Recently, Target has expanded their board game selection somewhat. It was certainly a pleasant surprise when I stopped by recently and found a section of board games including Blokus, Rumis, Travel Blokus, and others. I wanted to encourage this behavior, so I purchased Travel Blokus immediately.



Overview

Travel Blokus is a "for two" version of its big brother Blokus. The point of Blokus and Travel Blokus is the same. Each player has a selection of shapes made from one to five "blocks", and the number of blocks that compose each block determine the final scoring.

Each player in turn places a piece on the board. In Travel Blokus, your initial placement must touch a certain point on your half of the board, marked with a small circle. From that point forward, your next placement must adhere to the following two rules:

1. Your piece must touch a piece you have already placed on the board.
2. Your piece can ONLY touch one of your own pieces at a diagonal corner.


It is this last point that makes Blokus unique, and it is certainly one that will strike new gamers as odd the first time through. It can also make figuring out the best moves more difficult, as if you aren't careful your formerly placed pieces can prevent you from putting others near them later on.


Each player takes turns in this fashion until both are unable to play any more pieces. Then, each player counts the number of "blocks" left on their remaining pieces, and the one with the fewest left is declared the victor. If this seems strange, realize that you are also essentially determining who played the MOST on the board, but it is much easier to tally your remaining game pieces than to sift through the board and figure out your final score.




Components


The pieces of Travel Blokus are made of plastic and are in eye-catching shades of purple and orange. There are 42 of them, 21 for each player. They are also shaped very similarly to pieces from the game "Tetris", so the game will have a visual appeal to anyone like me who has suffered through an addiction to the seminal puzzler.

The board itself is a small 14x14 plastic grid. The pieces rest nicely in the groves in the board, though they don't "snap" into place. This means that while Travel Blokus is indeed a nice size for travel, it isn't truly a "travel" game in the magnetic/snap sense of the word. Still, the board fits nicely pretty much anywhere you have even just a little bit of gaming room.

There are two plastic triangular trays underneath the board. They interlock and form a square and can be put back together to store underneath the board in the box. I've found that laying out your pieces to get a good look at what you have left is pretty important, so we only use the trays for storage between games and never during gameplay. However, they would be nice should you need to keep the pieces in your lap for play on an airplane or something similar.


I feel like the components are a decent value for the money. I think the pieces are visually appealing. However, just as a warning my wife did not think the package was worth $20, so that would be the opinion of the untrained eye--and she is well aware that I've spent $50+ on games such as War of the Ring. I don't agree, but can see how someone who might only be familiar with the cheaper mass-market offerings of Hasbro might feel that way. And for only $10, you could get a larger board and pieces for two additional players, and the "Travel" version of the game can be played on the regular board if you are so inclined. Still, in my space-compressed gaming closet, a small box like Travel Blokus is a welcome sight.



My Thoughts on Gameplay


I must admit, I am generally not an ardent fan of abstract games. So I was a bit taken aback to find out just how nasty and brutish Travel Blokus can be. With only two players, every piece that you place will usually either be a direct block to your opponent or a thrust into another part of the board. You know exactly who your opponent is, so every gain for you is generally going to be lost ground for him. In fact, even from the very first play it is possible to directly block an opponent's starting piece, so the aggression is evident even from the start.

Most abstracts I've played just haven't had this level of aggression. Sure, in Chess there are flurries of attack but these are often preceded by many, many turns of positioning and build-up. Once you factor in the smaller play area that Travel Blokus has compared to its big brother Blokus, the game could be considered an abstract bloodbath.

I think the best way to think of it would be to take a game of Chess and remove two of the middle rows. From the first couple of plays on it would be a game of pure attack and aggression.

I don't mind this so much, in fact I rather enjoy it. However, you should be forewarned if you are buying it as a "light" game to introduce to your significant other who many not be as serious as a gamer that you are, this has the chance of going over like a lead balloon. Some players will be turned off by the "in your face" style that often happens in a game of Travel Blokus.


One more thing to note is replayability. Unlike other abstract games which tend to have more open gameplay, the smaller board of Travel Blokus will often lead to a sense of sameness after a number of plays. I have played this around ten times now and can see patterns developing in the game. Also, it's worth noting that the first player seems to have a slight advantage, as he or she can dictate the pace of play and many times player 2 will be forced to react to what the first player is doing. I haven't played it enough to determine if it's a pronounced advantage, but it does seem to be there.





Summary


All in all, I think Travel Blokus is a solid value and a great filler game. The surprising nastiness that can occur during gameplay may turn off some players, and I really think level of experience is something that can cause some fairly lopsided games if some sort of handicap system isn't enforced. Thankfully, it is rather easy to handicap the game--just have the weaker player remove one or two of the five-block pieces (I recommend the more oddly-shaped ones that can be difficult to place if not done so in the early game).


I certainly recommend this game. As I said, I'm not particularly a huge fan of abstract titles but this is fun enough to spend fifteen minutes on a quick session. I've already got my money's worth out of it, and I think you will too. Just note that if portability or only having two players aren't issues that affect you, you may be better off going with the larger Blokus set.




Final Rating: 7.0/10.0

The first player advantage could be addressed by the usual methods:

1. play a 2-game match, switching sides, and add the scores from both games

2. bid points for the right to place first

3. any other ideas?

My wife and I quite agree that Travel Blokus is a nasty little game.

One way you might address the stagnation issue is to experiment with your opening plays. Rather than playing aggressively to block your opponent's expansion, try yielding for the first few turns. Stay on your half of the board and concentrate on having the correct pieces available for a counter-invasion when room starts to run out.

She consistently whoops me using this style of play.

Enjoy!

I would change the second rule you mentioned from:

2. Your piece can ONLY touch another piece at a diagonal corner.

to:

2. Your piece can touch YOUR OWN pieces only at diagonal corners.

Good catch--I made the change.

That's funny. Played this with my girlfriend tonight. We played two games - one to get the hang of it - and the second game was surprisingly intense. After the game we laughed at how quick into learning this game we took the gloves off. On her third play she was coming right at me to cut me off. Haven't played it enough to see patterns - but we will be playing more. Good game.

We both enjoyed your review.

A method I like from some other game (Hex, maybe): after the first player makes their first play, the second player chooses whether to swap places with the first player, or make their own first play.

Normally I play this with my 6-year-old, with a handicap (at the end of the game, he gets to ignore some number of his unplayed pieces), so I was glad to finally play this against an adult when visiting one of my brothers this weekend. First game, I won by a bit; second game (the one which counts), he delivered the worst beating I'd ever seen, even if he'd given me the same handicap I normally give the 6-year-old.

(So, as the older brother, naturally I was obligated to assert my dominance by flinging the board aside, pouncing on him, and giving him a wedgie, but it turns out that he's also grown stronger than I am. Oops.)