• Small Board Games
• Abstract Strategy Board Games
• Coffee House Games
• Do-It-Yourself Games

By David Johns

I have put together a collection of small abstract strategy board games that can be made cheaply at home, are easily portable, and are fun to play. Most of the game boards can be designed on a home computer and printed on a single sheet of 81/2 x 11 paper. I made boards using the "tables" function of a word processor (Word Perfect ). Boards with hexagons instead of squares, or a matrix of connected lines can be made on any good drawing program. Here, I used MacDraw Pro. Since I play at coffee houses, I have the boards laminated at a local office supply store or a Kinko's. I have made the pieces out of wood or fimo, or have purchased game playing stones from game stores, such as Game Keeper or Game Castle (stones used for Pente are suitable for many of the games listed below).I have also used small wooden pieces from arts and crafts stores, such as Michaels or Tall Mouse.

Links associated with the games listed below will take you to sites where more detailed descriptions, histories, authorship, and, in some instances, downloadable versions, exist. The links on this page were all good at the time I wrote it. However, links come and go and their publishers change servers over time. Please let me know (dpjohns@earthlink.net) if you find any bad links so I can update them.

To see photos of some of the boards and pieces I made, click on the camera icon next to the description.

Before I start on board games, I have lately grown very fond of a "boardless" board game, called TRAX.

This game can be played with a standard checkers set. You can also make a set using Pente stones (12 each of two contrasting colors). You can make a board using an 8 x 8 table with squares of just under one inch . Mac users can download the game. The initial set up is as follows:

The object of the game is to move all of your pieces into a position where they are all connected. The connection can be a block, an irregular shape, or even a snake-like line. Pieces move in straight lines in any direction (as the Queen in Chess), but they must move exactly the number of spaces as there are pieces of both kinds along the intended line of movement. You may jump over your own pieces to complete your move, but you may not jump over enemy pieces. If your move lands your piece on an enemy's piece, that piece is captured and removed from the board. If, by capturing, you leave the rest of your opponent's pieces connected, you lose. If you reduce your opponent to one piece, you lose. The exception to both of the above rules is that, if by reducing your opponent to one piece, or to a few connected pieces, you also manage to connect all of your pieces at the same time, then you win.

The object of the game is to form a connection from one edge of the board to the opposite edge. Players alternate placing stones on the intersections, one at a time,until a connection is made. Opposite edges are parallel to each other.

Small, training game board. The full size game has 11 spaces on each side, but this size can easily be made to fit a single sheet of paper.

Download a Mac version.

Susan is played on this board:

Players, using contrasting colored stones, place one at a time on the board or slide one of their own stones one space in lieu of placing a new stone.

The object is to surround any one of your opponent's stones. A stone can be surrounded by enemy stones, a combination of enemy and friendly stones, or the edge or corner of the board and enemy or enemy and friendly stones.

Go is usually played on a 19 X 19 board, but the smaller version can be made on a word processor using the table function. An 8 X 8 table gives a 9 X 9 grid. Go stones are played on the intersections of the grid. Since I already had a Go set, I made the grid to fit my stones. Go stones have their own unique feel, but to make this game inexpensively, you could use buttons of the appropriate size. You'll need 41 black and 40 white "stones". In 9 X 9 Go, the star points are 3 intersections in from each corner, and the center.

Download a Mac version of full-size Go. (Picture of a 9 x 9 board)

*Visit Mindy McAdams' web site on Go.

Neutron is played on this board:

The center piece is the Neutron. The object of the game is to get the neutron into your home row, or to force your opponent to move the neutron into your home row, or to block the neutron so that your opponent cannot move it. Pieces move in straight lines (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) - but must move as far as they can along the intended line of travel. On the first turn, white moves one of his pieces off of the home row. Black then moves the neutron first, then one of his own pieces. Thereafter, each player must move the neutron first, then one of his own pieces.

Teeko is played on the same board as Neutron. Each player has four stones. The object is to get four in a row, or to get your four stones into a connected square. Play begins with each player alternating placing one stone at a time on the board. If no one has made four in a row, then the players alternate moving one of their own stones, one space at a time until the four in a row or square is made.

Alapo is played on a 6 x 6 board with three different shaped pieces of two sizes each. In the description, circles, squares and triangles were used. However, any three shapes will do, as long as you can find two sizes of each one. I found wooden balls (with flat bottoms) for the circles, wooden cubes for the squares, and wooden doll bodies (because I couldn't find pyramids, and because they resemble chess bishops) for the triangles in an arts and crafts shop. I painted one set of pieces black and left the other side natural, then varnished. I then used the table function of my word processor to make a board to fit the pieces.

The game is played on a 6 x 6 board with the following lay out:

The object is to get any one of your pieces into the opponent's home row without it being taken on your opponent's next turn.

The large squares move like rooks, the large triangles move like bishops and the large circles move like queens. The small pieces move in the same directions as their larger counterparts, but only one square at a time.

Oska is another game in which the object is to get pieces from one end of the board to the other. The players start with only four pieces each, and the board is small, but the strategy involved is more complex than would first appear.

The following games all belong to the Shogi family. Shogi is the Japanese version of Chess. In Shogi, captured pieces are not "dead". Instead they are retained by the capturing player and may be reintroduced onto the board in the service of their new master. They can be dropped onto the board in almost any square (with a few exceptions) in lieu of moving an existing piece. Captured pieces are kept at the side of the board so that both players may keep them in mind during the course of play. The pieces are wedge-shaped and are all the same color. A Japanese character appears on the top (and reverse) sides of each piece showing its rank. In Chess, a pawn promotes upon reaching the last rank of the board. In Shogi, most pieces promote, but promotion is optional for the most part and the promotion line is two-thirds of the way down the board. Promoted pieces are turned over, where the character showing the promoted rank appears.

You can make boards using the tables function of a word processor. The spaces are slightly longer than they are wide, and there is no checkering of the game board as in chess.

I used vinyl stick-on letters (1/4") to name the pieces: K for King, G for Golden General, S for Silver General, N for Knight, and so on. I then put a thin coat of lacquer on the pieces to make sure the letters did not fall off, and to protect the pieces themselves.

Full size Shogi sets have 1 King, 2 Golden Generals, 2 Silver Generals, 2 Knights, 2 Lances, 1 Rook, 1Bishop, and 9 Pawns for each side. The Rook and Bishop move the same as in Chess. The other pieces move as shown below:

Shogi pieces promote as follows:

Smaller variations of Shogi exist. You can make boards using the table function as described above. You can make pieces by cutting them out of wood, or by shaping fimo.

This is the smallest version, played on a 4 X 5 board with only 5 pieces for each player. The pieces promote differently than in Shogi, upon capturing another piece, rather than by reaching a certain point on the board. In some cases the promotion can be a demotion.

(Set and pieces )

This version is played on a 5 X 5 board with 6 pieces per player. Pieces promote as in Shogi.

Slightly larger, this version is played on a 6 X 6 board, with 7 pieces per player. Pieces promote as in Shogi.

Whale Shogi is also played on a 6 X 6 board, but with 12 pieces per player. The pieces are all named after various whales, fish and other ocean mammals, and move differently than Shogi pieces.

(Set and pieces)

The initial set up is:

This game uses Chess pieces and movements, but in a Shogi environment. The pieces look like Shogi pieces, but are standard Chess pieces. I found Chess pieces clip art, printed what I needed and pasted them on fimo (or wooden) pieces, then lacquered over them.

Each time a piece is moved, it becomes something else. The Bishop becomes a Rook, and vice versa. The King becomes a Queen. Pawns become Knights. The object is to checkmate the royal piece, whether it is in the form of a King, or a Queen.

(Set and pieces)

I found these games on various sites on the internet. Many came from the Hans Bodleander Chess variants pages. If you are interested in Chess variants, please check out his pages.

Other strategy games I enjoy are: Fibonacci, Abalone, Terrace, Pente (download) (rules) and Chinese Chess. These impressed me enough to buy commercial sets. Fibonacci is made in England, but the linked site will give information about a store in Georgia. I ordered my set through them and was pleased with their service. I bought the older, 8 x 8 version of Terrace, which is now no longer made. I have not played the current (6 x 6) version. Pente is sold in many game stores, such as Game Keeper.

Chinese Chess is sold in Chinese bookstores. The pieces are flat wooden (or plastic) disks with Chinese characters on the tops to signify the rank of each. The set I bought had pieces about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I placed 1/4" vinyl stick on letters above each character to help me memorize which pieces they were: K for king, C for cannon, P for pawn, etc. Learning to recognize the characters is really no different than learning that the piece in chess that looks like a horse is called a knight and moves in a certain way. It does not take long to learn them. Download Mac version of the game.

See my set.

MORE GAMES...

I hope you have found this page interesting and will make and play some of these games. I had almost as much fun making them as I do playing them.

I am always interested in adding to my collection, so if you know of any, similar, games, or URLs of downloadable Windows versions of these games, please Email me at (dpjohns@earthlink.net). *(I have received some response. To see a list of URLs suggested by other visitors, click here.)

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Last update: 09/01/99

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