone interested?

Mark

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

docreason — 2007-09-11T05:19:17+00:00

I have all three, but haven't tried Trigon yet. I am curious, can someone tell me why people like Gemblo. I played it once three players and it seemed over far too soon. The rules also seemed more kludgey than Blokus. Maybe I am missing something. Can someone else fill me in on details here?

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

lstr — 2007-09-11T05:16:52+00:00

Who/where are you ordering from?

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

zx80 — 2007-09-11T05:05:20+00:00

I've played Gemblo with 2,3,4, and 6 players (haven't had occasion to try the 5 player variant yet).
Probably over 150 games, at least.
I haven't noticed any kingmaking at all, perhaps that's the people I play with.
Generally I prefer it over Blokus, though that game has merit too.
We've only played the "friendly" version, where opponents colours do not block you, and only a couple of times with the expansion cards. Even so, it's pretty cutthroat.
But I've found the game to be a fantastic introductory game, and have actually ordered and passed on about 10 copies so far.
This game needs better distribution!
Mark

Image

Capitaine Grappin — 2007-08-13T00:41:27+00:00

Comparing box sizes

Thread: Gemblo Puzzle

zx80 — 2007-08-11T06:29:40+00:00

Hey,
Just received a shipment of Gemblo games today and Dr. Oh was good enough to send the instructions to "Gemblo Puzzle" - seemingly a variant where a specifc pattern is to be made from a pre-determined set of pieces. I've scanned the first page just to show the idea without giving away the specific examples provided in the set (16 in total).
I'm not sure if this counts as a new version of the game or if Dr. Oh is planning on selling them, but I thought it'd be good to have it in the database.
Mark

Image

zx80 — 2007-08-11T06:21:18+00:00

Gemblo Puzzle

Thread: Re: Replacement parts?

Grandsage — 2007-07-18T18:59:08+00:00

Heya

master@gemblo.com will put you in contact with the games designer, Justin Oh. He is usually pretty prompt with a reply, a day or 2. He has been very helpful in answering any questions we have had. He will be the best option for you.

Good luck!

Rick

Thread: Replacement parts?

BettyEgan — 2007-06-25T07:40:13+00:00

Anyone know where to get replacement parts?

Thread: Re: [Review] Gemblo

seppo21 — 2007-06-05T03:38:44+00:00

6.) Blokus: The games are comparable, but Gemblo is superior for several reasons.

- It has more, varied pieces.
This, as written makes no sense to me. My copy of Gemblo has 18 pieces per color while Blokus has 21. In each game, all of the pieces in a set are different (completely varied). Can you clarify what you mean here?

Thread: Re: gemblo - where to find?

seppo21 — 2007-06-05T02:38:06+00:00

Funagain games currently has gemblo light available.

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edroz — 2007-05-29T13:49:24+00:00

Colorful GemBlo in play

Thread: Re: gemblo - where to find?

rsolow — 2007-05-02T02:26:49+00:00

camisdad wrote:
hmmm - I don't seem to be able to find a place to order it from. It's out of stock at funagain with no backorder date - where can it be found for order in the states?

Many thanks in advance - Michel

CLS Games has GemBlo Light available.
E-mail CLSGAMES@COMCAST.NET

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Ceryon — 2007-03-28T00:31:17+00:00

like diamonds

Image

Ceryon — 2007-03-28T00:28:51+00:00

with 6 persons

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Ceryon — 2007-02-18T18:07:57+00:00

Box front

Thread: Re: GemBlo Point Calculation

Ceryon — 2007-02-07T16:39:19+00:00

Example:
Joe puts his last piece on the board;
Meg still has 6 points in pieces (a 4-size and a 2-size pieces); and
Gary has 9 points (a 5-size and a 4-size).

Joe scores 15 -(-6-9), Meg scores -6 and Gary scores -9.

HTH better

Image

caparica — 2007-01-23T20:32:55+00:00

Image

PedroM — 2007-01-21T23:39:23+00:00

Gemblo at BGG.con 2006

Thread: Re: GemBlo Point Calculation

fermmoylle — 2006-12-21T18:00:43+00:00

You must add all your opponent gems together (i.e. a 5-size piece counts as 5 points) and that's your score.

Example:

Joe puts his last piece on the board;
Meg still has 6 points in pieces (a 4-size and a 2-size pieces); and
Gary has 9 points (a 5-size and a 4-size).

Joe scores 15 (6+9), Meg scores 9 and Gary scores 6.

I hope this helps.

Thread: GemBlo Point Calculation

mikey384 — 2006-12-21T09:55:05+00:00

I think it's me since it's so late...but can someone help explain the point calculation? I take it it's not quite like Blokus scoring...

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

Belisarius88 — 2006-10-23T13:51:26+00:00

Between Blokus and Blokus Trigon, the standard Blokus wins as being more challenging. I am curious about this Gemblo, Blokus being one of my favorite games.

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

DaviddesJ — 2006-09-02T18:22:10+00:00

Gemblo seems to have a lot more kingmaking than Blokus. But I've only played Gemblo with 3, so maybe that's why. I wouldn't play Gemblo again with 3---it just seems that one player (in 3rd place) is likely to decide which of the others will win. I would try it with 4.

I haven't played Blokus Trigon at all.

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

fenwic — 2006-08-31T18:31:04+00:00

The ability to play off any point along the edge of piece in Gemblo does set it apart a bit. In the Blokuses, you can just play off corners on the ends... Gemblo gives more options. And the fact that the pieces are played a little bit apart (instead of directly touching corner-to-corner) makes you need to stretch your brain a bit more.

Thread: Re: gemblo - where to find?

gschloesser — 2006-08-08T20:52:34+00:00

camisdad wrote:
hmmm - I don't seem to be able to find a place to order it from. It's out of stock at funagain with no backorder date - where can it be found for order in the states?

Many thanks in advance - Michel

Boulder Games (www.bouldergames.com) has it in stock as of today.

Thread: Re: gemblo - where to find?

camisdad — 2006-08-06T06:31:34+00:00

thanks so much - both for the places to find it at (they have it in stock) and the search engine URL - that is such an unbelievable time saver!

Best - Michel

Thread: Re: gemblo - where to find?

RPardoe — 2006-08-05T17:02:39+00:00

Boards and Bits has some listed in stock - but you will need to wait a week or so for their ordering to return (they are at the end of a move).

Boulder Games has some listed in stock.

....

A useful tool (bookmark) is:
http://www.michaelareed.com/boardgamesearch/

which lets you search several online venues for stock and pricing.

Thread: Re: gemblo - where to find?

lorna — 2006-08-05T17:01:33+00:00

I ordered mine from boards and bits

Thread: gemblo - where to find?

camisdad — 2006-08-05T16:54:11+00:00

hmmm - I don't seem to be able to find a place to order it from. It's out of stock at funagain with no backorder date - where can it be found for order in the states?

Many thanks in advance - Michel

Thread: My (enhanced=Quicktime) audio review of GemBlo Light

snoozefest — 2006-07-14T20:02:27+00:00

A link to my video/audio review: http://snoozefestival.blogspot.com/2006/07/rules-24-gemblo-l....

# This is exactly the same game as GemBlo, only smaller and not as pretty. I really prefer the look of the pieces in the original game (like cut gems) over this version, in which the pieces look like Blokus pieces.
# Good abstract game, easy to teach. Blokus seems more intuitive, although that may simply be a matter of familiarity. This game also seems to have more legal plays (at least, early on) because every piece has MANY corners, whereas Blokus pieces only have a few corners to play off of ... so it's easy for people to start playing very quickly.

Thread: Re: Will this be available at US online retailers?

delirimouse — 2006-07-12T11:22:10+00:00

Funagain has it now. I get it Friday!

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

fermmoylle — 2006-07-07T11:10:19+00:00

I guess if you have those three games you really enjoy this kind of game, so you sure wants to get GemBlo.
But be prepared to leave those games on the shelf as I believe you'll fall in love with GemBlo.

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

Ian A.T. — 2006-07-06T22:38:02+00:00

Can I ask a related question?

My game group enjoys Blokus, Blokus Trigon, and Rumis...should I also get GemBlo? Is it different enough to hold their interest?

Thread: First-Time Four-Player Review

phurballdj — 2006-07-04T17:40:37+00:00

Tom Vasel was kind enough to agree to bring me a copy of GemBlo Light, straight to Origins from South Korea. (Thanks, Tom!) With a desire to get in one last game before bed Saturday night, my wife Barb and I tore off the cellophane and were joined by fellow ROBA (Rochester-Oakland Boardgamers' Association) member Ken, and Ian, a CABS member.

Barb and I have played Blokus many times, and Ken and Ian were both familiar with it, so I expected that we would figure out how to play relatively quickly. We were a little confused by the 4-player board layout -- the game rules state that it supports 1-6 players, but it looks to be designed to work best for 3 or 6. Nonetheless, once we figured out where the boundaries were, game play was pretty smooth.

GemBlo Light comes in a hexagonally-shaped box a little over a foot in diameter. The board and pieces are similar in construction and quality to those of Blokus. I've heard the pieces for full-size GemBlo are prettier and of higher quality, but had no complaints about these.

In comparison to Blokus, I think there are potentially more choices on where to play pieces, but it's not as intuitive. In Blokus, your pieces will always touch another of your pieces by one or more corners. In GemBlo, your pieces don't actually touch one another. Rather, each piece you play must connect to a line radiating from any hex of a previous piece you played, as long as the line is not blocked by a single piece of any opponent. Difficult to explain without pictures, but once you start playing it's not hard to understand.

The basic strategies of Blokus (playing large pieces first, working towards the center early) also seem to apply to GemBlo. As we played towards the middle- and end-game, I found gameplay to be somewhat more tense and exciting than Blokus, with more "hidden" plays available -- spaces where it wasn't as obvious you could play anything until you took a second look and went "Aha!"

Overall, I feel that GemBlo is Blokus taken to the next level. With someone who hasn't played, I would introduce Blokus. Gameplay is more intuitive with Blokus, and a beginner will feel more comfortable playing with one who is more experienced. But once they've had a few games under their belt, GemBlo is the way to go.

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

thesama — 2006-06-08T04:27:14+00:00

Well the game showed up today, and I must say I'm overall impressed with the production values (except for the expansion cards, but I'm not sure if I intend to use them).

The velvet bag and stickers also seem extraneous, although my wife (who is Korean-American) informs me that these kinds of things are typical of korean products, I'll just take her word on it.

This order was accompanied by two other games, Hive and Carolus Magnus, all three I am happy with (at first play of two and rules-read of the third).

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

fermmoylle — 2006-06-08T03:03:20+00:00

I've never played Trigon, but I've ordered Gemblo after playing (and losing) Blokus a bit. At least, I win when I play Gemblo.
Gemblo really has a better playing time, allows you to play with up to five companions, and has the most wonderful pieces in the gaming world. I bet you won't be disappointed when you start to play it.
((By the way, I've spent over an hour to try to make a 9x9x9 triangle using only one color last night...))

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

chaddyboy_2000 — 2006-06-07T21:35:00+00:00

How can I argue with a man who has an avatar from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes?

Use big, impressive words such as "influential", "fluorescence", and "jack-rabbited". They usually either go right over my head or sound very convincing to me.

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

thesama — 2006-06-07T21:23:52+00:00

How can I argue with a man who has an avatar from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes?

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

chaddyboy_2000 — 2006-06-07T21:20:07+00:00

While I enjoy both about the same, I think Gemblo edges out Blokus as to which I would rather play. I can't really say why, maybe it's just prettier.

Thread: Re: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

DaviddesJ — 2006-06-07T20:48:36+00:00

I thought I would like GemBlo more than I do, but it seems to have a kingmaker problem, more so than Blokus. I haven't played Blokus Trigon.

Thread: Blokus, Blokus Trigon, or Gemblo?

thesama — 2006-06-07T20:33:12+00:00

Well, I already answered the question for myself (in ordering Gemblo) but am wondering if I'd made the right desicion. I've played Blokus and Trigon at my FLGS and enjoyed them both, however Gemblo just seemed to have more appeal to me (I'm betting it's the hexes, everything is better with hexes).

So, if you could only have one, which way would you go?